Global Park Defense Helps Achieve 400th Arrest of Illegal Loggers in Two Years in Thailand

Troops, police and park officials arrested nine Cambodian illegal loggers in Thap Lan National Park in Nakhon Ratchasima province after they were captured committing the alleged crime by online cameras. (Photo: WCS Thailand).

Global Conservation is supporting Global Park Defense deployment to assist the Government of Thailand and its Department of Parks and Wildlife, in partnership with WCS Thailand to give the country a fighting chance against international syndicates now raping the last forests of Eastern Thailand for Siamese Rosewood.

The illegal logging operations run by transnational crime syndicates have long enjoyed an advantage over park staff because of superior numbers, funding and weaponry.

Global Conservation is funding a multi-year deployment of Global Park Defense against these illegal logging networks combining SMART Patrols, Cellular Trailcams, Command Centers, and violent crime training.

“The fact that in this UNESCO World Heritage Park has over 400 arrests of 80 plus illegal logging teams in the past two years, with many violent confrontations, shows that thousands of illegal loggers are operating today and must be stopped. Without Global Conservation’s support and technology, WCS Thailand training, and the leadership of Thap Lan park authorities, all the rosewood trees and many endangered wildlife species living in the park will be lost,” said Jeff Morgan, executive director of Global Conservation.”

“We support Thap Lan because of its UNESCO importance and it being highly endangered. We believed in WCS Thailand and an excellent new Park Director who joined in 2016 showing vision and leadership, hiring strong managers and requesting military support.  We are proud to work with Anak Pattanavibool and team who brings decades of experience in SMART Patrols, tiger conservation, setting up command centers, and deploying systems and technology for park and wildlife protection. Global Park Defense includes training for rangers on night patrolling, park protection systems, armed combat and improving patrol effectiveness, all needed to protect the last intact forests and wildlife habitats,” said Mr. Morgan.

The group of suspects arrested after the NCAPS (Network-Centric Anti-Poaching System) cameras supported by Global Conservation detected alleged illegal activity and alerted officials.

Prior to 2016, Thap Lan saw fewer than 30 arrests and illegal loggers were working without fear of arrest. As most of the labor is from Cambodia, many are just returned to their home country and return the next month. Global Park Defense is focusing on the Thai syndicates, middle men and operators funding and supplying the illegal teams with chainsaws and supplies to work in the park for 5-7 days per logging run.

Global Conservation funding, technical support from WCS Thailand, and the hard work and leadership of the Thap Lan Park Authorities has enabled a number of victories over the past 2 years:

• Over 400 arrests in the UNESCO World Heritage Park, including confiscation of 80 illegal logging teams, and investigations into illegal syndicates and trading networks.
• Major increase in patrol efforts in terms of frequency and coverage by park rangers with high morale and solid support.
• Arrests started to decline in 2017 in the highest poaching zones in the southwest of the park, signaling that fewer illegal loggers are working there.
• The SMART Patrol system and NCAP (Network Centric Anti-poaching system) have become a model for the government to increase financial support for Thap Lan World Heritage Park.
• A UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee’s decision in Poland in 2017 down-listed Thap Lan World Heritage a “in Danger” based mainly on the key improvements in the protection to the Outstanding Universal Values of the site.
• Due to the success of the Cellular Trailcam Network deployed as part of Global Park Defense, the national parks have received dedicated budget for additional Cellular Trailcam deployments.
• By protecting Thap Lan World Heritage, soon we will be able to increase the tiger populations for Eastern Thailand, which have dropped below levels needed of long-term survival of the species.

Global Park Defense in Action 2017

After training of 40 park rangers, Thap Lan has been operating under 9 patrol teams.  Each team has spent about 15 days per month on patrol.  They have also spent about 3-5 days per trip.  The foot patrol distance for all teams combined is about 600-800 km per month.  They have also used the vehicle patrols covering about 300-400 km per month.

By increasing the use of Park Protection Technology (i.e., Cellular Trailcams, GPS trackers, and night vision gear) we increase the effectivenes of park ranger teams. In 2017, 50 new Cellular Trailcams were deployed in high threat locations, entry trails, and along the borders of Thap Lan and Pang Srida National Parks to detect the movement of poachers so that park rangers can take near-real-time actions.

As well, a new Face Recognizing Database enabled matching of arrested people’s faces with the faces stored in the database of previous offenders for more serious punishment.

Faces of offenders are now stored in the google photos to be able to recognize them later if they are arrested again. (WCS Thailand)

SMART patrol system produces the threat intensity map. (WCS Thailand)

In 2017, Thap Lan patrol teams have covered more than 70% of the national park area (WCS Thailand).

The Rosewood Wars

The Rosewood Wars will determine the fate of the last remaining Siamese Rosewood trees left standing in Thailand.

The Rosewood Wars in Thap Lan World Heritage Park will largely determine the fate of the last remaining Siamese Rosewood trees left standing in Thailand. Over the past five years, poachers have chain sawed the trees into near extinction. While removing the last valuable rosewood left standing, they are also killing many wild animals for food and trafficking.

The booming demand is from China, where ornately carved, Ming imperial-style furniture known as hongmu is now a $5 billion industry, according to a 2014 estimate by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a London-based nongovernmental organization that monitors illegal wildlife trafficking.  

According to Newsweek, “with so much money at stake, the loggers—day laborers and former and current Cambodian military officers —are willing to kill, and die, for the spoils. Loggers can make an estimated $4,000 to $6,000 on one mature tree. Last year, the loggers killed five rangers in the forest. The combination of those deaths and the species’s red-hued timber has led conservationists to call it “bloodwood.” 

The illegal logging operations are run by transnational crime syndicates and have long enjoyed an advantage over park staff because of superior numbers, funding and weaponry. But in 2015, Thailand’s Department of National Parks created specialized paramilitary ranger units called hasadin (“elephant” in Sanskrit) with the support of Global Conservation.

Using advanced park protection and surveillance technology, systems and training, including help of new Cellular Trailcams funded under the Global Park Defense program, park authorities are finally slowing the poachers down. “It’s a war that, perhaps, we can never win outright,” says Chanpradub. “But if we stay strong, they won’t win either.”

"Illegal loggers have stripped Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam of almost all known Siamese rosewoods, taking advantage of lax and corrupt law enforcement in national parks. Now, they have turned to Thailand, where the forests have been better guarded, because it is a wealthier country, with a greater commitment to the environment, and because animist-Buddhist traditions have long protected the trees from local use.

In recent months, Thai rangers have been using a high-tech new weapon: Cellular Trailcams -  motion-sensor cameras camouflaged in green boxes that sit in trees some 12 feet above the forest floor, capture movement on the ground and transmit images by email to officers’ phones in real time. The newest versions have facial-recognition technology smart enough to alert rangers to the presence of humans. These cameras allow rangers to monitor multiple remote locations simultaneously and head straight to where poachers are operating. Rangers move the cameras every few weeks to prevent the loggers tracking their locations. Since the authorities introduced cameras in the five national parks nine months ago, officials tell Newsweek they have noticed fewer incursions from poachers.

“They have a practical benefit but also a psychological effect on the poachers,” says Chanpradub. “They don’t know where the cameras are and when they are being watched. We believe it’s already scaring off some of the large groups.”

"The cameras have also forced the poachers to adapt. Before, they would come from Cambodia in groups of up to 40, armed with chainsaws and AK-47s. They would set up logging camps inside the parks and stay for two to three weeks. When they finished logging, they would haul the timber out of the national parks, where smugglers in pickup trucks equipped with concealed chambers were waiting to carry the timber to Cambodia.

That sort of large-scale operation has become less practical, thanks to the new cameras. Now, the poachers use less efficient “hit and run” missions, heading into the forest in smaller groups for shorter stays. They cut down trees, mark their location by GPS and dispatch porters to return at night, taking multiple trips to deliver the timber to the trucks. The gangs are also fighting back less frequently, fearing more deadly clashes with the hasadin."

For more on the Rosewood Wars, see:

National Geographic

A Life-or-Death Hunt for Tree Thieves

Newsweek

Blood Timber In Thailand And The Fight To Save The World's Most Valuable Tree