GC Supports Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park, Myanmar Despite Civil War
Imagine a deep forest where elephants rip the blood-red branches from Siamese rosewood trees, where leopards stalk gibbons through the canopy, where dragon-like mammals called pangolins rustle through the undergrowth, and where the ghosts of rhinos roam. Here, the Petpa, Patolon, and Taungdwin rivers are born among the emerald trees. These forests flow over rolling mountains and run against thousand-foot cliffs that protect this place like a fortress. This is Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park (AKNP), the jewel of Myanmar and that country’s oldest and largest national park at 160,500 hectares.
Not only is it a refuge to the animals that live here, AKNP also draws about 150,000 Buddhist pilgrims that visit each year during the religious festival from January to April. They come to worship the holy remains of Lord Alaungdaw Kathapa, Buddhist royalty, which are secured in a cave deep within the park. The forests here in this national park, the only park in Asia with a famous Buddhist religious site, vibrate with life and spirituality.
The indochinese leopard is one of many Critically Endangered species within Myanmar. Photo © Dome Pratumtong
The Critically Endangered Sunda Pangolin.
Phayre's leaf monkey is yet another Endangered species.
To help secure the future of this unique place, Global Conservation signed an agreement with the Myanmar Ministry of the Environment in 2018. This year, the Myanmar Department of Forestry will begin to deploy Global Park Defense in AKNP, and Global Conservation will work to have AKNP listed as a Natural and Cultural UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The challenges will be significant, as the dangers to AKNP are many. Myanmar faces some of the highest deforestation rates of any country in the world, having lost over 12% of its forest cover in the past 10 years. Myanmar’s natural areas are all in danger, but AKNP is a last bastion for wilderness: the massive cliffs that form 60% of its boundary make it one of Myanmar’s only national parks with potential for long-term protection.
Still, AKNP is under threat from wildlife poaching and illegal logging, including illegal clearing of the final fragments of forest in the park’s buffer zone. The buffer zone has already lost over 60% of its forest, which has restricted the migration of wildlife. The global trade in one of AKNP’s trees, Siamese Rosewood—also known as Bloodwood—is thought to be even more lucrative than the trade in elephant ivory. Wildlife habitats vanish as loggers chainsaw forests in search of the rare Bloodwoods for export to China, where they will become ornately carved furniture
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The Sumatran rhino, almost extinct in the whole of Myanmar, has already disappeared from the park. The growing trade in elephant skin threatens the future of that megafauna species in Myanmar, as it makes all elephants, not just those with large tusks, a valuable commodity. Even orchids are threatened in AKNP by the illegal trade in ornamental plants.
Photo ©Paul Hilton
This is why Global Conservation is investing in critical Global Park Defense technologies and systems, as well as the training needed to effectively protect core wildlife habitats from illegal logging and wildlife poaching.
Working with the Myanmar Department of Forestry and the Chief Minister of the Sagaing Region, Global Conservation is establishing a new Command Center, deploying cellular trailcams, providing trucks and motorcycles, and supporting SMART ranger patrols that will increase the effectiveness of forest and wildlife protection across 400,000 hectares of the park and its surroundings.
Together with Myanmar’s leaders, Global Conservation aims to preserve this park’s mountains, rivers, forests, and trekking trails that venture into eight diverse ecosystems. Thereby, we can ensure that AKNP’s strong populations of unique wildlife like Asian elephants, banteng, leopards, gibbons, and pangolins persist long into the future.
Sumatran Orangutan Population Drops Nearly 20 Percent
The Sumatran orangutan population is steadily decreasing. The population has fallen by 19.5% since 2011, according to recent survey results published in a respected scientific journal. The current population stands at 11,694 individuals. At the same time, there are only an estimated 716 remaining Tapanuli orangutans, making their population a critically endangered species.
The assessment, which was carried out in conjunction with the Ministry of Forestry, also found that about 82% of the orangutan population is still seen in protected areas. But over 2,200 orangs, or about 20% of the entire population, inhabit unprotected areas that have extremely inadequate protections.
Over the course of more than a decade, the Leuser ecosystem had the greatest loss of life, with almost 2,000 individuals disappearing. The population in Rawa Tripa dropped from 212 to 52, a 75% decrease. In the meanwhile, there was a precipitous decline of 332 individuals, or nearly 40%, in the Batu Ardan population.
Orangutans face a wide range of dangers, including but not limited to poaching, illegal trafficking, habitat fragmentation, human-wildlife conflict, and habitat degradation. It's evident that illegal wildlife trafficking is still prevalent, as evidenced by the repatriation of Sumatran orangutans from Thailand in late 2025.
In order to combat poaching and trafficking, local conservation organization Geopix is requesting that the government restore degraded forest land, strengthen enforcement of laws against these crimes, and increase protection for ecological corridors that connect habitats. In addition, the group is demanding that all development policies that may have an effect on orangutan habitats incorporate conservation measures.
Orangutans will become extinct more quickly than previously assessed unless immediate action is taken.
The FKL Wildlife Protection Teams have made significant progress in safeguarding the biodiversity of the Bengkung Trumon Megafauna Sanctuary (BTMS) and the Suaq region from January to November 2024. Eight Wildlife Protection Teams conducted 88 patrol missions, covering 5,807 km, documenting vital wildlife presence through sightings, including 1,896 orangutans, 1,182 Malayan bears, 844 Sumatran tigers, and 221 Sumatran elephants. These efforts also dismantled 15 snares and documented 35 poaching cases.