Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park, Myanmar

Global Conservation is deploying Global Park Defense for Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park (AKNP) after signing a MOU agreement with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment focusing on park and wildlife protection and preparing for UNESCO World Heritage nomination.

Global Conservation is the first major conservation investor in Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park since the area has some EU support in the 1990s.  No work has been done on the UNESCO World Heritage nomination, showcasing both it’s rich Natural and Cultural history, authenticity and integrity.

For the past 20 years, AKNP has been on its own with the same ranger team of 20 leading its protection. No truck, no motorcyles and twenty-year old radios. The Buffer Zone of Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park has lost over 60% of its intact forests, which is now highly fragmented.

Likely to become UNESCO World Heritage as the “Yellowstone of Myanmar”, with both Natural and Cultural Universal Value to Mankind, Myanmar’s oldest national park today has only 20 rangers and no vehicles for patrolling until Global Conservation brought their first 6 motorcycles in 2018 and provided patrol rations and fuel.

Kicking off in November, 2018 with a 2 week PROTECT and ENFORCE ranger training led by Freeland Foundation, Global Conservation and the celebrated a multi-year MOU agreement to work together on five key goals:

1)    Deploy Global Park Defense in Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park

2)    New Command Center with Advanced Park-wide Communciations

3)    SMART Patrol Protection and Cellular Trailcam Network

4)    Training and Equipping Rangers and newly hired Community Guardians

5)    National Park Master Plan and UNESCO World Heritage designtation

Global Park Defense for Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park

Global Conservation will support Park and Wildlife Protection in seven (7) areas in the coming years:

1. Deployment of Global Park Defense systems including Cellular Trailcam Network, Long-range Thermal Cameras, SMART Ranger Patrols, ranger communications via satellite networks and PROTECT Ranger training.

2. Community Guardians – support for additional contract rangers to support the current under-staffed park rangers until government budget can be secured.

3. Anti-Poaching Patrols- funding for vehicles, fuel and maintenance for ranger patrols and base camps.

4. Construction of a AKNP Command Center at Park HQ with high-speed internet and security to enable planning, briefing-debriefing and patrol SMART analysis and assessment for better protection.

5. Park Expansion - support planning needed to increase the size of Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park by adding adjacent forestry concessions.

6. Development of a Park Master Plan for development of visitor center, lodging, park headquarters, road and trail access and design for sustainable ecotourism.

7. Assist in the nomination of AKNP for UNESCO World Heritage as a Mixed Natural and Cultural site.

Global Park Defense Components

Key components of Global Park Defense include:

- SMART Ranger Patrols                              

- Surveillance System - Cellular Trailcams

- Thermal Long-Range Cameras  

- Park-wide Satellite Communications

- Training - Military-level Patrolling / Technology and Systems                         

- Support for Ranger Anti-Poaching Patrols - Vehicle Maintenance, Fuel and Rations, Camps and Equipment

- Legal and Prosecution Support

Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park – Jewel of Myanmar

Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park is the largest national park in Myanmar, at 160,500 hectares and the only national park in Asia with a famous religious site for Buddhism integral to the park and named after Buddhist royalty.  

Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park is located in Monywa Township, Sagaing Region and is famous for religious pilgrims, over 150,000 in 2017, who come each year to worship the sacred cave containing the remains of Lord Alaungdaw Kathapa under a stunning large golden buddah, recovered each year in flakes of gold given by the local population, and pilgrims from afar.

AKNP has survived largely due to a 2,000 foot cliff which surrounds 50% of the park preventing the heavy logging which has destroyed the parks in most of the country. Still, protecting over 160,000 hectares of deep jungle and rainforest with only 20 rangers is challenging. 

Due to severe economic hardship of the population under international sanctions over the past 30 years, and low and often unpaid wages of park leadership and ranger teams, we are losing elephants, bear, leopard and other key endangered species to poachers. The Rhino became extinct in Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park decades ago.

Despite having almost no global tourism, and close proximity to Myanmar's second largest city – Mandalay and Bagan, Myanmar’s most popular tourism site - Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park is the crown jewel of central Myanmar nature and wildlife - elephants, pristine forests, trekking trails into eight ecosystems, majestic mountains and  beautiful rivers.

The Myanmar Department of Foresty has strong management structure and AKNP is  under full control of the Myanmar government.  By assisting with a multi-year Global Park Defense program, we can help ensure the highest protection, even with few rangers available. Over time, we expect greater investment by the Myanmar government into forest and wildlife protection, especially in UNESCO World Heritage.

Current Threats

The oldest and largest national park in Myanmar is under threat from illegal logging, wildlife poaching and illegal clearing of remaining forests in the Buffer Zone.

Wildlife Poaching and Hunting

Illegal Logging

Illegal Land Clearing (Buffer Zone)

Illegal Agriculture (Buffer Zone)

Illegal Orchid Harvesting

Impacts from Annual Pilgrimage

Lack of Enforcement

AKNP forests are used for bush meat and hunting for profits by local and regional groups, decimating wildlife habitats - "Empty Forest Syndrome". Villages in the western side of the AKNP are also involved in illegal hunting. Use of muzzleloaders has decreased as they are visible and easily traceable by their loud noise. Hunters increasingly use snares and traps instead. Hundreds of snares and traps are set along ridges and trails inside the park.

Illegal poaching of Siamese Rosewood, or "Bloodwood", and other hardwoods, inside the national pxark and adjacent 'protected areas' is having a Double Negative Impact. Hundreds of Rosewood Poachers operate daily in remote areas of the park killing wildlife for food.   Right off the national highway logging camps cut and remove the Rosewood sold for Chinese furniture ('good luck'). 

Growing trade in Elephant Skin is already having a terrible impact in Myanmar.  The last Rhino have been nearly decimated in Myanmar due to poaching for rhino horn sales to China and Asia. Many other species of wildlife are no longer present in many areas in the perimeter and buffer zones due to intense wildlife poaching and Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park is the “Last Bastion” for their protection.

Underlying factors for variety of pressures on the AKNP are high population growth, limited alternative livelihood options, weak law enforcement and protection, low community participation in park management, low conservation awareness and lucrative illegal logging business around the park. Consequently, there were reportedly illegal cutting of high value timber, extraction of poles, posts and fuel wood for household use, illegal hunting, and encroachment for farming.

Understaffing for park protection and management and lack of capacity building of staff has hampered systematic and effective conservation of the park. A pragmatic management plan associated with financial commitments is urgently needed to reduce the current threats by protecting biodiversity and habitats effectively and diversifying livelihood of community around the park. AKNP growth in tourism and protection forces offers the opportunity for hundreds of full-time jobs for local communities.

First Motorcycles in the Park donated by Global Conservation in October 2017 (see decals).

Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park is the last safe bastion for wildlife in central Myanmar while other areas of the country have active conflicts and little protection and are facing a deathly onslaught of poachers with high power weapons and criminal syndicates eliminating rosewood and critical wildlife species including elephant, tigers, bear and leopards.

Global Conservation had our first mission in November, 2017 to meet park and government officials at AKNP to discuss opportunities to work together to help achieve ‘No Cut, No Kill’ protection for Myanmar’s oldest and largest national park, and assist in UNESCO World Heritage nomination.

Deeper into the park, which extends for hundreds of miles, there remains a strong core of wildlife populations - includng Elephants, Gibbons and other Primates, Pangolins, Hedgehogs, Treeshrews, and hundreds of other species.

A Model for National Park Protection and Planned Development in Myanmar

AKNP is the ideal place to have a Center of Excellence for National Parks in Myanmar and serve as a Model National Park.  AKNP has not villages within the park, in not in an Autonomous Region or Independent State and is one of the only parks under the full authority of Myanmar government and National Park Service.

Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park (AKNP) has the potential to become the Center Excellence for park and wildlife protection in Myanmar. As a training base for other parks and protected area managers, we hope to showcase Global Park Defense to help fight illegal logging, wildlife poaching and illegal land clearing across the country.

Global Conservation will work over the next 4 years to deploy equipment, systems and training for Global Park Defense against wildlife poaching, illegal logging and land clearing in endangered areas. If we can meet key milestones to improve ranger manpower and operating budget, Global Park Defense will be a 'Force Multiplier' for ranger patrol effectiveness (ie. arrests, kilometers patrolled, snare removals, prosecutions, etc.).
 

Strengthening Law Enforcement and Penalties

On a positive front, the Government of Myanmar passed two new laws in May 2018 dramatically increasing penalties for jail and fines for Wildlife Poaching (increased to 3 years to 10 years prison and large fines), and similar increased penalties for Illegal logging which makes local community members and non-professional criminals much more hesitant to enter Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park for illegal activities. These new penalties are a powerful tool for our PROTECT Ranger teams and law enforcement.

About Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park (AKNP)

Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park (AKNP) is a proposed UNESCO World Heritage Natural and Cultural Site of Universal Value to Mankind as the only national park with a famous religious cultural heritage site for Buddhism integral within the natural park.

Alaungdaw Kathapa is named after Buddhist Royalty located in Monywa Township, Sagaing Region, and includes the upper catchment basins of the Petpa, Patolon and Taungdwin rivers. It is the oldest and largest national park in Myanmar – over 160,500 hectares of intact tropical forests and wildlife habitats.

About 150,000 religious pilgrims from Asia visit the national park each year during a religious festival from January to April to worship the holy remains of Lord Alaungdaw Kathapa, which are kept in a sacred cave located inside the park.  The complex of structures within the archaeological conservation area includes the main temple and a sacred cave along a river dating from the 3rd century BC to the present century .

UNESCO World Heritage Nomination

By assisting Myanmar to prepare a world-class nomination for UNESCO World Heritage, AKNP has a high chance for nomination by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee due to its Universal Value to Mankind as both Cultural and Natural Heritage, which very few parks have, especially with intact tropical rainforests and wildlife habitat.

AKNP had not been prioritized for UNESCO World Heritage nomination in the past, nor the Tentative List, so we are starting from scratch. There is a major opportunity for global recognition with world heritage designation to increase international tourism for AKNP based on its globally unique Universal Value to Mankind as a Sacred Buddhist Cultural and Natural Heritage site.

Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park is of Universal Value to Mankind is based on a number of Criteria:

Universal Value

As the resting place of birthplace of Lord Alaungdaw Kathapa, one of Buddhas most famous disciples, testified by the inscription on the pillar, the sacred area in Alaungdaw Kathapa is one of the most holy and significant places for one of the world’s great religions.

The archaeological remains of the Lord Alaungdaw Kathapa and related monument remains from the 3rd century BC to the 15th century AD, provide important evidence about the nature of Buddhist pilgrimage centers from a very early period.

Integrity

The Integrity of Alaungdaw Kathapa has been achieved by means of preserving the natural forests and ecosystems of the park, as well as the archaeological remains within the property boundary that give the property its Outstanding Universal Value. The most significant attributes and elements of the property have been preserved. The buffer zone gives the property a further layer of protection.

The entire property including the buffer zone is owned by the Government of Myanmar and is being managed by the Shrine Committee of Alaungdaw Kathapa and National Park Authorities and therefore there is little threat of development or neglect. However, the effects of heavy seasonal pilgrimage in the park and shrine have been identified as a threat to the integrity of the property.

Authenticity

The authenticity of the archaeological remains within the boundaries has been confirmed through a series of excavations since the discovery of the site in the 15th century. The long-term challenges for the protection and management of the property are to control the impact of visitors, and natural impacts including humidity.

A Management Plan is in the process of being developed to ensure the long-term safeguarding of the archaeological vestiges of the property and the national parks natural biodiversity while allowing for the property to continue being visited by pilgrims and tourists from around the world.

The Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park is one of the most famous parks with the Burmese populace. It is more of a religious site than a national park, drawing 100,000s of pilgrims each year paying homage to the shrine of Alaungdaw Kathapa. The area itself is extremely isolated, elephants being the only means of transport to enter the park and forest for 6 months a year.

A small group of monks care for the shrine of Alaungdaw Kathapa, and along with authorities from the Forestry Department and Nature and Wildlife Conservation Division coordinate to educate visitors about conservation and wildlife.  In the 11th century, King Anawrata, who was on the throne of Upper Burma, was converted to Buddhism, but he did not insist that his people should give up their animistic beliefs.

The park protects the largest tracts of remaining intact forest in the country as well as a nationally important population of Leopards, Banteng and Asian Elephants.

Potential for Community Involvement

There are 64 communities around the park and many of which enter the park to extract natural resources. The AKNP has been under pressures due to high demand from surrounding communities and extensive illegal activities such as illegal loggings and Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) collections.

Meeting Global Conservation Selection Criteria

Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park meets 4 of our 6 Selection Criteria:

1.    Endangered National Park – Illegal Logging and Wildlife Poaching

2.    Developing Country - #122 out of 188 Human Development Index

3.   Strong Internet and Technology Infrastructure

4.    Growing Tourism for Sustainability – 150,000 local visitors in 2017

Two of our criteria – 5) Strong Park Leadership and Ranger Teams and 6) Strong Partner NGO for Park and Wildlife Protection – are both still in need of strengthening due to 20 years of international isolation of Myanmar, and low and often unpaid ranger and park administration salaries and budgets available for park operations. The park suffers from the lack of reliable internet and power as well as trained IT operators of systems, technology and networks needed for Global Park Defense, though has good to excellent cellular communications infrastructure around much of the park.