Posted on 19 September
2011 Research conducted by WWF and the Cambodian
government in the Eastern Plains of Cambodia
in the northeast of the country estimates
the population of banteng between 2,700-5,700
individuals. This is the world’s largest
population of banteng given the estimated
global population is approximately 5,900-11,000.
Populations in other sites in Thailand and
Indonesia number just a few hundred.
Considered to be one of the most beautiful
and graceful of all wild cattle species,
the banteng (Bos javanicus) is most likely
the ancestor of Southeast Asia’s domestic
cattle. According to the IUCN, banteng populations
in Cambodia have decreased by more than
90% since the late 1960’s. Since 1996, banteng
has been listed by IUCN as globally endangered
because of this rapid and dramatic decline.
“The current findings provide strong evidence
of the global significance of the Eastern
Plains of Cambodia for the conservation
of the species,” said Mr Phan Channa, Ministry
of Environment counterpart with WWF’s research
programme and one of the authors of the
recent survey report released today.
Besides banteng, the research also confirms
increased numbers of other large mammals
including wild pig and muntjac in the area.
They are all very important prey animals
for tiger, which have also suffered a massive
decline across Cambodia and the rest of
Asia in the last few decades.
Another author of the report, Dr Thomas
Gray, Biodiversity Research Advisor with
WWF-Cambodia, explained that a very important
aspect of the research was to understand
the current levels of tiger prey species
such as banteng, wild pig, and muntjac as
part of the government’s strategy to restore
the Eastern Plains as the priority tiger
landscape in Cambodia.
For the tiger population to recover, one
of the most important things needed is a
sustainable source of prey, such as banteng.
The Eastern Plains of Cambodia has been
identified as perhaps one of the best places
in Asia for such a recovery given the condition
and large size of the habitat, and investments
in recent years into better law enforcement
and management of protected areas appear
to be paying dividends.
“The high levels of
law enforcement effort by nearly 60 rangers
patrolling regularly inside and outside
protected areas is a big deterrent for poachers,”
said Ms Michelle Owen, Conservation Programme
Manager with WWF-Cambodia. “However much
more effort is needed in order to eradicate
poaching in this critically important landscape,”
she continued.
Poaching is not the only threat however.
In recent years, the forests in the Eastern
Plains, and across the rest of the country,
have become increasingly at risk from large-scale
land concessions. Pressure from national
and international investors for agricultural
concessions, as well as plans for large
infrastructure projects threatens the global
importance of the Eastern Plains.
According to Mr Nick Cox, WWF’s Species
Conservation Manager, granting economic
land concessions inside protected areas
even if the concessions are small, sets
a very dangerous precedent, and is undermining
the work that the Cambodian government and
its conservation partners have collaborated
to achieve in the last decade.
“It essentially means Cambodia’s protected
areas, including those that contain globally
important species populations, are not as
protected by the law as people once thought,”
he explained.
WWF is urging the Cambodian Government to
fast track the process of developing and
implementing zoning plans for protected
areas in order to protect areas of high
biodiversity values prior to any new decisions
on land concessions.
“For tigers and prey
species – including a globally endangered
banteng population – to recover within the
landscape, stronger protected area management
and a commitment to conservation from high
levels of the Cambodian government are essential,”
Mr Cox said. “Anything less threatens to
unravel a decade of conservation progress
and with each passing day diminishes the
Eastern Plains’ value as a national and
global ecological asset for current and
future generations.”
