Rhinoceros sondaicus (Desmarest, 1822)
CONSERVATION AND RESEARCH ACTIVITIES6
(numbered projects are WWF projects)
Asian Rhino Action Plan:6 During 1989, a Javan Rhinoceros Action Plan was completed by the Asian Rhino Specialist Group of the IUCN/Species Survival Commission (SSC) as part of an Action Plan for all three Asian Rhino species. The Action Plan included general strategies and specific measures to protect and preserve the three species of Asian Rhino. Regarding the population in Ujung Kulon National Park, the plan recommends: an intensive survey within the park concentrating on the size, composition and habitat preferences of the population, and the threats to its existence; determination of the resources needed to provide adequate protection; public education programmes on the importance of conserving the Javan Rhinoceros; development of a captive breeding programme to establish a framework for a genetically and demographically viable population; enforcement of measures prohibiting the use of Javan Rhino products in Indonesia, particularly the application of fines etc. against poachers and traders. The Plan also recommends surveys in Indochina to establish the extent to which Javan Rhinos are present in the region. This Action Plan has recently been revised and should become available during 1996.
TRAFFIC: WWF has greatly increased support for TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network of WWF and IUCN. TRAFFIC is exploring culturally sensitive ways to discourage consumption of rhino horn and other rhino parts for medicinal purposes and to encourage the use of effective substitutes. WWF is assisting law enforcement agencies in improving implementation of CITES and is placing political pressure on governments of countries and territories of key concern to stop the illegal trade. WWF funds a regional TRAFFIC office in Malaysia for field investigations and general trade monitoring throughout Southeast Asia. WWF also supports TRAFFIC offices in Hong Kong, Taipei, Japan and India.
Global Environment Facility (GEF) Project for South East Asia Rhinos:26 Approval has been completed for a Global Environment Facility Biodiversity Project to assist initiation of full implementation of rhino conservation strategies and Action Plans in Indonesia and Malaysia. The Project will provide US $2 m from 1995 to 1998, evenly divided between the two countries. The three major elements of the Project are to: enhance the capabilities of conservation agencies (governmental and non-governmental) in order to arrest the decline of rhinoceros due to poacher activity and habitat disturbance; develop more involvement by, as well as benefits and incentives for, local human communities in rhino conservation; formulate, catalyze, and initiate a comprehensive and sustainable plan for the rhino strategy. It is expected that activities resulting from the implementation of this project will assist and reinforce the conservation of the Javan Rhino in Indonesia.
Vietnam: On the basis of surveys that established the presence of the Javan Rhinoceros in Lam Dong province, a 35,000 ha core area was demarcated as a Rhino Sanctuary. The Sanctuary was protected further from human encroachment by buffer zones to the north and south. It is proposed to link the Rhino Sanctuary and buffer zones with the Nai Bai Cat Tien National Park, increasing the total protected area to about 100,000 ha.14 Currently, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is continuing scientific surveys and monitoring of the area in co-operation with the Ministry of Forestry, and conducting training workshops for forest guards, local officials and community leaders. WWF is supporting conservation of the rhino's habitat under project VN00020 in Vietnam in Cat Tien National Park, with a US$6.3m grant from the Dutch government. This funding will finance a five-year programme that will introduce non-destructive livelihood schemes for the 30,000 people living in the park and surrounding buffer zones. It is hoped that the entire conservation area incorporating the Rhino Sanctuary, buffer zones and Nam Bai Cat Tien National Park, will eventually become a biosphere reserve and a model of participatory natural resources and protected area management.5
Indonesia: Under Project ID0091 WWF has helped improve the protection and management of the Ujung Kulon National Park and taught field staff how to regularly monitor the rhino population. In addition, WWF supports alternative income generation for villages in the buffer area on the park's eastern boundary. This also involves community patrolling of the park and improved guard posts.
In 1990, Indonesia's Directorate of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation (PHPA) and WWF initiated an extensive photographic survey of rhino numbers and distribution in Ujung Kulon National Park.25 About 30 automatic cameras activated by a pressure mat trigger were placed at strategic points throughout the Park. From the photos taken over the last two years, 27 individual rhinos could be identified on the basis of anatomical features. Information on population structure gathered from this survey has helped direct the current management policy for this population. It has been recommended that the protection of the Park is improved; a more efficient patrolling system is developed; systematic monitoring of the rhino population should be undertaken; habitat management should not be implemented at this time; captive breeding should not be attempted; a translocation site for a second population of Javan Rhinos should be prepared. Once these conditions are in place a translocation of animals from Ujung Kulon to the prepared site should be undertaken.
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