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Conservationists ring alarm bells over future of Asian elephants

DA NANG — The future of the Asian elephant in Viet Nam is under threat as their habitat is rapidly cleared for agriculture, a conference has heard.

Delegates at the conference in Da Nang, which was organised by Flora & Flora International and Viet Nam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, recommended that the Vietnamese and Cambodian governments sign a cross-border conservation agreement.

Prior to the American war and Cambodia’s civil war, the dry, deciduous forests of northeast Mondulkiri in Cambodia and eastern Dac Lac in Viet Nam were referred to as the Serengeti of Indochina.

Today, this mosaic of deciduous and evergreen forests, wetlands and grasslands forms one of the most important ecosystems in Southeast Asia.

The kouprey ox is now widely believed to be extinct, and extinction looms for other species such as tigers, Eld’s deer and wild water buffalo.

Poaching before and after the wars has reduced the area’s elephant population to a few small herds.

However, this transborder area is still one of the most important remaining habitats for elephants in Viet Nam and Cambodia.

Delegates at the conference said hunting and the domestication of wild elephants are still problems, but land clearance is the number-one threat to wildlife in Viet Nam.

The clearance of their remaining habitats has also led to an escalation of conflicts between people and elephants in Ea Sup District, which further threatens the survival of the large mammals.

Delegates said bilateral co-operation between Viet Nam and Cambodia could help identify ways to promote elephant conservation.

Scientists now claim that a few large conservation areas are more effective at maintaining biodiversity than a series of small ones.

Therefore, the two countries should investigate the possibility of establishing transboundary conservation areas to better protect the remaining elephant herds.

The bilateral conservation efforts would also help boost the sharing of information, experience and training capacity of each country.

As a result of the conference, Viet Nam and Cambodia have agreed to work towards a bilateral conservation agreement.

Cambodia proposed to protect 400,000ha of forest along the border in Mondulkiri. If Viet Nam was to match this with an extension of Yok Don National Park to the south, it would create one of the largest protected areas in Southeast Asia. — VNS

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