Posted on 14 April 2011
- Tigers could roam again in Central Asia
under a new plan by the Kazakhstan government
to reintroduce them in part of the country
where they went extinct decades ago.
WWF-Russia, together
with the government and experts of the Republic
of Kazakhstan announced today a new programme
to return tigers to the region.
The plan seeks to relocate
Amur tigers from the Russian Far East to
suitable habitat in Kazakhstan near the
delta of the Ili River, south of Balkhash
Lake.
A recent study has shown
the tigers from both the Caspian and Amur
regions are genetically identical so the
translocation of tigers between these areas
is a suitable option. The tigers of the
Caspian region, which includes Kazakhstan,
went extinct because of poaching and habitat
loss, but both these threats are now starting
to be adequately addressed.
The Caspian or Turan
tiger (panthera tigris virgata) was last
recorded in the wild in the early 1970s,
and there none in captivity, according to
the International Union for Conservation
of Nature and Natural Resources’ (IUCN)
Red List.
In March 2011, the Prime
Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Masimov underlined
his interest in developing the tiger restoration
programme in a meeting with WWF-Russia Director
Igor Chestin and WWF Central Asia Programme
Head Olga Pereladova.
"We have agreed
that WWF and the Ministry of Environment
in Kazakhstan will draw up a comprehensive
programme to reintroduce the tiger in the
area around Lake Balkhash", said Chestin.
“With a strong plan and proper protections
in place, tigers can again roam the forests
and landscapes of Central Asia.”
Research done by Dr.
Hartmut Jungius in 2010 showed the Ili River
Basin has at least 400,000 hectares of suitable
tiger habitat. A separate study has shown
the Amur tiger is genetically identical
to the Turan tiger.
The Turan tiger has
traditionally been an important symbol of
the culture of Kazakhstan and Central Asia.
“We congratulate the
Kazakhstan government for taking this opportunity
to help the tiger,” said Mike Baltzer, Head
of WWF’s Tigers Alive Initiative. “Restoring
tigers to Central Asia will require building
both strong partnerships and a strong protection
regime.”
On the heels of good
news for tigers
The new initiative comes
after an announcement last month by the
Indian government that its tiger population
had increased, based on a newly completed
survey.
The announcement came
during a follow-up meeting in India of governments
participating in the International Tiger
Conservation Forum, or Tiger Summit in St.
Petersburg, Russia in November 2010 hosted
by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
The Summit produced
the groundbreaking Global Tiger Recovery
Programme, an international plan joined
by tiger range countries to save the big
cat from extinction and double its numbers
by 2022.
At the Summit, Prime
Minister Putin expressed a willingness to
assist Kazakhstan with a tiger reintroduction
programme.
Numbering more than
100,000 at the turn of the 20th century,
the tiger population today is estimated
to be just 3,200, scattered across 13 countries
in Asia and the Russian Far East. Tigers
have been lost from more than 93 percent
of their habitat during this decline, including
the area in Kazakhstan where the reintroduction
programme is to take place.
+ More
Substandard dam assessment
opens way to fisheries destruction on Mekong
Posted on 14 April 2011
- Bangkok, Thailand: Disruptions to fish
migration and food supplies for millions
in the Mekong basin are likely if the first
mainstream dam on the lower Mekong is allowed
to go ahead, WWF predicted as it released
expert analysis showing the dam feasibility
study and environmental impact assessment
failed to address key environmental risks.
The WWF commissioned
review – coordinated by the WorldFish Centre
with participation from the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
found that the Environmental Impact Assessment
(EIA) for the proposed Xayaburi dam in Laos
and assessment were woefully inadequate
and fell well below international standards
for such studies.
Xayaburi is the first
of 11 dams proposed for the lower Mekong
mainstem. Lower Mekong countries are scheduled
to decide on whether the dam project can
move ahead on April 22.
Ignored published studies
The review found that
the EIA ignored published studies and relied
heavily on “a very light field sampling”
that captured “less than a third” of the
biodiversity in the impact area.
Just five migratory
species from a list compiled in 1994 were
mentioned and just three of more than 28
studies of Mekong fish migration were referenced.
In contrast, current studies show that 229
fish species exploit habitats upstream of
the dam site for spawning or dry season
refuges, with 70 classified as migratory.
The review finds the
proposed fish passes for the dam ignore
design guidelines, lack critical detail
including any specification of target species
and have a slope and steps which would be
challenging even for salmon – not a Mekong
species.
Among the species threatened
is the Mekong’s famed giant catfish with
only known spawning areas in the upper Mekong
between Chiang Rai province (Thailand) and
Bokeo (Laos). While the Mekong Giant Catfish
is symbolic and culturally important, smaller
fish like the Pa Soi are important food
sources for villagers in the Mekong River.
"How can you devise
mitigation measures for fish passage without
addressing the biology and the needs of
target species, which in this case range
from a small Siamese Mud Carp or Pa Soi
to a 3 metre long giant catfish," said
Dr Jian-hua Meng, WWF International Sustainable
Hydropower Specialist.
“Fish ladders of the
design proposed have had some success in
Europe and North America, but this
is where only a handful
of species are migratory, and many of those
are of the salmon family, that are much
stronger swimmers and jumpers than most
Mekong migratory species.”
Repeating mistakes of
Pak Mun Dam
The review noted other
studies that concluded that fish passes
are not a realistic mitigation option for
Mekong mainstream dams, and “that the Mekong
should never be used as a test case” for
proving or improving fish passages technologies.
WWF fears a much larger
scale repeat of the environmental damage
of the dam on the Mun River in Thailand,
a key Mekong tributary. After similar bland
assurances of only low level impacts on
fisheries prior to construction, the first
d ecade of the dam’s operation saw damaging
impacts on 85 per cent of fish species present
before the dam’s construction, with 56 species
disappearing entirely and reduced catches
for a further 169 species, according to
a World Commission on Dams study.
Consultations on the
Xayaburi dam have so far had to proceed
in the absence of much detail on the project,
with the abbreviated Feasibility Study dated
2008 but made available only in February
this year which was prepared by Thai group
TEAM Consulting and Swiss company AF-Colenco
and the final EIA by TEAM completed in August
2010 but made available only in March 2011.
WWF was unsuccessful
in attempts to brief the consultants on
the risks posed by the project.
WWF supports a 10-year
delay in the approval of lower Mekong mainstream
dams, including the Xayaburi hydropower
dam, to ensure a comprehensive understanding
of all the impacts of their construction
and operation, while immediate needs are
met with less challenging projects applying
state of the art sustainable hydropower
solutions are fast tracked on selected tributaries.
