IUCN_Stung Treng Policy Brief 2_Integrated Assessment of Wetlands in Cambodia

8/3/2019 IUCN_Stung Treng Policy Brief 2_Integrated Assessment of Wetlands in Cambodia

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Integrated Assessment ofWetlands in Cambodia

Experience from Stung Treng Ramsar Site, Cambodia

Prepared by David Allen, Kong Kim Sreng, WilliamDarwall and Oliver Springate-Baginski

POLICY BRIEF No. 2


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This project has been funded by the UK government through the Darwin Initiative, which draws on thewealth of biodiversity expertise within the UK to help protect and enhance biodiversity around the world.

OVERVIEW

Wetlands have diverse and complex biological andsocio-economic values that are often poorlyreflected in conservation and developmentplanning. Efforts to achieve sustainable, effectiveand equitable wetland conservation and

management can be enhanced by a thoroughunderstanding of the relationships between theirbiodiversity, economic, and livelihoods aspects;this requires that wetland assessments considerthese dimensions in an integrated way. While thereare techniques to assess wetland biological,economic and livelihood values and trendsindependently, there are a lack of practicalmethods to integrate the assessments, or toexpress this information in a way that contributesto real-world conservation and developmentplanning.

IUCN (International Union for Conservation ofNature) and its partners have undertaken anintegrated assessment of the economic,biodiversity and livelihood values of the StungTreng Ramsar wetland on the Lower Mekong,

Cambodia. The assessment aimed to collectrelevant biodiversity and socio-economic data toinform the Ramsar Site management planningprocess that was underway in Cambodia. Theassessment was undertaken as part of theinternational project Strengthening pro-poorwetland conservation using integratedbiodiversity and livelihood assessment, whichcommenced in October 2005 and concludes inDecember 2008 The project is funded by the UKDarwin Initiative, with the aim of developing andtesting an integrated multi-disciplinary wetlandassessment Toolkit.

STUNG TRENG RAMSAR SITE INTEGRATED ASSESSMENTUpon entering Cambodia from the Khone Falls inLao PDR, the Mekong River transforms into amajestic braided formation with a uniquecombination of flooded forests, bushlands, islandswith sand and pebbles, fast flowing rapids,whirlpools, and deep pools. Designated as aRamsar wetland of international importance on 23October 1999, it hosts a range of IUCN Red List

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threatened species, including the White-shouldered Ibis, River Terns, Siamese Crocodile,numerous fish species, and the Mekong River

Irrawaddy Dolphin.

In 2006, ecological assessments in the StungTreng Ramsar Site led to a proposal for thecreation of a zoning plan for the site which includesa number of Core Zones where fishing and otheractivities of local communities would be banned.The recommendations were largely based on abiodiversity conservation perspective, concludingthat there was currently minimal use of theseexclusion zones by local people. The integratedresearch by the IUCN team has, however,revealed extensive reliance by the local

communities on natural resources from within theproposed Core Zones, thus emphasising theimportance of conducting fully integratedmultidisciplinary assessments where the focus ison provision of information relevant to both speciesconservation and socio-economic issues.

In early 2007, through the IUCN-Darwin project, anintegrated assessment was conducted to evaluatethe potential impacts of the proposed zoning onlivelihoods, biodiversity and local economies. Theresults revealed that the proposed zoning plans, ifenforced, would adversely affect the poorestmembers of communities within the Ramsar Site,including migrant settlers, the landless, and those

1See: www.iucnredlist.org

depending on income and food security fromfishing.

According to Mr. Mark Dubois, a livelihoodspecialist with the IUCN project team, The mainusers of the Preah Sakhon area[proposed as oneof the Core Zones] are poor fishers, especiallytargeting Trey Riel during their spawningmigration.

Mr. Alvin Lopez, the assessment team leader and

former Wetland Ecologist for the regional MekongWetland Biodiversity Conservation andSustainable Use Programme (MWBP), and Mr.Kong Kim Sreng, IUCN Project Officer andbiodiversity advisor with the IUCN team addedThe sandbars within Preah Sakhon are one of themain nesting sites for the globally threatened RiverTern, while the channel woodlands serve asroosting and nesting sites for a range of otherspecies such as cormorants and darters.

Taking all three perspectives into consideration,management options were explored and solutions

were reached. It was found that seasonality is animportant factor with regard to the timing ofresource exploitation (mainly fish) and use ofbiodiversity refugia and nesting sites in the area.

At a presentation of the assessment findings inStung Treng in February 2007, attended by districtand national stakeholders, the conclusion wasreached that Preah Sakhon should be a semi-restricted zone with access permitted during theTrey Riel fishing period as there would be minimalimpacts to other biodiversity at that time of year.

A subsequent consultation meeting held inFebruary 2008 with the General Department forAdministration of Conservation and Protection


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(GDANCP) noted that allowing people to enter thePreah Sakhon Core Zone would be in conflict withthe criteria established by the Protected Area Lawand might also set a precedent for other corezones where people have been prevented fromentering and collecting resources. The generaldirector of GDANCP, H.E Chay Samith, thereforerecommended that, if Preah Sakhon is animportant habitat for both biodiversity and

livelihoods, the area be designated as aConservation Zone or Sustainable Use Zone; theProtected Area Law provides for access andresource collection within Conservation Zones andSustainable Use Zones, provided permission is

granted by the protected area authority and/orthere is supporting regulation and agreementbetween the local community and the protectedarea authority.

The greater challenge now is to determine whetherexisting regulations for protected areamanagement are flexible enough to accept thissolution for the protection of both biodiversity and

livelihoods, and to ensure that the resources aremade available to allow implementation of themanagement plan within the Stung Treng Ramsarsite.

Physical: Seasonal hydrological regime Elevation

Biodiversity: Fishes Molluscs Birds

Local livelihood systems: Food & fisheries Construction materials Wildlife trade

Irrigation

Value of ecosystem services:(including to distant users)

Fish Irrigation water Hydroelectricity

Institutions: Fishery policies &

governance Market access Traditional rights &

access

Physical: Seasonal hydrological regime Elevation

Biodiversity: Fishes Molluscs Birds

Local livelihood systems: Food & fisheries Construction materials Wildlife trade

Irrigation

Value of ecosystem services:(including to distant users)

Fish Irrigation water Hydroelectricity

Institutions: Fishery policies &

governance Market access Traditional rights &

access

Fig. 1: The IWA approach values all components of a wetland

THE INTEGRATED WETLAND ASSESSMENT (IWA) TOOLKITThe IWA Toolkit presents integrated biodiversity,economic and livelihood assessmentmethodologies to strengthen pro-poor approachesto wetland conservation. With an emphasis onprocess rather than step-by-step instruction, theToolkit outlines the process of designing,preparation for, and undertaking an integratedassessment, and describes methods for analysingand presenting the information collected using GISmaps and electronic databases to identify spatialoverlaps between areas of threatened species andhigh human dependence.

Developed through experience gained inundertaking the integrated assessments at StungTreng, and on the floodplain of the Rufiji River inTanzania, the Toolkit is intended to promote theconservation of wetlands in the face of competingdevelopments by presenting information on the fullvalue of the wetland to biodiversity and locallivelihoods and economies.

The Toolkit is founded on the premise that anintegrated approach to assessment is necessary inorder to generate information that adequately

addresses both conservation and socioeconomicconsiderations It must be practically useful, andpolicy relevant to wetland planning andmanagement. As both wetland values and threats

encompass biological, ecological, economic, andlivelihood aspects, and wetland managementresponses must simultaneously address and reactto each of these factors, a thorough understandingof all, and of the interlinkages and interconnectivitybetween them, is required.

The main components of integrated wetlandassessment are seen as species and habitat-based biodiversity assessment, economicvaluation, and livelihoods analysis. Maps anddatabases provide useful tools to bring together,

represent, analyse and share the information thatintegrated assessments yield. Such assessmentscan inform both local and global conservationplanning and action, and point to management andpolicy recommendations which simultaneouslysupport biodiversity conservation, sustain locallivelihoods, and reduce poverty.

The Toolkit describes a framework for assessmentwhich consists of the following stages:-

Defining management objectives: recognisingand balancing both conservation and

development goals, and promoting a pro-poorapproach to wetland management, is a processthat requires broad consultation and awarenessof a wide range of issues. Developing a shared


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vision and rooting the assessment in real-worldmanagement goals and objectives are bothessential to give purpose to the assessmentprocess, and to identify relevant managementand policy-related questions for the assessment;

Assessment: documenting the distribution andstatus of wetland biodiversity, identifying thedirect and indirect values of that biodiversity tolocal communities, and understanding past,current and future management and policyresponses requires co-ordination of datacollection, survey and review, across all relevantdisciplines;

Analysis and presentation: analysing datagenerated to provide clear management andpolicy recommendations which account forinterlinkages and connectivity betweenbiodiversity, economic and livelihood factors.Ensuring information is presented in a practicaland policy-relevant format which is bothappropriate and useful for planners and decision-makers in both conservation and developmentsectors.

Fig. 2: Informing Integrated Conservation and Development(ICAD) through integrated assessment (Source: Darwin Toolkit).The guiding principles supporting this Toolkit are

that wetland assessments should:

Be integrated across disciplines and themes topresent a comprehensive view of both theconservation and socioeconomic values ofwetland ecosystems;

Be geared to address a particular managementissue or question;

Generate information that can be used tosupport and improve the planning of on-the-

ground wetland management, and provideinformation to make better decisions about how

to use and allocate investment funds, land andresources in and around wetlands;

Work to strengthen existing wetlandmanagement processes;

Serve to sustain wetland values with a focus onensuring peoples continued equitable access towetland goods and services, particularly forpoorer and more vulnerable groups.

PROPOSED APPLICATION OF THE TOOLKIT IN CAMBODIAThe Darwin Initiative offers post-project funding toa small number of successful projects to maximisethe results of these projects and strengthen theirlong-term impact and legacy. We are looking tofurther promote wetland assessment andmanagement in Cambodia through an applicationfor post-project funding to support a 1-year projectIntegrated wetland assessment for improvedpolicy and practice: Scaling up

implementation of the Darwin Toolkit processin Cambodia.

If successful, we will work with NGOs andresponsible government departments to developcapacity in Cambodia to undertake integratedwetland assessment, and to conduct furtherintegrated assessments of high priority wetlandsites in Cambodia.

INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE

The IWA Toolkit will be available in December 2008. For more information on the Stung Trengintegrated assessment or the Darwin Initiative project please contact:Mr. Kong Kim SrengDarwin Project Officer, IUCN Cambodia#19 Street 312, Tonle Basac, Chamca Mon

P.O. Box: 1504 Phnom PenhCambodiaTel: +855 (023) 222 311 Ext. 110Fax: +855 (023) 222 312Mobile Phone: +855 (012) 888 847E-mail: [email protected]

Dr. William DarwallManager, Freshwater Biodiversity UnitIUCN Species Programme

219c Huntingdon RoadCambridge CB3 0DLUKTel: +44 1223 277966Fax: +44 1223 277845E-mail: [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

IUCN_Stung Treng Policy Brief 2_Integrated Assessment of Wetlands in Cambodia

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