Wildlife trade is a vast, international, multi-million dollar commercial enterprise worth up to $10 billion a year, as much as 70% of which is illegal. Within Asia, much of this trade starts from Indonesia, one of the worlds 10 ‘megadiverse’ countries and the largest supplier of wildlife products in the region. Across the archipelago, key species including tiger, rhino, elephant, orangutan, birds, bears, orchids, fish, turtles, pangolins, coral, snakes, sharks and more are being hunted and traded in enormous volumes. Of the 107 species of birds and mammals red-listed as endangered in Indonesia, overexploitation is identified as the principal threat in over one third. In the case of the 16 reptiles listed, overexploitation is identified as the principal threat for all. While Indonesia has a legal environment that generally supports the control of wildlife trade, its effective implementation has many barriers. WCS aims to support the removal of these barriers, and to remove the threat to Indonesian biodiversity caused by both the legal and illegal over-exploitation of wildlife.
The Human Aspect
and local people and tigers are effectively competing for the same resources. The Leuser Ecosystem, spanning Aceh and North Sumatra provinces, on the other hand, forms a continuous area of forest exceeding 30,000 km2. While much of this forest is relatively intact, the new demand for resources and weak law enforcement on the ground, creates a real challenge for conservation.
Threats
Habitat loss, tiger’s prey poaching, tiger poaching and human conflict are the major threats to tigers in Sumatra. The first is of great concern, as it affects all forest species. The second is a threat as the main food for tigers is removed. The third, poaching of tigers, is actually a composite of many kinds of killing: hunting to satisfy the demand for tiger parts, and retaliatory acts in response to killing of livestock or humans by tigers.
WCS Activities
Our current approach to tiger conservation comprises the following components:
Collaborative law enforcement: We operate Wildlife Crimes Units in both southern and northern Sumatra to investigate wildlife trade; to provide legal support in prosecutions, and; to promote awareness of the law. This work has contributed to the arrest of over 25 tiger, elephant and rhino poachers since 2003, and we are now seeing a drop in wildlife crimes in our target landscapes.
Conflict awareness and education: We work with local communities to mitigate conflicts between humans and tigers. This includes innovative “tiger-proof livestock enclosures”, livestock management, and personal safety advice and procedures. As an example of the success of this intervention, we have seen a drop in conflict incidents by 85% in the last year in the Bukit Barisan landscape, with no tigers or people killed and 87% reduction in livestock deaths.
Habitat protection: WCS is working across Sumatra to protect the remaining tiger habitat. This work includes law enforcement to address illegal encroachment and logging, promoting environmentally friendly livelihoods in buffer zone areas, spatial and land use planning, ecosystem restoration and the development of local government-led carbon financed forest protection schemes. We are also working hard with the Ministry of Forestry to strengthen the management of national parks.
Monitoring our effectiveness: Since 2006 we have led the development of a long-term monitoring program using a patch occupancy approach. From 2007- 2009, Leuser Landscape, Barisan Mountain Landscape, Riau & Way Kambas NP, were surveyed through 168 grid cells (17x17km), and second season of the monitoring was conducted in 2010 covering 51 grids in the Barisan Mountain Landscape. This program has been conducted in collaboration with many other stakeholders across Sumatra. Monitoring allows us to assess the status of tigers and their prey over time, to evaluate our work, and to adapt to changes in population status.
Developing an integrated management database: WCS provides spatially explicit conservation monitoring tools to the management authorities and other stakeholders, which help them to make better decisions in protecting the tigers.
Promoting tiger conservation through partnership: We are bringing together partners in Sumatran tiger conservation. Through pooling knowledge and resources, this partnership will strengthen the tiger conservation work and increase our impacts on the ground.
Our work is supported by:
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