The Babbler 1

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March 2002Volume 1, Issue 1

Inside this Issue

1 Editorial

2 Regional News

3 Project updateRarest of the rare

4 Recently published

5 Profile

6 Staff News

7 Recent Publications

BirdLife International in Indochina#11, Lane 167, Tay SonHanoi, Vietnamwww.birdlifevietnam.com

Editorial

The Babbler BirdLife International in Indochina

The need for change was, we felt, because our previousquarterly report was, well, a little dull, and we felt we were notreaching enough of you concerned with bird conservation inAsia. Hence The Babbler which will be posted quarterly onour web-site. You will notice too that the scope of The Babbleris wider too. This is a reflection of the broader regionalapproach we are taking. We are doing this to maximise thepotential contribution we can make to conservation and also totake advantages of new opportunities and adapt to newconstraints as they arise. The Babbler will bring to yourattention news relating to bird conservation issues in theIndochina region. By Indochina we mean the countries ofCambodia, Burma (Myanmar), Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.The Babbler was the natural choice for a name given thereare babblers everywhere, under every bush, bamboo clump, onthe end of every telephone and in coffee shops and bars fromHkakaborazi to Can Tho! That’s northern Kachin State to thesouthern Mekong Delta in case your geography is rusty. Inthis first issue that scope is reflected with news ondevelopments with our IBA project which is coveringCambodia, Laos and Vietnam, as well as reports onlogging in Burma and the recent declaration of Pu MatNational Park in Vietnam. If you have any comments orhave any suggestions, please let Phuong know [email protected]

Welcome to the

first issue of The Babbler.This is our new-look quarterlyreport, which we hope you willenjoy reading.

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Regional NewsLogging in BurmaOne of the world's "biodiversityhotspots" is under siege, as a growingnumber of business interests seek tocash in the "peace" in northern Burma'sKachin State. A project is in progress tobuild a number of roads in Kachin Statein return for huge logging concessions.

A recent agreement involves the KachinIndependence Organization (KIO), theNew Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K), the State Peace and DevelopmentCouncil (SPDC) and a Chineseconstruction company. The middlemanin the deal is the Kachin Jadelandcompany, owned by Kachinbusinessmen Yup Zau Hkawng. Theagreement stipulates that the Chinesecompany will build roads leading fromMyitkyina to Sumprabum and,eventually, Putao, from Myitkyina toBhamo, and from Wai Maw to theChinese border near Kampaiti. In return

for building these roads, the KachinJadeland company and the Chinesecompany have been given huge loggingconcessions deep in Kachin State. Thereare two concession areas, one locatedbetween the Mali Hka and the N'maiHka rivers (the whole triangle-shapedarea), and the other one between therailway line from Myitkyina toMandalay to the road leading fromMyitkyina to Bhamo. This area is in theheart of the Kachin State and has neverbeen subject to large-scale logging.

Continued logging in Burma threatensone of mainland Southeast Asia's mostforested regions as Burma contains halfthe forest in the region. Furtherconcessions endanger one of the world'sremaining sources of biodiversity. Andthe destruction of forests in this areaalong the headwaters of the IrrawaddyRiver will not only damage theenvironment but will also have a graveimpact on the livelihood of peopledownstream. Increased floodingendangers rice paddies along the

Irrawaddy as well as riverine fisheries.Kachin State is a very underdevelopedarea. Many communities live in veryisolated and remote areas, and lack oftransportation and communicationfacilities present huge obstacles in thedevelopment of the area, despite the factthat Kachin State is rich in naturalresources.

Source: enviro-vlc by Vern Weitzel<[email protected]>, UNDP

Nghe An: Pu Mat Becomes NationalParkThe Government has decided to upgradethe Pu Mat Natural Reserve in thecentral province of Nghe An into the PuMat National Park, the 14th nationalpark in Vietnam.

Decision No 174 states that the nationalpark will have a total area of 91,113hectares, including 89,517 hectaresunder strict protection and 1,596hectares for ecological revival. Pu Matforest is one of the five big touristcenters in Nghe An province, whichinclude Cua Lo Beach Resort and NamDan relic – the home district of LatePresident Ho Chi Minh and his parents.

Project updates

Biodiversity assessment of PT Daisy

During September a multi-disciplinary team from TFT and BirdLife conducteda biodiversity assessment of the PT Daisy logging concession, Berau District,East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The purpose of the study was to provide baselinedata on the biodiversity of PT Daisy and to make conservationrecommendations that can serve as a basis and provide guidance for planningthe subsequent programme of forestry activities proposed by TFT and themanagement of PT Daisy.

A total of 60 mammal species and 230 bird species were recorded in PT Daisyduring the survey. Mammal and bird species richness at PT Daisy was found tobe above average in comparison with 11 other protected areas in Borneo. Interms of rarity, of the 290 species of mammal and bird recorded in PT Daisy,almost a quarter were Red-listed. Amongst birds this is a particular reflectionof the international concern of the conservation status of lowland Sundaicforests. The survey concluded that PT Daisy is situated within three“Hotspots.” It lies within an Endemic Bird Area (EBA), an Important BirdArea and a Centre of Plant Diversity, which are all measures of its internationalconservation importance.

The two most important threats to biodiversity at PT Daisy were identified asnon-sustainable timber extraction and the isolation and fragmentation of bothforest within PT Daisy and at the wider landscape level. Principle causes ofbiodiversity loss included failure to adopt and implement selective cuttingsystem as stipulated by concession agreement, lack of awareness of benefits ofreduced-impact logging, illegal cutting and poor regional land-use planning.

Vietnam: Pu Mat BecomesNational Park

The Government of Vietnam has decidedto upgrade the Pu Mat Natural Reserve inthe central province of Nghe An into thePu Mat National Park, the 14th nationalpark in Vietnam.

Decision No 174 states that the nationalpark will have a total area of 91,113hectares, including 89,517 hectares understrict protection and 1,596 hectares forecological revival. Pu Mat comprises oneof the last primary landscapes in Vietnam.

Lowland evergreen primary forest in the Khe Toivalley on the banks of the main river

Photo: SFNC/EU project

The current non-sustainable approach to forestmanagement at PT Daisy threatenssustainability of the forest as a commercialforestry operation and in the long term willinevitably lead to seriously reduced levels ofbiodiversity. To achieve more sustainable,certified forest management at this site, PTDaisy and the TFT are developing a newcollaborative project that will see PT achieveForest Stewardship Council certificationwithin three years.

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Project updatesMajor non-breeding site for SarusCrane found in CambodiaSarus Crane Grus antigone is one of anumber of globally threatenedwaterbirds found in South-East Asia.The South-East Asian race of thespecies, Eastern Sarus Crane G. a.sharpii is now thought to number lessthan 1,500 individuals. This race breedsin Preah Vihear, Stung Treng andRatanakiri provinces in north-easternCambodia. During the non-breedingseason, the species concentrates at AngTrapeang Thmor Conservation Area innorth-western Cambodia, and at TramChim National Park and the Ha TienPlain in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam.

During January 2002, a fourth majornon-breeding site for Eastern SarusCrane was found in Takeo province,southern Cambodia. This site wasidentified in March 2001, during anaerial survey by the International CraneFoundation (ICF), the Department ofForestry and Wildlife (DFW) of theMinistry of Agriculture, Forestry andFisheries (MAFF), and the Departmentof Nature Conservation and Protection(DNCP) of the Ministry of theEnvironment (MoE). A follow-upsurvey by Wildlife ConservationSociety (WCS), BirdLife International,DFW and DNCP staff from 4 to 6January 2002, as part of the Danida-funded project Improved conservationplanning through institutionalstrengthening in Cambodia, Laos andVietnam, revealed that the site supportsa major non-breeding population ofSarus Crane, as well as a number ofother species of global conservationconcern. During the Danida-fundedsurvey, a minimum of 123 Sarus Craneswas recorded. As a result of thesefindings, the site qualifies as anImportant Bird Area (IBA), a globallyimportant site for bird conservation. Itis vitally important, therefore, thatdecision makers at all levels are madeaware of the global importance of thissite, so that appropriate managementcan be put into place and developmentinitiatives that conflict withconservation can be avoided.

Rarest of the rare

In flight, wings entirely white except for black tips. Female and immature arebuff-brown to sandy-rufous, and have buffish-white wing-coverts with fine, darkbarring. Voice Croaks and strange, deep humming during display. Sometimesshrill metallic chik-chik-chik when disturbed. Hints: Search grasslands duringmarch-May when displaying males are most conspicuous.

Range and population: The Bengal Florican has two disjunct populations, onein the India subcontinent, another in South-East Asia (SEA). The former occursfrom India, through the terai of Nepal, to Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, India,and historically to Bangladesh. It has declined dramatically and only survives insmall, highly fragmented population (220-280 birds in India and up to 100 inNepal). The SEA population occurs in Cambodia and adjacent southernVietnam. It is poorly known but recent survey work as part of the IBA projectsuggests it occurs widely in Cambodia and the population may number 1,000birds. In Vietnam it is much rarer and only a relict population is believed tosurvive.

Ecology: It inhabits lowland dry, or seasonally inundated, natural and semi-natural grasslands, often interspersed with scattered scrub or patchy open forest.Most of the Indian population appear to be resident. In SEA, it is through tomake seasonal movements in response to the south-west monsoon, probarlybeeding in central and northern Cambodia and occurring at other timessouthward, to southernmost Vietnam.

Threats: The key threat is extensive loss and modification of grasslandsthrough drainage, conservation to agriculture, overgrazing, inappropriate cuttingand burning regimes and heavy flooding. Excessive hunting for sport and foodmay have triggered its decline, and continues to be a serious threat, especially inCambodia. Other threats include human disturbance and trampling of nests bylivestock. Most populations in the Indian sub-continent are small, isolated andvulnerable to local extirpation.

Conservation: Several populations occur within protected areas, the mostimportant in the Indian subcontinent being Chitwan National Park and SuklaPhanta Wildlife Reserve, Nepal, Kaziranga, Dibru-Saikhowa and DudwaNational Parks, India. In SEA a tiny population occurs in Tram Chim NP,Vietnam, and another in the Ang Trapeang Thmor Reserve, Cambodia. In partsof the invadation zone of the Tonle Sap lake the species is common, evenaccruing is anthropogenetic landscape. The question arises how best to consenethis internationally important population given the trend towards agriculturalintensification and development inititnes proposed for the Tonle Sap lake.

Bengal Florican Houbaropsis

bengalensisStatus: This bustard has very small, rapidlydeclining population largely as a result ofwidespread loss of its grassland habitat. Ittherefore qualifies as Endangered

Identification: Length: 66-68 cm. Mostlyblack bustard with largely white wings.

Bengal Floricanin Cambodia

Photo: Jonathan Eames

Please see next page


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We are pleased to report that theGovernment of Cambodia is takingrapid steps to establish this site as aprotected area. We hope that H.E PrimeMinister Hun Sen will sign a decreeestablishing it as such late this year.

Vietnam: New Black-faced Spoonbillsite discovered in Quang Ninh

On 19 December 2001, during a surveyof the coastal zone of Quang Ninhprovince as part of the Danida-fundedproject Improved conservation planningthrough institutional strengthening inCambodia, Laos and Vietnam, a teamfrom the Institute of Ecology andBiological Resources (IEBR), BirdLifeInternational and Quang NinhDepartment of Science, Technology andthe Environment (DOSTE) discovered anew site for Black-faced SpoonbillPlatalea minor on Ha Nam island inYen Hung district. This globallyendangered species, which has a globalpopulation of only around 800individuals, breeds in the Koreanpeninsula and the coast of north-easternChina, and over-winters in Vietnam,Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong and Macau.Prior to this survey, the only knownover-wintering sites for Black-facedSpoonbill in Vietnam were located inthe Red River Delta. Ha Nam is the firstover-wintering site to be found outsideof the delta.

During the survey, only four juvenileBlack-faced Spoonbills were recordedon Ha Nam island. However, becauseonly a small part of the island wassurveyed, it is possible that the actualnumber of spoonbills at the site isgreater. A return visit will be made tothe site during the annual sychronisedBlack-faced Spoonbill count, duringwhich it is hoped that more data on the

status of the species at the site can becollected. Ha Nam island also supportslarge numbers of over-winteringwaterfowl, including Northern PintailAnas penelope and Eurasian Wigeon A.acuta. At present, the bird populationsat the site are threatened by theactivities of sport hunters from Hanoiand Hai Phong cities. However,providing measures are implemented tocontrol these activities, the potential todevelop Ha Nam island as a key area forwaterbird conservation is high. Incomparison with the coastal zone of theRed River Delta, the coastal zone ofQuang Ninh province has received littleornithological attention in recent years.Therefore, a number of interestingdiscoveries were made. In the Ba Cheestuary, two species listed in the RedData Book of Vietnam, Collared CrowCorvus torquatus and Great Cormorant

Phalacrocorax carbo, were recorded.For both species, these are only thesecond recent records, illustrating thelack of data on the current status ofthese species in Vietnam. Around TraCo island, near Mong Cai town, close tothe Vietnam-China border, eightglobally vulnerable Saunders's GullsLarus saundersi were observed. Thissite was also found to be important formigratory shorebirds and other gullspecies. Based on the results of theIEBR/BirdLife/Quang Ninh DOSTEsurvey, two sites in the coastal zone ofQuang Ninh province qualify asImportant Bird Areas (IBA): Ha Namisland and Tra Co island. Initialconservation activities for both sites arecurrently being planned, in order tosecure their important biodiversityvalue.

Laos: Green Peafowls persist at Ban Nakay IBAFifty years ago, Green Peafowl Pavo muticus was found throughout Laos but,today, it is known from only six sites. The main reason for this dramatic decline ishunting. The decline in the Lao population has been mirrored by declines in theother parts of the species' range, and it has already gone extinct in Malaysia.Consequently, the species is considered to be globally threatened.

As part of the Danida-funded project Improved conservation planning throughinstitutional strengthening in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, the Forest Inventoryand Planning Centre, the Division of Forest Resources Conservation, the WildlifeConservation Society and BirdLife International have been identifying anddocumenting Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in Laos. One of the first IBAs to beidentified was Ban Nakay in Phou Khao Khouay Protected Area. This IBA wasidentified on the basis of the discovery of a population of Green Peafowl at thesite in 1994. However, as there have been no published records of this species atthe site since 1995, it was considered necessary to conduct a rapid field survey toassess its current status.

A survey team, comprising Khamsene Ounekham, Michael Hedemark and JackTordoff, visited Ban Nakay IBA between 1 and 3 February 2002. Local peopleguided the team to a peafowl roost site, where fresh droppings and tracks wereseen. During dawn and dusk counts at the roost site, a minimum of five birds wereheard calling and a single bird was seen, confirming the persistence of the speciesat the site.

Given the amount of suitable habitat available and reports by local people of otherroost sites in the area, it is likely that Ban Nakay IBA supports a significant butnot large population of Green Peafowl. Although the population remains highlysusceptible to hunting, a community-based conservation initiative at the siteappears to have controlled this activity. A more immediate threat is posed bytimber extracting, which is taking place throughout the site. It is hoped that thisactivity can be controlled, at least within the peafowl roost sites, and that thefuture of the Green Peafowl population at Ban Nakay IBA can be secured.

Black-faced Spoonbill/Photo: Woei-Horng Fang

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Important Bird Area found in VanBan district, Lao Cai province

During March 2002, the BirdLifeInternational, the Institute of Ecologyand Biological Resources and Fauna &Flora International Vietnam Programmeconducted a survey in Van Ban district,Lao Cai province. The survey was partof the Danida-funded project Improvedconservation planning throughinstitutional strengthening inCambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

During the fifteen-day survey in VanBan district, 156 bird species wererecorded, including two species listed inthe 2000 IUCN Red List of ThreatenedSpecies: Red Beautiful Nuthatch Sittaformosa and Yellow-billed Nuthatch S.solangiae. Van Ban district is known tosupport populations of two of the fourrestricted range species that define theFansipan and Northern Lao SecondaryEndemic Bird Area: Yellow-billedNuthatch and Broad-billed WarblerTickellia hogdsoni. The site alsosupports suitable habitat for the thirdand fourth restricted-range species,Ward's Trogon Harpactes wardi andRed-winged Laughingthrush Garrulax

formosus, however, these species werenot recorded during the field survey.

Van Ban district supports a range ofnatural habitats (lowland forest, lowermontane forest and upper montaneforest), which, together, support a highdiversity of bird species. Van Bansupports 58 species restricted to theSino-Himalayan Subtropical ForestsBiome, including Green CochoaCochoa viridis, Grey LaughingthrushGarrulax maesi and Black-headedShrike Babbler Pteruthius rufiventer.Van Ban also supports a further 20species restricted to the Sino-HimalayanTemperate Forests Biome, including:Hill Partridge Arborophila torqueola,Yellow-billed Blue Magpie Urocissaflavirostris and Streaked BarwingActinodura souliei.

The presence of the above speciesmeans that Van Ban district qualifies asan Important Bird Area (IBA). Inaddition, the result of the surveyindicate that Van Ban district is worthyof protected area status. One option,given the areas' high biodiversity valueand ecoturism potential, would be to

combine Van Ban district with forestareas in Sa Pa and Than Uyen districtsto form a national park. Habitat loss,selective timber extraction and huntingcontinue to threaten the biodiversity ofthe area. However, with continuedsupport from all levels, the site hasevery possibility to become one of thekey protected areas in Vietnam.

Conservation Monitoringat Xuan Thuy Nature Reserve

Xuan Thuy Monitoring Conservation Project

BirdLife Internatioanal has now completed the first phase of a project entitled Conservation Monitoring at Xuan Thuy NatureReserve.

With the financial support from Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund (KNCF), this project has successfully providedessential equipment and infrastructure for Nature Reserve Management Board, trained staff members in ecologicalmonitoring and established a research and ecological monitoring programme and baseline for Black-faced Spoonbill andSaunders's Gull.

We look forward to working on phase second of this project in 2003.

Black-faced Spoonbill census (please se next page)

Silver Pheasant Lophura nycthemeraPhoto: FFI Vietnam


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New White-shouldered Ibis site inCambodia

During March an IBA survey team leadby Seng Kim Hout and Pech Bunnatwith Jonathan Eames riding shotgun,conducted a rapid appraisal of four sitesin Kompong Thom province. A missionobjective was to try and crack theenigma of jut where Cambodia’s White-shoulderd Ibis population isconcentrated. The team visited theColixim logging concession which is inthe process of being clear-felled andconverted to agriculture. The few large

wetlands which remain are reallydoomed. The second survey site the250,000 ha Boeng Per WildlifeSanctuary faces a similar fate. Thesurvey team were shocked to findwidespread forest clearance andconversion to cashew and coffee. Themost promising locality identified wasVeal Srangai a very large area ofseasonally inundated grassland south ofthe Stung Sen on the border betweenKompong Thom and KompongChhnang provinces. Here the teamreceived reliable reports of White-shouldered Ibis and saw many Bengal

Floricans. Another highlight included asingle flock of 262 Lesser Adjutantsfeeding in a burnt area. Although theteam did not find any White-shoulderedIbis, Pete Davison later visited the siteand saw two!

Black-faced Spoonbill census

The Black-faced Spoonbill Platalea minor is a migratory waterbird distributed along theEast Asian coast. The species used to be classified as Critically Endangered, and is now classified again as Endangered."Endangered" is defined as "facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future".

From 1993 through 2002, conservationists from numerous countries in the East Asia have coordinated synchronized globalwinter population counts of Black-faced Spoonbills. Volunteer participants from winter ranges in South Korea, Japan, HongKong, Macau, Taiwan, and Vietnam have joined in the annual counts. From a starting point of 294 birds in 1988-90, theglobal population estimate increased to 870 birds by January 2001. Wintering BFS were reported from at least 23 differentsites in January 2001. Wintering populations increased in South Korea, Japan, mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, andTaiwan, but declined in Vietnam.

Since the first international count in 1993, BirdLife International had actively participated by undertaking counts made in allthe known wintering sites of Black-faced Spoonbill in the Red River Delta. However, in the recent years, while winteringpopulations increased in all other countries, the population of this species has declined in Vietnam. The reasons for this arebelieved to be habitat loss and over human disturbance along the coast of Vietnam.

On 26-27 January 2002, BirdLife International organised Black-faced Spoonbill counts at Xuan Thuy Nature Reserve, NamDinh Province, Thai Thuy Nature Reserve, Thai Binh Province, and Ha Nam island, Yen Hung District, Quang NinhProvince. In total, 54 Black-faced Spoonbills were counted including 51 birds at Xuan Thuy Nature Reserve and 3 birds atHa Nam island, Quang Ninh Province. In this effort we were joined by our collegues from Taiwan Wildbird Federation

Ha Nam island is the first wintering site for the species in the country to be identified outside of the coastal zone of the RedRiver Delta after a recent record of 4 immature birds from a BirdLife/IEBR survey. On the return visit to the site on 26January 2002, three juvenile Black-faced Spoonbills were observed, together with a single Eurasian Spoonbill P. leucorodia.The remains of the fourth Black-faced Spoonbill were seen in the house of a local person. The death of this bird highlightsthe continuing threat to this species in the absence of strict controls on hunting at this site.

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Recently publishedThe importance of Vu Quang NatureReserve by J.C. Eames, R.Eve and A.W.Tordoff. Bird Conservation International(2001) 11:247-285.

Vu Quang Nature Reserve was broughtto the attention of the worlds scientificcommunity following the discovery oftwo previously undescribed largemammal species in the early 1990s. Inlight of the identification of other sitesof high biodiversity value in theAnnamite mountains of Vietnam andLaos, the relative importance forbiodiversity conservation of Vu Quangneeded to be reassessed. Whilst VuQuang supports one of the highestnumber of recorded bird species of all14 protected areas in the eco-region, acomplementarity analysis revealed thatVu Quang does not fall within thecritical subset of sites necessary to

conserve 95% of the avifaunal diversityof the Annamese Lowlands EndemicBird Area (EBA). The site should not,therefore, be considered a regional birdconservation priority. Furthermore, ofthe nine restricted-range species knowfrom the Annamese Lowlands EBA,only three are known from Vu Quang,which is not, therefore, a priority site forthe conservation of endemic birdspecies either!

New taxa and new records ofbutterflies from Vietnam byMonastyrskii, A. and Devyatkin, A. L.2000. Atalanta 31 (3/4): 471-492.

This paper, by the leading authorities onVietnam’s butterfly fauna, describes sixnew species and six new sub-species ofbutterfly principally from the centralhighlands. Several of the new formswere collected as part of the EC-fundedExpanding the protected-areas in the21st Century project. The paper

provides further evidence that EBAs arealso centres of endemism for butterflies.

Towards a Vision for BiodiversityConservation in the Forests of thelower Mekong Ecoregion Complex. byBaltzer, M. C, Nguyen Thi Dao andShore, R. G. (eds.) 2001. WWFIndochina/WWF US, Hanoi andWashington D. C. (report and technicalannex).

This document presents the results of abiological assessment and proposes abiodiversity conservation vision for theforests of Cambodia, and much of Laosand Vietnam. The documents are theresults of a long consultative processundertaken by WWF. This is the firsttime that a landscape based approachhas been used to elaborate a sub-regional conservation planning vision.These well produced and attractivedocuments are available from the WWFIndochina Programme office in Hanoi.

Profile

Hazel Thwin

Bird Enthusiasts and Nature ConservationAssociation (BENCA)

Hazel worked for the Division of Natureand Wildlife Conservation for 18 yearsbefore leaving to help from BENCA. Initially she served as education officer anddeveloped exhibits, slide and video programs, pamphlets and other materials. Duringthat time, she worked on several special projects, including: Chatthin CommunityEducation Project focused on the Eld's Deer. Hazel also served as Myanmar Compilerfor BirdLife’s Threatened Birds of Asia project. She was also the resource person forthe Basic Wildlife Conservation Training Course, conducted by the WildlifeConservation Society together with the Forest Department. During the past five years,her duties and responsibilities increased with an assignment to Moyingyi Wetland BirdSanctuary. Other activities in the wildlife division included various field work such asannual waterfowl census, bird specimen collection, wetland inventory and curator forMyanmar Biodiversity Museum. She also participated in an expedition to the easternHimalayan ranges in Kachin State searching for Blyth's Tragopan and the otherglobally threatened bird species. Recently she joined the Bird Enthusiasts and NatureConservation Association and holds the position of secretary. Hazel loves nature,especially birds, and has since she was young. Her father worked as warden of theRangoon Zoological Gardens. Hazel was brought-up in the zoo compound and spenther formative years among the animals there. After graduating with a Zoology majorshe joined the Nature Conservation and National Parks Project (now Nature andWildlife Conservaton Division ). Hazel is determined to devote her life to theconservation of wildlife.

Field guide to the large mammalspecies of Pu Mat Nature Reserveby Pham Nhat and Nguyen XuanDang. 2000. Social Forestry andNature Conservation in Nghe AnProvince and Fauna and FloraInternational-Indochina. Supportedby the European Union. 155pp.

This manual was prepared for the useof forest guards and staff of the Pu MatNarure Reserve, to facilitateidentification of mammal speciesduring biodiversity surveys andmonitoring work. The manual wasproduced as a contribution to theproject ‘Social forestry and natureconservation in Nghe An province, ajoin project of the EuropeanCommission and the Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development.

This reference manual provides basicinformation, including illustrations, of64 mammal species found in Pu MatNational Park. This manual isintended as a guide for forest guardsand staff of the Pu Mat National Parkbut will assist all those with an interestin the mammals of South-east Asia.


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Staff news Yuko Inui. During February Asia Division staffer YukoInui from the Wildbird Society of Japan spent a weekworking with us in Hanoi on project development activities.For the past two years Yuko has been on secondment to theMalaysian Nature Society but sadly her mission to Hanoiwas her last before returning to Japan. Yuko did however,manage to squeeze in a diving trip in Malaysia before herdeparture, where she saw numerous Hammerhead Sharks atLayang Layang. Lucky girl! We enjoyed having you hereYuko. Come back soon!

Jack Tordoff and the LaoIBA project officers(Sipivan Inthapatha andKhamsene Ounekham)during a recent IBA trainingcourse. Photo: ArlyneJohnson, WCS Lao Program

Nathan Sage has recently joined BirdLife as aconsultant for programme developmentinitiatives.

Previously, Nathan assisted BirdLife inAugust 2001 by developing a small grantsproposal to protect the inundated grasslands ofHa Tien in the western Mekong Delta

Recent publications Here are three new publications are available from the BirdLife VietnamProgramme website: www.birdlifevietnam.com (English) and www.birdlifevietnam.org (Vietnamese).

• Tordoff, A. W., Pham Trong Anh, Le Mang Hung, Nguyen Dinh Xuan and Tran Khac Phuc (2002) A rapid bird andmammal survey of Lo Go Sa Mat Special-use Forest and Chang Riec Protection Forest, Tay Ninh province, Vietnam.Unpublished report to the BirdLife International Vietnam Programme, the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resourcesand Tay Ninh Department of Science, Technology and the Environment. (In English and Vietnamese).

• Le Mang Hung, Nguyen Duc Tu, Tordoff, A. W. and Vu Hong Phuong (2002) A rapid bird survey of the coastal zone ofQuang Ninh province, Vietnam. Unpublished report to the BirdLife International Vietnam Programme, the Institute ofEcology and Biological Resources and Quang Ninh Department of Science, Technology and the Environment. (InEnglish and Vietnamese).

• Tordoff, A. W., Le Mang Hung, Nguyen Quang Truong and Steven R. Swan (2002) A rapid bird survey of Van BanDistrict, Lao Cai province, Vietnam. Unpublished report to the BirdLife International Vietnam Programme, the Instituteof Ecology and Biological Resources and the Fauna and Flora International Vietnam Programme. (In English andVietnamese).

Compiled and edited by Vu Thi Minh Phuong, Communications OfficerFor more information, contact: [email protected]#11, Lane 167, Tay Son, Hanoi; Tel/Fax: ++844 851 7217;

Website: http//www.birdlifevietnam.com (English) http//www.birdlifevietnam.org (Vietnamese)

Nathan graduated with a B.A. in political science from Trinity College (CT) and an M.S. in marine affairs from the Universityof Rhode Island.s Subsequently, he served one year as technical advisor to the Danida/CARE U Minh Thuong National ParkConservation and Community Development project, site of the largest bird colony in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta.

Apology We apologise to Seng Kim Hout and Pech Bunnat, the Cambodian IBA project officers, for mixing their namesup in the last issue of the Newsletter (October to December, 2001).

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