Myanmar - Global Tiger Initiative

National Tiger Action Plan for The Union of Myanmar2.6 Protected area management – Myanmar is one of the least externally funded and internallyprotected tropical countries in Asia (Balmford & Long 1995). As a result while forests havebeen conserved for timber production for almost 150 years (Bryant 1997), and the earliestprotected area was gazetted in 1918, legislation to protect both wildlife and their habitatswas only introduced in 1994. Wildlife training for protected area staff was initiated in 1995with only a third of staff having received training (Rao et al. 2002)(Fig. 8). Only since 1998have protected areas been designed to protect entire landscapes and the ecological processeswithin. Consequently, many of the older protected areas e.g. Pidaung Wildlife Sanctuary, nolonger support tigers and other wildlife because of large-scale degradation and loss of habitatinside them. A recent review found that human activities incompatible with conservationoccur in every protected area (Rao et al. 2002). Extraction of non-timber forest productsoccurred in 85% of the areas, hunting in up to 70%, while buffer zones for the protection ofcore forest zones were generally lacking. The combined effect is a loss of habitat quality fortigers. Myanmar protected areas (Fig. 1.) currently do not provide adequate representationof the diversity of habitats inhabited by tigers. Reserve managers need training to understandthreats to wildlife, and how to best manage available resources to enable effective conservationof wildlife. In general, the roles and responsibilities of protected area staff need to be carefullydefined so that available personnel cover important tasks.2.7 Social perception – Where tiger populations have been decimated, their long-term recoverycan be ensured only by a combination of political will and acceptance by people living inand around tiger areas. If tigers are worth more dead than alive to local people, then effortsto preserve tigers in the human dominated landscape will fail. Awareness and education ofthe importance of tigers can be improved through dedicated learning programs.Fig. 3a.Tiger skin for sale in Tachileikmarket, Shan State.Fig 3b. Poacher recorded by camera-trapat Paunglaung Catchment, MandalayDivision. Poaching of tigers was the singlemost important factor causing the demiseof tigers in Myanmar in the past.6.