Thailand

Thailand lies at the crossroads of the Indochina and Sundaic geographic regions, supporting a diversity of flora and fauna, including 10% of the world’s birds, and one of the largest subpopulations of tigers in mainland Southeast Asia. The history of the Wildlife Conservation Society in Thailand dates to the early 1970s.  At the invitation of the government of Thailand, the Wildlife Conservation Society opened a project office in 1997 to support a wildlife management training program, initiate an Indochina tiger conservation program, support conservation research of government staff, and help make wildlife conservation sustainable and more effective in Thailand.  In 2002, WCS and the Thailand government agreed to a comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding to expand their working relationship and extend its term.  A full-time staff of 15 Thai nationals implements WCS activities in Thailand.

The Human Aspect

The current population of 62 million encompasses a majority of native Thai and a diversity of hilltribes such as Karen, Hmong, Akha, and the Lahu who live mainly in the remote areas in the North and Northwest near the border with Myanmar and Laos.  Thailand is a major exporter of rice, seafood, fruit, and rubber, with most lowland areas and coastlines developed to a large extent.

Threats

Compared with neighboring countries, natural habitats for wildlife in Thailand are highly fragmented.  Fortunately, it has the most extensive protected area system in the region with 60% of remnant habitat protected, making up 15% of the land area.  Still, wildlife in these protected areas are threatened by poaching for subsistence and commercial sale, permanent settlements and encroachment in and near protected areas, and by weak science-based management.

WCS Activities
With over 40 years of national park and wildlife laws to protect wildlife and wild lands and with extensive investment in national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and non-hunting areas, Thailand has done an outstanding job for conservation in the region.  However, it is becoming clear that, with increasing human pressures, the current protection system cannot guarantee long-term survival of many threatened species and their habitats.  The quest for improvement in conservation and management schemes is looming among many protected area managers.
To support such trends WCS, as a science-based organization, has been taking a leading role in working together with the Thai government officials to install long-term population monitoring programs for key wildlife species – particularly for tigers and elephants.  The landscape-scale approach of the WCS Living Landscape Program is also being introduced to improve strategies for coping with increasing human pressures.  WCS also supports other wildlife research and conservation projects, particularly hornbill and gibbon research projects. WCS conducts technical training programs on wildlife research and conservation using up-to-date technologies and well-accepted models.  Different levels of training have been performed for park rangers, protected area managers, government and academic researchers.  Another approach for long-term conservation is to involve undergraduate and graduate students from key academic institutes in Thailand into WCS research and conservation programs to ensure continuity in effective wildlife conservation.

Important Next Steps
· Install long-term tiger and prey population monitoring systems for Thailand’s Natural World Heritage Site by working closely with the World Heritage Management Project and Khao Nang Ram Wildlife Research Station;
· Train rangers and officials to incorporate wildlife distribution, abundance, and threats in the patrolling system and use information to guide the protection system;
· Introduce techniques to solve and/or reduce the problem of human-elephant conflict in Kaeng Krachan National Park by working together with Thailand Environment Institute, Department of National Parks, and WCS Asian Elephant Program.
· Train wildlife researchers and graduate students to improve capacity on using up-to-date technologies in wildlife management.