A Supplemental HCVF Assessment on the Sumatran Tiger ...

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FINAL REPORT Tiger <strong>HCVF</strong> <strong>Supplemental</strong> <strong>Assessment</strong> – Serapung FMU 6 Interpretation of Results with Respect to <strong>HCVF</strong> In order to facilitate the process of delineating tiger <strong>HCVF</strong> for the Serapung FMU, the results of this assessment are interpreted within the <strong>HCVF</strong> framework. Both landscapelevel and FMU-level approaches are considered, and the specific outcomes for HCV1.2 under the two approaches are integrated in order to identify appropriate options for <strong>HCVF</strong> delineation in the FMU. Landscape-level considerations are emphasised where these are recognised as of critical importance for FMU-level <strong>HCVF</strong> delineation. Finally, management recommendations are identified for enhancement and maintenance of the tiger HCV both within the FMU and across the wider Siak-Pelalawan landscape. 6.1 Tiger <strong>HCVF</strong> at the Siak-Pelalawan Landscape Scale Peat swamp forest is a recognised but poorly understood Sumatran tiger habitat, and is the dominant ecotype found across the Siak-Pelalawan landscape. Given this, and in accordance with guidelines provided by ProForest’s Sourcebook for Landscape Analysis of High Conservation Value Forests, the entire forested area of the Siak- Pelalawan block should be assumed to support the Sumatran tiger HCV in the absence of data to the contrary. A landscape of this scale (425,000 ha) is potentially able to support between 42 and 160 individuals (based on Sumatran tiger densities established for other habitat types), is independently viable given appropriate conservation management, and should be considered to contribute significantly to the viability of the Sumatran tiger subspecies as a whole. In this precautionary approach to <strong>HCVF</strong> analysis the landscape is therefore classified as <strong>HCVF</strong> based on HCV 1.2. This assessment represents the first published field study of the Sumatran tiger within the Siak-Pelalawan forest block and, more generally, in the PSF habitat type. It confirms that tigers are present in the landscape. Furthermore, prey abundance and prey species composition were found to be similar to that found in other lowland habitat types of Sumatra and, if extrapolated widely across the Siak-Pelalawan Block, suggests that the Siak-Pelalawan block is capable of supporting high densities of tigers. Given these assumptions, the Siak-Pelalawan block maintains one of the largest remaining contiguous populations of the Sumatran tiger (12-18% of total wild Sumatran tigers), representing a vital contribution to viability of the sub-species, further confirming the classification of the entire Siak-Pelalawan forest block as <strong>HCVF</strong> when considered at the landscape-level. The preliminary landscape-level <strong>HCVF</strong> analysis carried out during this assessment highlights the need for a more comprehensive study across the Siak-Pelalawan block. While <strong>HCVF</strong> landscape-level analysis may provide an appropriate framework for such a study, it is essential that sufficient time be invested in fieldwork in order that geographically widespread and robust data regarding tiger distribution, density, prey abundance and habitat quality can be achieved. 6.2 Identification of Tiger <strong>HCVF</strong> at the FMU Level Within the FMU the moratorium area is utilised to at least some extent by a minimum of one tiger (HCV 1.2 is therefore present), while a minimum of two additional tiger individuals were identified in forests adjacent to the moratorium area, but likely to utilise forests within the FMU for substantial proportions of their ecological and home-ranging requirements. No significant concentrations of tigers were found within the moratorium area (HCV 1.3 not present) and there is a strong contrast in the relative abundance of tigers observed from forests within the FMU (low) and those forests outside and adjacent to the FMU (high). Incontrovertible secondary reports also confirm that tigers continue to inhabit the Tanjung Datuk peninsula, and that the eastern Konservasi and Sumatran Tiger Conservation Program Pg 52/68
FINAL REPORT Tiger <strong>HCVF</strong> <strong>Supplemental</strong> <strong>Assessment</strong> – Serapung FMU Unggulan zones of the FMU continue to be traversed by tigers as they travel from Tandjung Datuk to the inland forests adjacent and to the west of the FMU. In relation to the tiger’s habitat within the FMU the prey abundance in the moratorium area is sufficient for tigers, though not qualitatively different to prey abundance in the wider adjacent forests. Prey species extraction through snaring and hunting by local people in the recently opened moratorium area is ongoing and is predicted, over the near-term, to further reduce the prey biomass available and increase the risk of accidental trapping of tigers. Other types of human disturbance are also expected to continue to be high in this coastal and easily accessible region, further reducing its suitability for tigers without a much higher investment in conservation management and protection. The tiger HCV present is therefore also considered at risk due to human activities facilitated by easy access from the coastline. The ProForest <strong>HCVF</strong> Toolkit defines High Conservation Value Forests as the area required to maintain or enhance an HCV within the FMU. At the FMU-level the Toolkit states that any part of an assessment area that has been identified as a priority site for threatened or critically endangered species (HCV1.2) will normally be considered as <strong>HCVF</strong>. However, at the FMU-level such definitions are not well suited to considerations of “coarse-grained’, wide-ranging species such as the Sumatran tiger – whose existence and ranging patterns, even for single individuals, extend well beyond the geographical confines of any particular FMU or FMU sub-unit. As a guideline for delineation of tiger <strong>HCVF</strong> in the Serapung FMU the SmartWood <strong>HCVF</strong> report suggests that if “If confirmed not to be present within the FMU, or the FMU does not constitute an integral portion of the habitat and range of the tiger population, then this <strong>HCVF</strong> will not exist within the FMU”. The findings of this assessment confirm that the moratorium area, in terms of its size (i.e., less than 2% of the total Siak-Pelalawan forest block) and its location (i.e., it is not a corridor or area vital for connectivity), cannot be considered to currently represent an integral portion (a critically important or essential component) of the Siak-Pelalawan tiger habitat landscape – and therefore <strong>HCVF</strong> cannot be declared on this basis. Under such guidelines only a very large FMU, or one which provides essential habitat connectivity, could be considered to represent a critical component of the wider tiger landscape and therefore be recognised as <strong>HCVF</strong>. Under such guidelines a series of <strong>HCVF</strong> assessments, carried out in several different FMU sub-components of a tiger habitat landscape, would consistently find no strong justification for delineation of tiger <strong>HCVF</strong> on the FMU scale - even though at a landscape level <strong>HCVF</strong> status is clearly appropriate. Viable landscape-level tiger populations run the risk of being iteratively lost to forest conversion through successive <strong>HCVF</strong> assessments at the FMU level. Clearly more stringent criteria are required in order to appropriately address the <strong>HCVF</strong> requirements for tigers when assessed at the FMU level. Currently this is not facilitated by Indonesian and generic <strong>HCVF</strong> Toolkits – which recommend the identification of “priority sites” for endangered or threatened species as the basis for <strong>HCVF</strong> delineation, where measures of the FMU’s contribution to population survival in the adjacent landscape often becomes the threshold for <strong>HCVF</strong> decisions. 6.3 Importance of Considering Future Landscape Context Scenarios A further limitation regarding the FMU-scale <strong>HCVF</strong> process for tigers arises from the limited amount of data relating to future tiger viability and habitat availability in the wider landscape. For the Sumatran tiger in the Siak-Pelalawan block an outcome of this is that it is impossible to assess a FMU’s future contribution to tiger viability given such uncertainty in the wider landscape. While the FMU may not currently present an integral or critical contribution to wider landscape tiger viability (see section 6.2 above), Sumatran Tiger Conservation Program Pg 53/68
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