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 maintained until such a time that a comprehensive <strong>HCVF</strong> (or similarly detailed habitat and population viability) assessment has been conducted within the Siak-Pelalawan landscape, and a formal declaration has been made by local government and other stakeholders to create a PSF conservation area in this landscape which is capable of supporting an independently viable population of tigers. With reference to Serapung district, due to the FMU’s location on the coastline, easily accessible by people, resulting in high levels of human disturbance (facilitating tiger poaching and prey-species harvesting by local communities) and habitat degradation (due to illegal logging), the costs of maintaining the tiger in the Serapung habitat will always be high relative to the limited conservation benefits accrued. Furthermore, the position of the FMU on the periphery of the Siak-Pelalawan landscape, therefore not vital for habitat connectivity, makes it a low priority candidate for inclusion in any future conservation area network. 6.5 <strong>HCVF</strong> Recommendations for Tigers in the Serapung FMU The findings presented in this report form the basis for recommendations relating to <strong>HCVF</strong> delineation options for tigers in the Serapung FMU. The final SmartWood/APP decision regarding delineation of <strong>HCVF</strong> should, for reasons outlined in previous sections, be dependent upon the best available data regarding future tiger habitat status in the wider landscape. A follow-up landscape-level <strong>HCVF</strong> assessment, as proposed in section 6.1 above, would assist this decision-making process. However, given the need for immediate management action, the two <strong>HCVF</strong> options recommended here are designed to be implemented sequentially, moving from Option 1 to Option 2 in accordance with changing conditions and as a response to increasing future certainty regarding viability of tigers in the wider landscape. Option 1 below (section 6.5.1) represents an instant response to current conditions in the FMU, requiring extension of the current logging moratorium in the indicative <strong>HCVF</strong> area as previously defined by SmartWood. Some additional areas of FMU priority tiger habitat are incorporated into this option. Option 2 (described in section 6.5.2) is recommended as a replacement for <strong>HCVF</strong> Option 1, but appropriate only after a viable tiger population has been secured in the Siak-Pelalawan forest block, or when the FMU can be confirmed to have a low contribution (relative to other available habitat areas) to the overall viability of tigers in this wider landscape. <strong>HCVF</strong> in Option 2, where partial conversion of the current moratorium area is permitted, is primarily focused on mitigating conflict between remaining tigers and adjacent human communities. 6.5.1 Option 1: Extension of Moratorium in Indicative <strong>HCVF</strong> Area This <strong>HCVF</strong> option is recommended for immediate adoption as a temporary tiger <strong>HCVF</strong> in advance of the completion of a landscape-level assessment and development of an independent tiger conservation area in the wider Siak- Pelalawan forest block. If a viable population of tigers in the Siak-Pelalawan block can not be achieved in this way, or in the event that a landscape-level assessment of the wider landscape concludes that the Serapung moratorium area provides a critical contribution to long-term, regional tiger population viability, then this <strong>HCVF</strong> delineation option is also considered to be the most appropriate for long-term implementation. Delineation of the <strong>HCVF</strong> follows the boundaries of the current SmartWood logging moratorium (indicative <strong>HCVF</strong> area) and includes “set-aside” forests on the eastern side of the FMU. Forests in Tandjung Datuk are also included as part of this <strong>HCVF</strong> for tigers (see Figure 24). Long-term adoption of this <strong>HCVF</strong> option will necessitate that the canals within the moratorium area are filled in order to Sumatran Tiger Conservation Program Pg 56/68
FINAL REPORT Tiger <strong>HCVF</strong> <strong>Supplemental</strong> <strong>Assessment</strong> – Serapung FMU preserve the forest as close as possible to its natural state and to reduce accessibility for exploitation by local communities. The success of implementation of this <strong>HCVF</strong> is sensitive to ongoing social conflicts between the company and inhabitants of the Yos Trail village. Any conservation area of natural forests developed in close proximity to these people will not succeed while these land disputes remain unresolved. Figure 24. Option 1: Proposed <strong>HCVF</strong> delineation for tigers as an extension of the logging moratorium area defined by SmartWood; including the designation of forests in the Tandjung Datuk area as <strong>HCVF</strong> for tigers. 6.5.2 Option 2: Phased Conversion of the Indicative <strong>HCVF</strong> Area If clearing of the current moratorium area was to occur then habitat connectivity will be lost between the wider forested landscape to the west, and the FMU conservation areas and coastal scrub-lands of Tandjung Datuk to the east/southeast. Spatial consideration of remaining habitat suggests that tigers, as they continue to attempt to reach the prey-rich secondary forests of Tandjung Datuk, will either travel directly across the production areas of the FMU, or they will utilise the scrub-land fringes associated with the Yos village to the north. Both scenarios will promote increased probabilities of contact between tigers, FMU employees and adjacent villagers. Local perceptions of villagers, and the overwhelming weight of scientific evidence related to tiger-human conflict, suggests that this close proximity will be associated with increasing levels of human-tiger conflict in the near future. It is therefore critical to maintain a corridor within the FMU, parallel to but at some distance from the moratorium area’s northern boundary and Yos village, which can serve as an east-west corridor for tigers moving between these two regions (Figure 25). Sumatran Tiger Conservation Program Pg 57/68
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