1. CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT USING INTEGRATED MIST-GIS IN CAMBODIA PROTECTED AREAS By Sorn Pheakdey, MIST-GIS Database and Training Officer WCS Cambodia Program ESRI User Conference San Diego, California, USA June 2007 pheakdey.sorn@gmail.com

2. Presentation Outline Protected Area in Cambodia Protected Area Management in Cambodia What is MIST-GIS? How can MIST help in Protected Area Management? MIST Advantages and Disadvantages! Conclusion

3. Where is Cambodia?

4. Protected Area in Cambodia *** Covers 47,845Km 2 or about 26.3% of Cambodias land territory

5. The Species Richness of Wildlife in Cambodia

6. Protected Area Management in Cambodia Successful Protected Area Management in Cambodia requires: Research Law enforcement patrols Working with local communities Cooperating Managers need good information about the site and what is happening to inform decisions !!!

7. A spatial Management Information System (Computer Software link between Database and GIS) Undergoing development by Ecological Software Solutions since 1997 initially for UWA as part of a GTZ project (http://www.ecostats.com/software/mist) Designed to: –Provide a simple data entry facility –Store this data –Provide simple, easy to understand reports and maps to help decision-making for protected areas management What is MIST-GIS?

8. Historical use of MIST in Cambodia Originally adapted for Cambodia by Ministry of Environment – Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management Project since 2003. Ministry of Environment has recently adopted the use of Ranger-Based Data Collection (and MIST-GIS as a tool to analyses the data). Now used in 8 protected areas in Cambodia

9. MIST-GIS Used by WCS Cambodia Program - Patrol data - Checkpoint Patrols data - Wildlife Research - Occasional Observations WCS have used MIST-GIS for:

10. How do we implement MIST-GIS? Operation of MIST-GIS requires the following steps: 1.Create a MIST-GIS Database; 2.Establish Management teams; 3.Define the Conservation Management Sector; 4.Provide appropriate equipment; 5.MIST database training; and 6.Law Enforcement Staff training. MIST -GIS

11. How can MIST help Protected Area management? However it will allow you to get quickly & easily access the essential up to date information about what happen in Protected Area, especially biodiversity and human activities trend in the area; and Help manager to make the right decision, plan protection measure, plan the future conservation effort to sustain the conservation project to reach the conservation Goal and Vision. MIST-GIS will not make the decisions for you!

12. GPS MIST-GIS DATA FORM MIST-GIS DATA INFORMATION Reports Maps Converting Data into Information

13. Standard Output Produced By MIST-GIS Patrol coverage (areas patrolled shown in 1 km² grid cells) Distribution and number of illegal activities Distribution and numbers of key wildlife species Information on patrols (performance indicators) Illegal activities (indices and numbers) Key wildlife species (indices, numbers) Maps Reports

14. Patrol Effort Done by Conservation Patrol Team

15. Illegal Human Activities Recorded

16. Asian Elephant Recorded in MIST-GIS

17. General information on Patrols Information for each staff participating in patrols Conservation Ranger Report

18. AreaObservationTypeTotal SBCADirect EvidenceLogging3 SBCADirect EvidenceNTFP5 SBCASignLogging6 SBCASignNTFP2 SBCALandCleared3 SBCALandClearing3 Human Activities Recorded in March 2007

19. AreaSectorObservationTypeTotal SBCA All SectorsAsian ElephantFootprint9 SBCA All SectorsGaurFootprint2 SBCA All SectorsBantengFootprint3 SBCA All SectorsTigerFootprint1 SBCA All SectorsGreen PeafowlSighting5 SBCA All SectorsDouc LangurSighting15 SBCA All SectorsWoolly-necked StorkSighting2 SBCA All SectorsLesser AdjutantSighting1 Key Wildlife Species Recorded in March 2007

20. MIST Advantages and Disadvantages! Fast and accurate data entry –data download (from GPS) –use of look-up lists and tick boxes for observations – avoid type-in mistakes User-friendly, easily accessible and easy to maintain and up- date database Easy to use, flexible and powerful tool to improve the effectiveness of management through access to up-to-date information Currently only available in English language Data storage and reports can lack detail required by managers, e.g. description of events at particular sites Doesnt include sources of information not collected during patrols or surveys e.g. interview reports Advantages !Disadvantages !

21. Conclusion! However it will allow you to get quickly & easily access the essential information you need to make the right decisions. Examples: –Regular up-to-date data on what is happening in the PA –Identify areas requiring a management interventions –Identify core wildlife areas –Plan next months activities –How efficient your patrol teams are –Long-term trends in management activity and wildlife MIST-GIS will not make the decisions for you!

22. Acknowledgments Wildlife Conservation Society, Cambodia Program Environmental System Research Institute (ESRI), and Special thanks to SCGIS for granting me the great chance to be here.

23. Thank you very much indeed for your attention !