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世界最大老虎保護區 面臨森林開發威脅

2010年09月30日
摘譯自2010年9月27日ENS緬甸,仰光報導;段譽豪編譯;蔡麗伶審校

在尤讚那公司夷平了全世界最大老虎保育區的動物廊道之後,像這樣由緬甸森林部以及野生動物保育協會所立的保護區指標仍立在一旁。圖片來源:KDNG。今年8月,緬甸官員正式宣布,胡康河谷(Hukawng Valley)地區將成為老虎保護區。官員們宣告這處全世界最大老虎保育區的成立,位在緬甸北部的克欽邦(Kachin State)。

世界各地的環境保育人士對這項具有里程碑意義的宣言十分振奮,這片相當於佛蒙特州大小的保護區,裡面僅剩下3200隻野生老虎。

但不到一個月後,一份由克欽邦民間發展組織發表的報告與影片顯示,緬甸最大的富豪從過去到現在一直都在皆伐老虎保護區內的森林,拓殖糖與木薯作物,並且種植白油桐作為生質燃料。

這份名為《暴君、富豪與老虎》的報告,由克欽發展網絡組織(KDNG)詳細的描述了成群的推土機以及怪手如何夷平森林,破壞動物廊道,只留下保護區的招牌。

報告指出,「廣達20萬英畝的單一作物植栽區,對保護區的狀態是一大笑話。」、「成群的推土機與怪手將森林撕裂,把竹林與現有的小型農場夷為平地。所有對保護區所作的努力,只剩下赤裸孤單的招牌,標示出動物廊道的位置以及『禁止狩獵』的字樣,對身後的貧瘠土地發出無聲的抗議。」

「2006年,緬甸軍政府執政者瑞丹總理對仰光的尤讚那(Yuzana)公司發出許可,使其有權在老虎保護區內進行『農業發展區』的開發,」KDNG表示,「尤讚那是緬甸最大的企業,是由與軍政府有密切聯繫關係的地產大亨吳泰敏(U Htay Myint)所主持。」

老虎保留區成立於2001年,是由設立於紐約布朗克斯動物園的野生動物保育協會所贊助成立。

緬甸政府於2004年指定了2500平方英哩的山谷地作為野生動物保留區,1999年拉比諾維茨博士(Dr. Alan Rabinowitz)首度率領生物探險隊對該區進行探索。美籍的拉比諾維茨博士現在是野生貓科動物保育組織「豹」的執行長,他也是緬甸林業部門和野生動物保護協會的成員。

這個山谷地區裡有雲豹、亞洲象,以及約370種鳥類,其中包括瀕臨滅絕的棕頸犀鳥,而全球13500種已知的植物中,有7000種僅出現在該谷地。

「緬甸現在對東南亞的老虎提供了一個最佳的機會,」野生動物保育協會亞洲計劃處主任普爾(Colin Poole)在8月6日說。「這處在胡康河谷新增的保護區,會是老虎這種大型貓科動物,在保護區內活動範圍的基石。」

但KDNG發言人阿南(Ah Nan)在8月25日說,「在胡康谷地的破壞行為,對老虎保護區的設置是一大諷刺。在總理的協助以及保育人士噤聲之下,尤讚那在該處為所欲為。」

「人們與老虎都面臨無處可住的問題。」根據KDNG的報告,當地原住民被強制遷移的窘境,讓出土地給生質農場。7個村莊總計約5000人位在計畫區中央地帶,他們分別屬於幾個不同的克欽族(Kachin ethnicity)部落。

2010年3月,來自三個村落的代表向國際勞動組織提出申請,要求調查尤讚那的行為。2010年7月,超過100位農民在克欽邦提起了一個聯合訴訟案。

吳泰敏於1994年成立尤讚那公司。產品包括酒店及旅遊建設、漁業、棕櫚油以及橡膠園。在仰光,公司擁有三家酒店以及尤讚那超級市場。

因為與緬甸軍政府之間的聯繫,吳泰敏受到歐盟與美國政府的制裁。

但是KDNG預測,吳泰敏將在緬甸下次舉辦的選舉中成為區域總督。當地政權計畫在11月7日舉辦20年來首次的大選。

「這些富豪將成為緬甸暴政的新面貌,」阿南說,「他們在大選之後,將享有更大的權利。」

儘管有那些生質農場,目前執政的軍政府仍宣稱,近期的國家老虎計畫將會在2022年之前,使老虎的數量增加一倍。

這項計畫將在今年11月,於俄羅斯聖彼得堡首次舉辦的全球老虎高峰會中提出。

在峰會上,俄羅斯將聚集13個境內仍有老虎國家的元首與部長,簽署共同合作保護老虎的宣言,並在明年的老虎年,發起一項在2022年以前,將老虎數量倍增的復育計畫。

World's Largest Tiger Reserve Clearcut for Plantations
YANGON, Myanmar, September 27, 2010 (ENS)

In August, Myanmar officials formally announced that the entire remote Hukawng Valley would be designated as a Protected Tiger Area. They trumpeted the creation of the world's largest tiger reserve in the valley in Kachin State, located in the northernmost part of the country, also called Burma.

The declaration was hailed by environmentalists around the world as a landmark in conserving the only 3,200 wild tigers left by protecting an area the size of Vermont.

But less than a month later, a report and video released by a network of civil society groups and development organizations in Kachin State shows that one of Myanmar's most powerful tycoons has been, and still is, clear-cutting forests across the tiger reserve to put in sugar and tapioca plantations and to plant jatropha for biofuel.

The report, "Tyrants, Tycoons and Tigers" by the Kachin Development Networking Group details how fleets of bulldozers and backhoes are razing forests and destroying animal corridors, leaving only the conservation signboards standing.

"Today a 200,000 acre mono-crop plantation project is making a mockery of the reserve's protected status," the report states.

"Fleets of tractors, backhoes, and bulldozers rip up forests, raze bamboo groves and flatten existing small farms. Signboards that mark animal corridors and "no hunting zones" stand out starkly against a now barren landscape; they are all that is left of conservation efforts," KDNG reports.

"In 2006 Senior General Than Shwe, Burma's ruling despot, granted the Rangoon-based Yuzana Company license to develop this "agricultural development zone" in the tiger reserve," KDNG states. "Yuzana Company is one of Burma's largest businesses and is chaired by U Htay Myint, a prominent real estate tycoon who has close connections with the junta."

The tiger reserve was established in 2001 with the support of the Wildlife Conservation Society based at New York's Bronx Zoo.

In 2004, the Myanmar government designated 2,500 square miles of the valley as a wildlife sanctuary, based on the first biological expedition into the area in 1999 led by Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, an American who is currently CEO of the wild cat conservation group Panthera, and staff from the Myanmar Forest Department and the Wildlife Conservation Society's Myanmar Program.

Clouded leopards, Asian elephants and some 370 bird species, including the critically endangered Rufous-necked Hornbill, have been found in the region and of the current global estimate of 13,500 plant species, approximately 7,000 are found in this valley and nowhere else on the planet.

"Myanmar now offers one of the best hopes for saving tigers in Southeast Asia," said Colin Poole, director for Wildlife Conservation Society's Asia Programs, on August 6. "The newly expanded protected area in the Hukawng Valley will be a cornerstone of tiger conservation throughout this iconic big cat's range."

But KDNG spokesperson Ah Nan said on August 25, "The destruction in Hugawng makes a mockery of the tiger reserve. Yuzana is doing whatever it likes with the aid of the generals and the silence of conservationists."

People as well as tigers are being displaced. The KDNG report documents the struggles of indigenous farmers being forcibly relocated to make way for the plantations.

There are seven villages in the middle project area with a total estimated population of 5,000. The populations come from several different subgroups of the Kachin ethnicity.

In March 2010, representatives of three villages filed written requests to the International Labor Organization to investigate the actions of Yuzana. In July 2010, more than 100 farmers opened a joint court case in Kachin State.

Yuzana Company was founded in 1994 by Myint. The company is involved in hotels and tourism construction, fisheries, palm oil and rubber plantations. The company owns three hotels and the Yuzana Supermarket in Rangoon.

Myint has been targeted by EU and US government sanctions due to his links with the Myanmar's military regime.

But KDNG predicts that Myint is slated to become a regional governor after Myanmar's upcoming elections. The ruling regime plans to hold general elections on November 7, the first in 20 years.

"These tycoons are a new face of tyranny in Burma," said Ah Nan. "They're set to enjoy even greater power after the elections."

Despite the plantations, the ruling military regime claims in its recent National Tiger Plan that it will double the country's tiger population by 2022.

The plan will be submitted at the first ever Global Tiger Summit to be held in St. Petersburg, Russia in November.

At the summit, Russia will host ministers and heads of state from the 13 countries that still have tiger populations to sign a declaration on joint cooperation for tiger conservation, and to initiate a global tiger recovery program which seeks double tiger numbers by the year 2022, the next Year of the Tiger.

 

全文及圖片詳見:ENS報導

作者

蔡麗伶(LiLing Barricman)

In my healing journey and learning to attain the breath awareness, I become aware of the reality that all the creatures of the world are breathing the same breath. Take action, here and now. From my physical being to the every corner of this out of balance's planet.