SAVING CAMBODIA'S FRESHWATER DOLPHINS: NGOS AND

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PHNOM PENH 000160

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP, OES/OMC--DAVID HOGAN AND CLAY
STANGER, OES/PCI--AARON SALZBERG, LYNETTE POULTON, ANN
STEWART, AND OES/ETC--ANTOINETTE CONDO
BANGKOK FOR ESTH--JIM WALLER, CON--REBECCA KINYON,
USAID/RDMA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV PGOV CB
SUBJECT: SAVING CAMBODIA'S FRESHWATER DOLPHINS: NGOS AND
GOVERNMENT UNITED IN COMMITMENT, SEPARATED BY APPROACH

PHNOM PENH 00000160 001.2 OF 003



1. (SBU) SUMMARY. A 120-mile stretch of the Mekong River
in northern Cambodia is home to the world's largest group of
Irrawaddy dolphins, a critically endangered freshwater
species. The dolphins, which are a significant tourist draw
in a little-visited corner of the country, have been dying in
high numbers in recent years and could be extinct within a
decade. The National Dolphin Commission, a group created in
February 2006 by Prime Minister Hun Sen, is making a serious
effort to protect the species, including instituting a ban on
environmentally damaging fishing nets. However, NGOs
criticize the commission's heavy-handedness, emphasis on
enforcement rather than profit-sharing and alternative
livelihood development, environmentally harmful tourism
development plans, and vulnerability to corruption. END
SUMMARY.

Cambodia Home to Rare Dolphins
--------------


2. (U) While the Irrawaddy dolphin is found in small numbers
in Burma, Indonesia, and Thailand, the population of 80-100
individuals in Cambodia's Mekong River is the world's largest
surviving group. The dolphins, which are classified as
critically endangered, are concentrated in a series of deep
pools in the river between the town of Kratie and the Lao
border. As recently as the 1970s there were an estimated
2,000 to 5,000 dolphins in Cambodia's Mekong. However, the
dolphins declined quickly during Cambodia's upheaval as the
Khmer Rouge slaughtered dolphins to harvest oil and
Vietnamese troops reportedly used the dolphins for target
practice. In addition to the dolphins, Cambodia's Mekong is
home to other endangered species, including freshwater
crocodiles, the giant Mekong barb, the giant Mekong catfish,
and the seven line barb, which would likely benefit from
sound conservation efforts.

Mysterious Deaths Threaten Endangered Species
--------------


3. (U) In the past few years, mortality rates for the
dolphins have risen dramatically, to at least 16-20% since
2003, far above the 1-2% rate scientists suggest is
consistent with species survival. Initially, the majority of
the deaths were among adults, and illegal fishing practices,
such as such as electric shock, poison, explosives
(especially grenades),and the use of mosquito nets or
gillnets (fishing nets hundreds of meters long which are
stretched across the river and left in place for weeks or
months at a time),were singled out as the culprit. For the
past three years, however, the number of dying infants has
eclipsed the number of dying adults. Dr. Verne Dove, an
Australian veterinarian working with the Cambodia Mekong
Dolphin Conservation Project, estimates that just a few
babies have survived in each of the preceding years--a
situation that could easily be setting the scene for
localized or worldwide extinction within a decade. However,
the cause of death of these infants is unclear. Red lesions
on the necks of many dead calves suggest that a disease may
be to blame. Laboratory tests have ruled out mercury
poisoning from local gold mines, but results of histological
and organic pollutant analysis are pending.

Government Emphasizes Enforcement, Tourism Development...
-------------- --------------


4. (SBU) Following the dramatic deaths of 14
dolphins--including 12 calves--in January and February 2006,
Prime Minister Hun Sen established the National Dolphin
Commission and appointed Dr. Touch Seng Tana as its director.
Dr. Tana sees gillnets as the main culprit behind the deaths
of adult and infant dolphins alike, and has charged 64
recently hired river guards with enforcing a ban on their
use. Although the ban originally applied only to six core
zones, which correspond roughly to the deep pools where the
dolphins congregate, there is now confusion about whether the
ban has been extended to cover a 120-mile-long area from
Kampi to the Laos border. While Dr. Tana explained that this
"total ban" would only be enforced in some areas, it was
clear from Poleconoff interviews with river guards and
government officials that this had not been communicated to
the field. The total ban has provoked local fears about
livelihoods with 90 people in two affected villages signing a
petition in protest.


PHNOM PENH 00000160 002.2 OF 003



5. (SBU) The second part of the government's plan for
dealing with the dolphins is to aggressively promote dolphin
tourism. In 2006, approximately 7,000 foreign and 35,000
Cambodian tourists came to visit the dolphins at the most
popular viewing location, Kampi, located 15km north of the
provincial capital, Kratie. Tana hopes to create a major
tourist park there, including an interpretive center,
performances by trained dolphins (non-endangered species) in
a tank, opportunities to feed and swim with the endangered
dolphins in the Mekong River, 24-hour karaoke, and 400 hotel
rooms. Tana also proposes dredging the Mekong south of Kampi
and building a river port to accommodate ships filled with
Vietnamese tourists. To make space for this tourist park,
Tana has asked Kampi villagers--90% of whom make their living
from fishing--to move from their riverfront homes to a
proposed inland road ringing the tourist development site.
He reports that while the villagers were very reluctant to
move at first, after considerable pressure they have "almost
agreed." Dr. Tana told Poleconoff that he does not foresee
any adverse environmental consequences from these plans.

...But NGOs Raise Red Flags
--------------


6. (SBU) Staff at the two NGOs working most closely with the
dolphins, the Cambodia Rural Development Team (CRDT) and
World Wildlife Fund (WWF),are deeply skeptical of Dr. Tana's
plans. Adam Starr, CRDT Management Advisor, warned, "I fear
the complete extinction of the Mekong Irrawaddy dolphin due
to mismanagement, not because of the government but because
of one man (Tana)." Richard Zanre, WWF Dolphin Project
Manager, described Tana as "dedicated and single-minded" in
his pursuit to save the dolphins, but also very suspicious of
foreigners and NGOs--a claim given credence by Tana's boast
to Poleconoff that he had used "spyware" to bug the house of
a Isabel Beasley, a now-departed Australian doctoral student
researching the dolphins.


7. (SBU) Starr and Zanre do not share Tana's conviction that
gillnets are behind nearly all the dolphin deaths, and
strongly support more research to determine the cause of the
dramatic increase in infant deaths. More critically, they
oppose Tana's ambitious tourism scheme as environmentally
disastrous and detrimental to the local communities. In
preparation for the development of the tourist park, NGOs
operating in Kampi--including CRDT and WWF--were told to
suspend their work there, ending not only community education
efforts, but also alternative livelihood projects designed to
reduce fishing in the over-fished Mekong.


8. (SBU) At the same time, proceeds from admissions to the
Kampi viewing area, which were once split--40% to the
community via the village development committee, 30% to the
provincial fishery department, and 30% to the provincial
tourism department--now go entirely to the National Dolphin
Commission, eliminating a powerful financial incentive for
villagers to protect the dolphins. To add a total gillnet
fishing ban to this mix, in an area where 90% of villagers
make their living from fishing, is simply too harsh, they
say. Proposals to dredge portions of the river and allow
tourists to feed or swim with little-studied rare dolphins
could be environmentally disastrous. Zanre and Starr are
enthusiastic about an effort by the World Bank and the Dutch
aid agency SNV to develop a sustainable ecotourism plan for
northeast Cambodia, which would include the development of a
"dolphin trail" where tourists could bike along the Mekong
stopping at various viewing locations.


9. (SBU) Corruption--an endemic problem in Cambodia--also
concerns Starr and Zanre. The river guard system is ripe for
payoffs and bribes, they assert. While many river guard
units have excellent reputations, a few have developed
reputations for corrupt behavior, including accepting bribes
to ignore illegal behavior and using seized illegal fishing
equipment for their own fishing in restricted areas.
Moreover, they believe that the motive behind the proposed
Kampi tourist park is unclear: Is this really an attempt to
build a facility that will contribute to local economic
development, or is it an opportunity for sweetheart deals
that will enrich the well-connected investors?

Comment
--------------


PHNOM PENH 00000160 003.3 OF 003



10. (SBU) The disagreements and significant distrust between
NGOs and the National Dolphin Commission on dolphin
conservation policy are unfortunate and hinder conservation
efforts. Nonetheless, the fact remains that both the
government and the NGOs are taking the dolphin decline
seriously and are moving quickly to address the issue. While
NGOs raise valid concerns about the lack of community
participation in decisionmaking and profit-sharing and the
potential for corruption, some of their hopes are unrealistic
or out of step with the Cambodian context. Expat NGO staff
may prefer cycling tours and low-key tourism to 24-hour
karaoke entertainment and trained dolphin shows, but for a
site that draws many more Asian tourists than Western
sightseers, the government's plans may be more appropriate.
Concerned NGOs should focus their efforts on guiding the
government away from the most damaging of their plans--such
as river dredging and dolphin swims--and promoting
transparency and community engagement in any land sales, but
may need to accept that sweetheart deals on prime hotel real
estate are a lamentable but nearly unavoidable part of the
process in a country well-known for corruption.


11. (SBU) Unfortunately, efforts to determine what is behind
the mysterious deaths have been hampered by a number of
factors. Isabel Beasley, an Australian PhD student who spent
many years researching the dolphins and cooperating with NGO
conservation efforts, had a falling out with National Dolphin
Commission Director Dr. Touch Seng Tana and left the country,
taking all of her research with her. She has so far been
unwilling to share the preliminary results of her work, and
Dr. Dove and others feel their only option for gleaning
information from her work is to wait until she publishes
academic articles or her dissertation. The relative decline
in deaths in the past few months has actually hampered
research efforts as there are fewer dead dolphins for
analysis. Additionally, the lab space at CMDCP headquarters
has limited equipment and specimens must be sent abroad for
testing. In a sign of the on-going tension between expat NGO
teams and the National Dolphin Commission, Dr. Tana has
challenged the legality of researchers shipping tissue or
blood samples overseas for analysis, arguing that because
they come from an endangered species, the researchers must
apply for permission to export the samples.


12. (U) As for the success of the government's gillnet ban
and other conservation efforts, the next few weeks will be
critical. Dolphin mortalities, and particularly infant
mortalities, have typically peaked from November to March.
If the government is able to show a significant decrease in
deaths during the first peak season since the National
Dolphin Commission was created, their approach will gain
credibility. END COMMENT.
MUSSOMELI