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View across the Chin State from
Bwe Pa. Photo: J. C. Eames

The main objectives of this three year Darwin Initiative funded project are to strengthen the institutional capacity of BANCA to prioritize, plan and undertake high quality applied research and use the results to achieve greatest benefits for conservation and to develop site support groups at four sites of global conservation importance, empowering communities to manage natural resources and improve their quality of life.

The project will identify a network of IBAs within the Eastern Himalayas and Sundaic Lowlands, two remote natural landscapes about which little is currently known. The IBAs will be identified through biological survey and strategically assessed to identify those sites where the probability of conservation success is highest. The project will facilitate the establishment of Site Support Groups at four IBAs. These initiatives will generate original scientific data, strengthen the capacity of Myanmar nationals to develop community based conservation activities and provide a low cost and sustainable model for site based conservation activities and a low cost and sustainable model for site-based conservation planning and management in Myanmar.

Bwe Pa Survey team.
Photo: J. C. Eames

In January and February 2004 staff from BirdLife International in Indochina, together with colleagues from the Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association, and Natmatuang National Park, undertook an ornithological expedition to Mount Bwe Pa in central Chin State. Bwe Pa, previously unexplored rises to over 3,000 m asl and the team hoped to find an avifauna fully representative of the Eastern Himalayas EBA. The month-long expedition surveyed the southern slopes of the mountain which support grassland, oak-rhododendron forest and the wetter northern slopes which support evergreen forest. A diverse selection of Restricted-range species was discovered including Blyth’s Tragopan Tragopan blythii (18 birds seen), Striped Laughingthrush Garrulax virgatus, Brown-capped Laughingthrush G. austini, Streak-throated Barwing Actinodura waldeni and Grey Sibia Heterophasia gracilis. The White-browed Nuthatch Sitta victoriae was not located. Other Globally Threatened species found included Mrs Hume’s Pheasant Syrmaticus humiae and White-rumped Vulture Gyps bengalenesis.

The team made a collection of bird skins. Photo: J. C. Eames

Participants received training in survey techniques and specimen preparation. A collection of 56 bird skins was made. Hunting pressure on mammals appeared high and growing Chin villages are placing an ever increasing burden on forests to provide fuelwood and house construction materials. However, the relatively good state of forests, combined with a less than completely representative avifauna will lead to a focus on the more easily accessible Natmataung National Park for future site support group activities. Mount Bwe Pa meet several criteria and qualifies as an IBA.