Program

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28th July 2021

Session 1 [8:30 - 10:30 India Standard Time (+5.30 hours UTC)]

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• Asian Experience: Human-wildlife Conflict Panel Discussion (50 minutes)

Speakers and topics:

Dr. Ramesh Krishnamoorthy on Human-Leopard conflict (India

Ms. Aida Ab Ghani on Human-Elephant conflict

Mr. Bishnu Prasad Shrestha (Chief Conservation Officer, Bardia National Park) on Human-Tiger Conflict

Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya on Human–Elephant conflict

 

When the paths of people and charismatic megafauna such as the tiger and the elephant cross due to reasons inflicted mostly by people, such as deforestation and changes in land use patterns, both sides suffer. Managing such human-wildlife conflicts is an ongoing challenge in tropical biodiversity conservation in Asia. To highlight the nature and the extent of some of these key human-wildlife conflicts, Asian Partnership of ATBC will host a short event. Four speakers from India, Malaysia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka will be sharing experiences of Human-wildlife conflict in their respective regions that include human-leopard conflict in India, human-elephant conflict in Malaysia and Sri Lanka, and human–tiger conflict in Nepal. Each speaker will have 10 min introductory session, which last for 40 minutes, followed by 20min Q&A session. The scope will be the status of the conflict situation in a given country, challenges faced, and lessons learnt including a possible success story. A wildlife expert from the region will moderate this session.

 

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• ATBC AGM (1 hour)

-Welcoming Address
-Review of 2020-21 Activities
-Review of Sri Lanka 2019 Annual Meeting 
-Treasurers Report
-Conservation Asia 2022 Joint meeting with Society Conservation Biology 
-Open Floor: Discussion of possible membership activities 2021-22
-Election of Officers
-AOB
 

 

 

 

28th July 2021
Session 2: [15:30 - 17:30 India Standard Time (+5.30 hours UTC)]  

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• Asian marine Mammals 101 (20 minutes)

Speaker: Naomi Brannan

Asia is home to nearly half of the world’s marine mammal species. From the enormous blue whale to the small finless porpoise, from the mysterious beaked whales to the charismatic harbour seal, from the herbivorous dugong to the carnivorous killer whale, there is a startlingly diverse array of species to be found across the region. This presentation will provide a brief overview of marine mammals throughout Asia and their basic biology, as well as a practical introduction to their classification, species identification and behaviour.

 

• Application of conservation genetics and genomics in biodiversity monitoring and endangered species conservation (30 minutes)

-Talk 1-  Diet metabarcoding reveals complex trophic niche relationships among carnivores and hidden biodiversity.

Speakers: Meng Yao and Xinning Shao

This talk will highlight the power of diet metabarcoding in resolving complex food-web interactions and aiding biodiversity monitoring and conservation management.

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-Talk 2- Conservation genomics in endangered waterbirds in The East Asian–Australasian Flyway

Speaker: Yang Liu

This talk will show how conservation genomics provide comprehensive insights into understanding of current endangerment of endangered species which might facilitate their protection and management.

 

• Schooling devil rays at Si Amil Island, Sabah, Malaysia (20 minutes)

Presenter: David McCann

Presented by David McCann, co-founder of SJ SEAS NGO in Sabah, Malaysia, this talk focuses on the recently uplisted (Data deficient to Endangered on the IUCN Red List), short-horned pygmy devil ray (Mobula kuhlii). This ray is at risk from targeted fishing efforts and as bycatch in the commercial fishing trade. Chance encounters with this species at Si Amil Island could present a unique opportunity to expand scientific knowledge about this rare species. Citizen science efforts have established the platform for scientific research with a view to improving elasmobranch conservation efforts on the east coast of Sabah, Malaysia.

 

• Local Ecological Knowledge: The Marine Mammals of Eastern Sabah (20 minutes)

Presenter: Li-Ann Smal

Li-ann’s talk will focus on her recent Master’s thesis, in which local ecological knowledge was gathered through a mobile survey app to gain information on marine mammals in Sabah. The use of this method can overcome some of the challenges faced in studying marine mammals in this region, especially during a global lockdown. Data can be collected remotely, in collaboration with locals on the ground, to inform researchers about animal occurrence, seasonality, migration patterns, and threats. The use of a mobile survey has the potential to gain important insights into remote regions of the world, where other methods of research may not be possible, and is also highly adaptable to global changes that might occur, such as travel restrictions and lockdowns.

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• Landscape Approach and Operational Strategies Talk (20 minutes)

Presenter: Ramesh Krishnamurthy, The Wildlife Institute of India.

Landscape ecology as science and landscape approach as management framework offer conceptual models and unified framework that offer nature-based solutions for addressing Sustainable Development Goals. While the landscape approach has been recognized and vigorously promoted, it suffers from a clear operational strategy including the political will to implement a credible land-use policy in most countries. However, the fact that the India’s National Wildlife Action Plan ((2017-31) has brought in ‘Landscape Approach for Conservation’ explicitly clearly demonstrates the intent, but need to develop and implement operational strategies, with implications for regional countries (with so much of transboundary issues and the need for conservation diplomacy). Pitching the landscape approach as integrated development of conservation and economic goals, we propose spatially explicit framework for landscape approach and related management inputs including restoration and development contours. Given the complex management problems in the global south, ATBC will have significant role in taking forward this inclusive agenda and enable better synergy between scientific professionals, policy maker, operational executives, development planners and local communities.

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