Asia & the Pacific: Bangladesh Cambodia India Indonesia - Coal Seam Fires Indonesia - Mine Policy Mongolia Nepal Philippines - Environmental Law Enforcement Philippines - Coral Reef Management Training Return to 'Where We Work' Page Bangladesh - Completed Arsenic Contamination in Bengal Delta Groundwater: Arsenic contamination in the shallow groundwater of the Bengal Delta in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India, is now recognized as the most significant water-related health crisis in the world, affecting perhaps as many as 40-60 million people. Presently, the primary solutions to the arsenic problem in Bangladesh and West Bengal are avoidance and treatment. DOI-ITAP worked to understand the geology, hydrology, and geochemistry of the contaminated delta sediments in order to address existing conditions and evaluate water management alternatives, including remediation of contaminated shallow aquifers and development of deeper aquifers. For a more detailed understanding of this program, please refer to the DOI-ITAP Quarterly Report.. Cambodia - Active Wildlife Law Enforcement: Cambodia is surrounded by several countries that, having hunted their own wildlife to extinction, have turned to Cambodia as a source of skins, bones, internal organs, and other wildlife products. The wildlife crimes perpetrated or abetted by traffickers in these countries have been well documented. Decisive and urgent action is necessary to protect Cambodia’s remaining wildlife in the country’s long-term economic, social, and environmental interests. Tough enforcement measures alone may not be feasible due to lack of infrastructure and manpower and may even backfire. Commercial dealers and professional hunters are often responsible for encouraging poor villagers to poach. Currently, law enforcement officials find it difficult to reach the instigators and often end up arresting villagers who hunt for subsistence. Development assistance can provide villagers with economic alternatives, but it will not discourage opportunistic poaching. A combination of law enforcement and community participation is therefore required. DOI-ITAP is working in collaboration with Conservation International (CI) and WildAid to provide training for park rangers and protected area managers in areas of DOI expertise, and providing technical assistance to the CITES Secretariat in Phnom Penh. Funding: State Department, East Asia & Pacific Environmental Initiative (EAPEI) For a more detailed understanding of this program, please refer to the DOI-ITAP Quarterly Report. India - Active Coal Beneficiation Workshop - Active: DOI-ITAP is providing logistics support to the Coal Mining Task Force, one of eight public-private sector task forces under the Asia Pacific Partnership, a presidential initiative. Founding partners Australia, China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, and the United States have agreed to work together and with private sector partners to meet goals for energy security, and national air pollution reduction and climate change in ways that promote sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction. Through an Interagency Agreement with the State Department, DOI-ITAP will host a workshop in India Spring 2007 to review existing regulations and practices for coal processing in the Asia-Pacific region and develop recommendations for optimum ash and sulfur reduction in washed coal. Funding: State Department For a more detailed understanding of this program, please refer to the DOI-ITAP Quarterly Report. Impacts of Human Activities on Elephants - Completed: DOI-ITAP provided equipment -- primarily radio telemetry equipment for elephants-- to assist in assessing the impact of human activities on ungulate populations in Rajaji-Corbett National Parks. The data gathered was used to identify mini-core areas for protection to maintain the biological integrity of the area, and provide recommendations for eco-restoration and effective management. Funding: USAID/Global Bureau For a more detailed understanding of this program, please refer to the DOI-ITAP Quarterly Report. Indonesia - Completed Coal Seam Fires: DOI-ITAP provided technical assistance to the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to train them in establishing a long term capability to respond quickly to coal seam fires – particularly those that present a threat to human health and safety, the environment and infrastructure. Before the project started in October 1998, no real effort was being made to put out coal fires. DOI-ITAP helped extinguish fires and trained Indonesian staff on fire-fighting techniques. Fifty-six of the fires DOI-ITAP helped extinguish were in the Sungai Wain Nature Reserve area that is a release area for rehabilitated orangutans. DOI-ITAP taught appropriate personnel methods of suppression that would minimize disruption of the habitat. The Coal Seam Fire Project contributed directly to establishing linkages between the regional Ministry offices (Kanwils) and the provincial and local governments that helped identify and locate coal seam fires. DOI-ITAP assistance directly prompted a Ministerial Decree on October 7, 1999 that established policy regarding coal fire suppression for the Ministry. The decree clarifies the Ministry’s responsibility to extinguish coal fires, assigns the lead for implementing the program to Kanwil offices (regional offices of the Ministry), and authorizes use of the Coal Royalty Fund to support the activities. Because of the new decree and the publicity the project has received locally, coal fires are now being reported in several other provinces and, most important, the Ministry is putting out fires without outside assistance. Funding: East Asia & Pacific Environmental Initiative (EAPEI) For a more detailed understanding of this program, please refer to the DOI-ITAP Quarterly Report. Indonesia - Active Mine Policy: DOI-ITAP is providing technical assistance to the Government of Indonesia to support the decentralization process and to build capacity in local governments to manage mineral resource programs at the local level. Through a long-term on-site Project Director on detail from the Department’s Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement (OSM), and through short-term exchanges of OSM and state-level mining experts, DOI-ITAP has provided technical support to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), the Ministry of Environment (MLH), the Ministry of Forestry, the National Planning Agency (BAPENAS), the Provincial Governments of South Sumatra, North Sulawesi, and of East Kalimantan, and the county governments of East Kutai, Kutai Kertanegara, Muara Enim, South Sumatra and Sawahlunto, West Sumatra. An intern program and advanced inspector training has been provided to appropriate Indonesian professionals to support the efforts of ESDM to decentralize and to build capacity among Kanwil and Provincial Government Mine Inspectors. Funding: USAID/Indonesia & East Asia & Pacific Environmental Initiative (EAPEI) For a more detailed understanding of this program, please refer to the DOI-ITAP Quarterly Report. Mongolia - Completed Lake Hovsgol National Park: Lake Hovsgol National Park, part of the Selenge River watershed and a sister lake to Lake Baikal in the Russian Far East, is one of Mongolia's particularly environmentally sensitive areas, and a site with growing tourism interest. The Park boasts several endemic species and also contains two towns, Hatgal in the south and Hanck in the north, which functions as part of the cultural heritage of the Park. At the time of project inception, the Park was inadequately managed and the communities in and around the Park enjoyed few benefits from their proximity to the Park or from the tourists that visited the Park. DOI-ITAP’s technical assistance program was designed to build the capacity of Lake Hovsgol National Park staff to better manage the natural resources of the Park, enhance the visitor experience by improving the interpretation program, increase local community involvement in Park decisions and Park-related income generation, and improve staff resources by establishing a visitor fee program. Some of the successes of this project include the development of a new visitor center, the installation of a solar electricity system, and the set up of a geographic information system (GIS) with digitized maps. This project also benefited local communities through the development of community environmental education centers in all communities around the park, and also improved several local school facilities. Funding: USAID/Mongolia For a more detailed understanding of this program, please refer to the DOI-ITAP Quarterly Report. Nepal - Completed Shey Phoksundo National Park: Shey Phoksundo National Park is Nepal’s largest national park covering 355,500 hectares. Located in the western part of the Himalayas, the Park is a biological crossroads of the Himalayan mountain range and the Tibetan plateau. Shey Phoksundo National Park also has a unique cultural heritage with one of the highest and oldest permanent settlements of highland agriculture/pastoralism. At the time of DOI-ITAP project inception, the Park faced threats from unregulated tourism development and unsustainable resource use patterns, driven in part by increasing numbers of porters and outside guides. The program was designed to strengthen environmentally sensitive tourism development, bolster protected area management, build environmental interpretation skills, and encourage sound community-based resource management in and around the Park. Through the project, DOI-ITAP worked to enhance park-community relations through the launch of a junior ranger program that continues to thrive today as well as through partnerships with various businesses to help them benefit more from tourism in the park. DOI-ITAP trained more than 250 community representatives, civic, religious and business leaders, teachers and natural resource professionals on the concepts of community development in association with protected areas. Over the course of the 4-year program, park staff interacted regularly with the DOI-ITAP team and learned about U.S. standards of ethics, professionalism, and dedication to resource management. The Park staff was provided binoculars, bird books, mammal guides, and bird and mammal checklists to enable them to enhance their job performance. DOI-ITAP also helped develop wildlife monitoring reporting forms for use by Park staff. Working with Park staff, local villagers and religious leaders, DOI-ITAP assisted in the development of the Park's first self-guided nature trail and brochure at Phoksundo Lake. Funding: USAID/Nepal For a more detailed understanding of this program, please refer to the DOI-ITAP Quarterly Report. Philippines - Active Environmental Law Enforcement: Illegal and destructive fishing and severe over fishing threaten not only biodiversity but also food security and the productivity of the natural resource base in the Philippines. Illegal logging and open dumping of solid, toxic and hazardous wastes threaten livelihoods, lives and biodiversity. The goal of USAID/Philippines is to strengthen the ability of national and local government units and communities to address these critical threats to the country’s coastal and terrestrial resources and promote good governance – transparency and accountability – in enforcing environmental laws. DOI-ITAP is embarking on a new program of technical assistance in the Philippines focused on providing technical assistance and training to increase the capacity of local and national environmental law enforcement bodies in the Philippines. This work builds on previous law enforcement training conducted by DOI-ITAP in the Philippines. Funding: USAID/Philippines & East Asia & Pacific Environmental Initiative (EAPEI) For a more detailed understanding of this program, please refer to the DOI-ITAP Quarterly Report. Philippines - Completed Coral Reef Management Training: DOI-ITAP provided training in coral reef and marine protected area management to resource professionals in East Asia. The participants in the training were from local “Bantay Dagats” (community-based sea watch patrol teams) and NGO representatives who have responsibilities in marine law enforcement in the Philippines near shore waters and marine protected areas. The sessions included training in basic patrol and arrest techniques, collection, preservation and courtroom presentation of evidence, fish identification, local marine law, interagency coordination and basic boating and safety. The training complemented the World Wildlife Fund program in the Sulu-Sulawesi Eco-Region. The Sulu Sea contains the most biologically diverse coral resource in the world. The training greatly improved the capacities of the local Bantay Dagat. In Mabini and Tingloy, commercial vessels are not encroaching on the municipal waters as much as they did in the past. As a result, the municipal fishermen are able to catch more fish (both in terms of quantity and species of fish) and do not need to fish as far from the coast as in the past. Given the success of the DOI-ITAP training, the State Department sponsored twenty-two Philippine officers to complete a 2-week “Small Craft Marine Law Enforcement Training Program” conducted at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Brunswick, Georgia. Funding: East Asia & Pacific Environmental Initiative (EAPEI) For a more detailed understanding of this program, please refer to the DOI-ITAP Quarterly Report. Return to Top