Why a blog about my work?

Product development for Community Based
Ecotourism Pu Luong Nature Reserve
Northern Vietnam

How do you reply when people ask "what do you do for a living?".  Can you answer with a job title or profession, or does it take a long description?

To simplify, I tend to say either "Conservation, Protected Areas Management, Environmental Education, Tourism or Sustainable Livelihoods Consultant", depending upon project, but to be accurate, perhaps the following would be more appropriate:

"I am a consultant who specialises in tourism resource planning; sustainable rural livelihoods; ecotourism; sustainable tourism; community based tourism; pro-poor tourism; wildlife tourism; visitor access management; environmental education training and delivery; curriculum development; capacity building, tour guide training, health & safety and risk assessment analysis and training; development of interpretation plans and materials, visitor's centre design and management; composing grant applications; value chain analysis; project design, and from time to time, national and international staff recruitment...

...I work with rural communities; protected area management authorities; rangers; forest and marine guards; commune, district, provincial and national government departments and ministries; local and international NGOs; school, college and university groups; the tourism private sector as well as the occasional tourist!..

...I work in national parks, nature reserves, marine protected areas, world heritage sites, countryside recreation areas, rural communities, local and international schools, colleges and universities...

...and then there's the cross cutting themes like climate change, gender issues, HIV/AIDS and so on".

But that is quite a mouthful... I have just decided to call myself a "Heritage Management Consultant", as finally "Heritage" is becoming a word that is being increasingly used and understood in tourism/development media.  I hope the posts on this blog will provide some detail of my work and achievements over the years.  I've written chronologically, with my most current work first... I've tried not to present all my work as huge successes, nor as pessimistic tales of doom, but some sort of balance in between.  Click on some of the links on the left column, under "about me" for more projects and work.... Click on pictures in the blog, or the link at the end of each post for more photos.

1er Forum Eco-Citoyen des Enfants de Phnom Penh

450 Students from 15 Schools attended

Working with Phnom Penh French School, I supported the organisation and development of Phnom Penh's first Eco-Citizen forum.  Working over six months of preparation that included developing partnerships with schools, NGOs and charitable foundations, the forum spread the concept of Sustainable Development and Eco-Citizenship beyond the simple and often misunderstood concepts of environment, and expanded into cultural participation and so on.  

A key goal was to provide young people living in Phnom Penh an opportunity to participate in the City's sustainable development and decision making process, which was warmly supported and accepted by His Excellency Kep Chuktem, the governor of Phnom Penh, as well as the French overseas development agency and the Embassy of France in Cambodia.  Schools included two private schools, three charitable school foundations with the remainder state schools. 

Student representatives with the Governor

The forum's objectives were: 

• Educate children about the issues of sustainable development in Phnom Penh.

• Provide activities that promote the development of Eco-Citizen attitudes both individually and within the wider community.

• Offer an environment for young people to express, debate and reflect on ideas of sustainable development.

• To facilitate the implementation of joint actions for young people and sustainable development.

450 students from 15 Phnom Penh Schools, along with a another 200 teaching, NGO, foundation and support staff attended the main forum day on 12th May 2012.  The day was split into three main components:  Stands, Workshops and Discussion Groups, using the following themes:

Theme 1:  Living in a safe and quality environment (ensuring sustainable human development):
Theme 2:  Managing and sharing resources for the future (inter-generational solidarity):
Theme 3: Produce and consume differently (to make choices for sustainable development)   

Discussion groups were facilitated to allow young people provide their opinions on the following topics:

• What can we do with our

  

  Student reps in the
  Governor's office

  waste? How to produce less waste?
• Where to play? Where to go? Where to meet in town?
• How to eat healthily in Phnom Penh?
• How can we improve our safety on the road?
• How can we live with new technologies safely? 
• How can my family help me “grow” as a person?
• Where can we play sports in the city ?
• What does the notion of "solidarity" mean?

On 13th June, students presented the results of the discussion to the Governor, which were warmly received.  For more details, please visit the forum blog here (in French).

PATA Adventure and Responsible Tourism Conference, Paro, Bhutan February 2012

The Tigers Nest monastery, Paro Valley

Bhutan, the land of the Thunder Dragon.  Thanks to PATA, The Pacific Asia Travel Association and the Tourism Council of Bhutan, I was able to attend the Kingdom's first international Responsible Tourism Conference in February 2012.  To many Bhutan has almost mythical status as both a tourism and spiritual destination.

From a tourism industry perspective, it is one of the few countries in the world that does not seek to massively increase its tourism industry, and one that actively manages most of its tourism through a rigorously enforced "minimum daily spend", and thorough per-organization of all visits.

My hotel - the Ugyen Phendeyling

Tourists, with the exception of Indian, Bangladeshi, Maldivian and Sri Lankan must pre-organize their visit with an approved and registered Bhutanese operator and pay a minimum spend of $250 per day, per person ($280 if in a group of four or less), making budget travel virtually impossible.

The fee is broken into two components, a $65 royalty that goes directly to healthcare projects, the remainder being used for trips... you pay the same whether in a tent or up to 3 star hotel... but you can upgrade to a variety of higher star accommodations, and of course pay significantly more.

 

Capped Langurs by the Tiger's Nest

Currently Bhutan receives around 33,000 fee paying tourists, with another 11,000 or so mostly Indian visitors.  The full fee includes all transport and is fully guided.  As conference guests we were except from the fee, which also gave us the relatively unusual benefit of being free to do what we wanted without a guide, on top of conference activities and tours.  Just walking around the valley, it was clear that few locals had met with any foreigners before, even in Paro valley, where most tourists will visit at least once.  Something amazing being invited into someone's house who's never met a foreigner before for tea!

Prayer flags are ubiquitous in Bhutan

So what is Bhutan like?  In short, amazing.  Visiting in February where the nights reach minus 15 but with daytime temperatures of plus 15 and stunning blue skies, visible wildlife and a strong Bhutanese culture and identity, it is different.  People are well educated and support their cultural identities and want to maintain this, on the whole.  Pristine environment, windy roads, monasteries, prayer flags, shrines, and some of the most distinctive food ever... the main staple is the chilli pepper, spiced up with even more spicy chillies, served with melted cheese and red rice.  Its the hottest food by far I've ever tasted.

The conference itself was different, probably because of location, and that Bhutan is considered a specialist market.  The opening was by Anna Pollok, a leader in promoting industry wide responsible tourism, and not just a marketable niche product.

 

With the guides in Thimphu

Is Bhutan worth the fee?  Well, that depends whether you've the money or not!  But one thing's certain, they won't be scrapping it in the foreseeable future.  

For Bhutan, Gross National Happiness is the economic system that governs the country's development, it will be interesting to see if this model is exported to other countries in the future and indeed can be maintained in Bhutan long term.  For more pictures click here

The Mekong Discovery Trail: Public education & awareness raising, training and research

Sunset from Kratie riverfront

The UNWTO Mekong Discovery Trail: a destination development, Heritage Trail Project that encompasses themes of Community Based Ecotourism, wildlife viewing tourism (in the case of the critically endangered Mekong (Irrawaddy) Dolphin and Stung Treng Ramsar site), private sector training, local government capacity building as well as setting up a system of trails throughout both of the rural provinces involved.  In many cases there are much similarities with this project and my first post-Master's Degree work on Hadrian's Wall Path in the UK, where I worked on many sub-trails of the main route, all designed as a rural development project.

Trail Map - click to enlarge

Other similarities include the destination being one of the areas least visited by "tourists" (2% of international visitors to Cambodia visit the provinces, many passing through on-route from the popular 4,000 islands destination in Southern Laos to the gem of Cambodia - the Temples of Angkor, I forget the exact figure pre-project for Hadrian's Wall); government involvement and the multi-stakeholder approach.  There similarities end, for Hadrian's wall we put considerable emphasis on physical trail infrastructure and used local Chambers of Commerce to help develop business links, local business marketing support and the private sector to develop trail guides etc.

The Mekong Discovery Trail focuses much on training and support to existing tourism related businesses with a focus on using guides over independent visits.  Interestingly the trail is not actually a single trail, rather a collection of routes (either walking, cycling, motorbike, boating or a combination) based from regional "capitals" of Kratie and Stung Treng that encompasses both project supported Community Based Ecotourism communities and the town areas.  

Kratie sunsets are a main attraction

So why develop a project in this location?  Three main reasons:  Firstly the area is relatively poor, with much of the population living on subsistence agriculture and river based fishing, all of which have conservation impacts on the river (and the dolphins, of which only around 120 remain in Cambodia), secondly Cambodia is seeking to diversify it's tourism industry after the Temples of Angkor and the beaches of Sihanoukville, and thirdly, the target area is on a rapidly developing tourist route for independent travellers in South East Asia, with upwards of 100,000 visitors a year visiting southern Lao and many passing through the target areas on-route to other Cambodian destinations.  The main challenge being to encourage these visitors to stop in either Stung Treng or Kratie Provinces for a few days and the hope they will develop into a destination in themselves.

Rarely can a critically endangered species be seen so easily

Indeed it is a challenge, especially as transport becomes increasingly straightforward, with good roads, reliable and safe bus travel and generally easy visa systems.  The Mekong Discovery Trail effectively competes with other destinations in the region that are more developed and have more impacting scenery (the landscape at this point is largely flat).  Though the area does have many charms, it will never be a primary destination.

The trail project is not stand alone.  It seeks to draw upon support and previous work done by NGOs in the region, especially Mlup Baitong and Cambodian Rural Development Team, who both have developed models of Community Based Ecotourism in various target communities, some of which are well developed.

Impressive colonial architecture in Kratie

Implementation-wise, the project relies heavily on subcontracting, which has benefits and constraints at the same time: on one occasion no less than 18 sub-contracts were in operation.  While this allows a relatively light core team, it does present issues with consultant continuity and in-depth knowledge of the trail's aims and objectives, and can create significant overlap and repetition of work.  Many consultant reports are written, each from a slightly different perspective which presents considerable reading.  Perhaps another constraint is the UNWTO contracting system that puts pressure on consultants to produce deliverables (as they should of course!), however for many provincially based businesses, a true partnership with the project has not been made, and many of the activities are voluntary, sometimes with a tepid local response.

So what has my role been in this?  For much of the latter part of 2011 I have been a subcontractor to the project, at the same time conducting some research as part of a larger research proposal based upon heritage tourism development projects.

Composting Demonstration in Preah Rumkel

I have worked with Live & Learn Environmental Education to develop and support a Waste Management project in the target communities.  This focused on developing appropriate awareness raising materials and transferring Live & Learn's considerable field training experience to local community leaders, from both rural and urban areas.  Additionally, a rural composting scheme was developed and introduced to local communities.  My work involved project resource planning, log frame, developing a long term monitoring and evaluation system and providing project management support, as well as analysis of waste management issues.

Nika trains a vendor by Kratie riverfront

My larger assignment has been managing the teaching and training of English for Tourism component.  English language skills are something that can be readily improved throughout the trail area and help improve local businesses and micro-enterprises work with international tourists.

I developed a comprehensive training programme aimed at a wide audience, including classroom based training and evening classes for guides and hotel staff, on the job training and mentoring to street vendors, transport providers, small restaurants, informal sector guides as well as in the Community Based Ecotourism communities, to homestay operators, vendors, guides and boat operators.  I employed a team of 4 very enthusiastic recent teaching graduates from the Royal University of Phnom Penh who worked in Kratie Town, Stung Treng Town, Preah Rumkel Community, O'Svay Community, Koh Phdao Island, Sambour and Koh Trong Island (click on each for pictures).  As part of the programme I developed a professional competency based training programme using vocational training methods and certificated assessment programme.  Of the 230 trainees that took part in training, 138 were awarded certificates.

ToT Workshop in Kratie

And finally, research: Professionally, I am very interested in how such projects impact local host communities, heritage assets and what benefits they provide.  I am especially interested in looking at how southern Lao, (the 4,000 islands area), has developed without much (if any) development project support and how the Mekong Discovery Trail Project has been designed and implemented, and how successful and relevant it has been.  The issues that interest me include the trail's focus on guided trail leaflets and their use by both tourists and the private sector, and how the trail meets the bulk market of independent travellers.  I am in the process of investigating the possibility of developing this research into a larger PhD proposal looking at the broad topic of improving host community and heritage conservation benefits from tourism.  But more on that later.

For pictures, please click on the following links:

English Language Training Programme
Waste Management Awareness Raising Programme
Preah Rumkel Community (by the Laos Border)
Don Det & Don Khone (4,000 islands, by the Cambodia border, opposite Preah Rumkel)
Stung Treng Town and around
Kratie Town and around
Koh Trong

Ger to Ger Mongolia

The traditional Mongolian home: the Ger

Somewhere I have wanted to visit for many years, and a foundation that has interested me since I first heard about them in early 2011: Mongolia and the Ger to Ger foundation.

Mongolia is a fascinating country and has been a place of legend since I was young, with the "Outer Mongolia" seeming like a fantasy place that did not exist in reality.  Well it does, just an overnight's train journey from Beijing (and just a few days by train from Saigon, just across the border).  Any country as vast as Mongolia, with such a low population with winter temperatures reaching minus 45 Celsius and hot summers, a land of nomadic people living in Gers, is a must to visit.  I won't talk in detail of my holidays, but I will talk a little of the Ger to Ger foundation, and ponder how to develop their model of Community Based Ecotourism for other projects.

Simply Ger to Ger is exactly what it is.  Facilitated trips from one family's Ger (or Yurt, as our Russian friends call them) to another's, lead by a local community member.  Nothing has been upgraded for the tourist "experience", and this was the closest experience to free independent travel I've experienced with a company.  You travel like locals (or if you prefer, trek on foot along valleys and over passes accompanied by a yak drawn cart or pack-horse), and sleep in your own tent (this way you do not infringe on local's hospitality: by tradition if you are a tent-less guest you are given the host's beds for the night, this also helps privacy for both host and guest), and eat local food and drink prepared for you.  I believe their system works very well as true "ecotourism", you meet communities on their terms, and experience their life and their culture without any of the (often subtly) indignities of "improving" facilities and cultures for tourism purposes. 

Bravely (!) crossing a river: Horses essential

I am also very interested in how they operate and, how they are funded and how you, as the tourist, pays.  Firstly, they facilitate trips as opposed to lead them (most of their trips are maximum size of 6 to reduce impact on host communities), this means local transport to the "trail head" and being met by a local "fixer" who charters local transport (in our case a selection of Russian Jeep, horse to cross a river, and pick-up truck to meet our first host family.  The way you pay for the trip is very clear, as this is broken down into a community fee (which goes directly to host communities), transport fee, and any national park fees etc.  The foundation itself is funded by a compulsory pre-trip briefing at their offices in Ulaanbaatar that you must pay for.  The briefing covers aspects of local culture, what to expect and how to use their language guide.  Communities too have been trained in the use of the language guide which is very useful.

Preparing lunch

The model seems to work well, but replicating could be challenging: Mongolian tourism is still low volume, with Ger to Ger definitely a niche market.  Tourism is also highly seasonal, with only around 4 summer months of the main season.  These trips may not be for everyone, but certainly the closest to the mythical "real thing" that is often touted in tourist brochures.  Tourism with dignity.

For pictures, click here.

Mekong Tourism Forum: Pakse, southern Lao May 2011: Research in southern Laos

French era rail bridge linking Don Det and Don Khone

On route to the Mekong Tourism Forum I began to look at some of the differences between tourism development in southern Laos (4,000 Islands) and how this compares to the Mekong Discovery Trail Project's aims to develop the northern Mekong provinces of Cambodia. 

Cycling Heritage Trail Don Khone

After following key trails of the Mekong Discovery Trail in Cambodia for two weeks, (please see posts on the Mekong Discovery Trail for more details on this), I entered Lao by the only border crossing, and was immediately surprised by how developed southern Lao was.  The islands of Don Det and Don Khone, a long established destination for independent travellers of all descriptions seemed worlds apart from communities just across the border (and visible) from Don Khone.  Both have established local heritage trails as well as "community" tourism, but not to the standard NGO specification, any local farmers have build basic bungalow style accommodation on their lands for around the $5 a night mark, some much less.  The area has a reputation for partying and drugs, but in my opinion this is limited to a very small part of Don Det, and is on no where near the scale of Vang Vieng.  A different model without NGO support.

Baray of Wat Pu, Champasak

Further upstream is Don Khong, offerening more upscale accommodation evidently aimed more at tour groups.  Further still upstream is the island of Don Deang, home of the La Folie Lodge, a high end resort (and the location of our New Media Bootcamp/Workshop), popular with expats from Vientiane and close to Champasak, which is developing into a boutique hotel destination, close to Wat Pu World Heritage Site.

Zip Lining

Other high value tourism products in the area include The Tree Top Experience, run by a Pakse local, Inthy.  Based in the mountain forests about an hour drive from Pakse, this new project is based on the zip line & tree house model, which I was very lucky to experience courtesy of Inthy.  Click Zip Lining for the clip!.

Yak Loem Lake in Ratanakiri Province

I visited Ratanakiri Province on my return to Phnom Penh.  At 16 hours drive, very remote from the capital, but well liked to Pleiku over the border in Vietnam.  Local flights may help tourism here should they ever be resumed.

Click the following for pictures: 
Don Det & Don Khone (Don is Laotian for river island)
Don Khong
Don Deang
Champasak
Mekong Tourism Forum
Tree Top Experience
Ratanakiri (Banlung)

And the following for some clips:
Boating in Stung Treng Ramsar site
The mighty Sompaeak (Khone) Falls

Ecotourism Feasibility Study - Que Phuoc, Quang Nam

Thu Bon River from Dui Chieng Village

Que Phuoc is one of the few relatively stable homes of the critically endangered Grey-Shanked Douc Langur.  Que Phuoc is located in central Vietnam, only about two hours from the growing tourism Hub of Hoi An, Vietnam's third most visited location, after Saigon and Hanoi.  There is a huge potential market for developing a sustainable, community based ecotourism initiative based around these beautiful primates, but of course, this must be managed extremely well.

Explaining village tourism assets

My role in this was to conduct a detailed feasibility study into developing an appropriate type of tourism initiative, with a high involvement from the local community, to meet the conservation objectives of the Douc population.

 My work has been centered around three main areas: market analysis, site based tourism resource analysis, and community workshops and consultations.

The team wades to the Douc habitat

The feasibility study has identified possible interventions for three different project options, one based upon best practice Douc viewing tourism, one around village based cultural tourism, and one around  private sector based concession.  In each case a system financial benefits for conservation (through a local Village Patrol team) and communities (through a Village Development Fund) has been suggested.  The study also develops an outline donor plan and budget.

Click here for pictures.

Bird Surveys in the Falkland Islands

King Penguins at Volunteer Point

OK, this one is not 100% work.  I'm a conservationist by heart, and believe in volunteering.  When I was living in the UK, I was a volunteer nature reserve assistant, working with my local wildlife trust.  It is also good to ground oneself in back to basic conservation work, so myself and my wife Celine volunteered to conduct some bird surveys for the Falklands Conservation.

Camping on Saunders Island

 
Basically the Falkland Islands, though a biodiversity hotspot, are under researched.  While penguin communities, as flagship species, are well documented, detail about other bird species, as well as important data concerning substrate, kelp cover and so on is lacking.  So we agreed to help out by conducting a series of kilometre long coastal transects at various locations throughout the islands, recording bird species, their ages and activity; substrate at mean high tide; kelp cover out to sea; slope and vegetation mix on land, and any other important features spotted, such as rubbish (and if possible identifying features) and marine mammals.

Juvenile Gentoos are very inquisitive

 For those unfamiliar with the islands, they are about the size of Wales with a population of 2,000 (plus around an extra 1,000 military personnel) mostly based in Stanley, the remainder spread amongst remote settlements on different islands.  Transport is difficult, often there are no roads or tracks and real off road driving is needed, as is flying by eight seat aircraft and landing on grass strips.  It's a remote and harsh landscape, so most of the time we're camping using heavy duty equipment to stand up to the high winds.

Commerson's Dolphins in Weddell Island  Harbour

Some of the highlights included visiting King Penguin, Gentoo, Magellanic and Rock-hopper penguin colonies (each species is vastly different in their behaviour and fascinating; seeing Albatross nesting sites, and seeing Commerson's Dolphins playing in Weddell Harbour, as well as visiting some wild and remote places that otherwise would be almost impossible to visit.  Oh yes, and flying in the Islanders and digging the Land-Rover out of a peat-ditch.   Thank you all at Falklands Conservation, Dolphin Point, Saunders Island and Weddell Island for your hospitality!

Click here for pictures.

Pu Luong Ecotourism Project

Rice paddy terracing is common in Pu Luong

Pu Luong Nature Reserve is a gorgeous limestone karst landscape just three hours by car from Hanoi, home to Thai and Muong ethnic minorities, as well as a well preserved, but exploited forest system, home to the critically endangered Delacor's Langur.

It's a lush landscape

As with many similar landscapes and communities, there are considerable threats from land encroachment, population growth and development that forces the local community to exert increasing pressure on the natural resources that they rely on for their livelihoods.  Forests are becoming degraded thus threatening local livelihood security as well as biodiversity.  Additionally, large scale tourism development has been mooted by the Provincial People's Committee and associated departments, development that would significantly alter the character of the landscape, damage natural resources, place increasing pressure on biodiversity, whilst at the same time further marginalizing the local population.

Community members in consultation workshop

Up to 4,000 international tourists visit the site annually, mostly on pre-booked trekking packages with adventure travel companies, who subcontract to in-bound operators, who in-turn subcontract to a local operator.  Some local homestays have been created by a previous NGO project, but problems exist with theequitable distribution of profits from the tourism product, to an extent where tourism provides only negligible financial gains to the community.  Thankfully, a forward thinking project funded by Irish Aid allows for a comprehensive and well planned ecotourism (or perhaps "cultural tourism") project to be developed in the Nature Reserve.

My role was to lead and capacity build a national team from Fauna and Flora International through the ecotourism process to develop an equitable and pro-poor ecotourism plan to guide the two year project.  This was completed in five main stages:

1. Meeting with provincial, district and commune decision makers

Water wheels for irrigation and power generation

We held formal meetings with key provincial departments in Thanh Hoa City, to introduce our project objectives and needs.  This was followed up with meetings at District and Commune level, to ensure all were clear about the project and it's purpose.

2. Conducting an extensive tourism resource survey in the nature reserve

The team travelled extensively throughout the nature reserve, meeting local communities, observing key social, cultural and natural features, and other tourism related resources and issues.

3. Holding in-depth community consultations

Rice paddy on the valley floor

The project was centred around the needs and wishes of the 3,000 people that live in the reserve, and these communities are the key draw factor for tourists.  We held workshops in each village to allow communities to make informed decisions about the type of tourism development they would like to see in their landscape.  This valuable information showed communities did not wish to see large scale investment or landscape change affect them -this would be the key information used to develop the plan, and provide a strong argument against heavy development from provincial agencies.

4. Developing an equitable ecotourism plan for Pu Luong

The plan identified 18 key action points to achieve comprehensive sustainable and equitable ecotourism in the nature reserve.  Of these, the following were identified as priorities:

Ladies carrying fuel wood

• Develop and implement tourism zoning and management (using Recreation Opportunity Spectrum methodology)
• Implement guidelines, codes of practice and regulations to ensure low-impact and equitable tourism
• Establish and support a community tourism association
• Develop local Value Chain to add-value to tourism
• Work with in-bound and local tourism operators to ensure they allow more financial benefits to reach local communities
• Implement entry fee system to fund conservation activities
• Develop small scale handicraft programme, utilizing existing skills and products
• Implement tourism awareness training to key stakeholders

5. Developing, discussing and agreeing next steps in a multi-stakeholder workshop

The team ran a final consultative workshop with key stakeholders including nature reserve managers, tour operators, provincial decision makers and local communities.  Here, wishes of the local communities were presented along with the above action points.  Discussions were held, and pledges made for support, and importantly, approval was publicly agreed to support the plan.

Village consultation workshop

A year later and the project is going strong, with key milestones having been met, with a local community tourism association set up, various trainings completed and improvements in the value chain from support of tour operators.

Key challenges as always remain the large number of provincial agencies that are responsible for management of different aspects of the nature reserve, big business pressurizing inappropriate development for the site, and local capacity to ensure project momentum is maintained.

Click here for pictures.

Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund, Northern Vietnam

Black-Shanked Doucs at Jungle Beach

Fauna and Flora International Vietnam, along with other partner agencies, requested my assistance in drafting an application to the CEPF fund, to provide conservation support to critically endangered primates at 12 sites in northern Vietnam.

The project was to provide training, capacity building and assistance to community based patrol teams living adjacent to the identified primate habitat.  Species included the Tonkin Snub-Nosed Monkey, Greater Crested Gibbon, Cao-Vit Gibbon, Red Shanked Douc Langurs, Francois Langur and Delacors Langur.

My role was to meet with project partners to discuss, compile relevant information and draft all submission documents for the project.  Subsequently the project has been approved and is currently in the process of implementation.

Click here for pictures of some of the primates involved; pictures include those from the primate rescue Centre in Cuc Phuong, they are shown for reference.  CEPF is about in-situ conservation.