Conservation of Western Long-beaked Echidna on the Vogelkop Peninsula, West Papua

Project leader: Mr Freddy Pattiselanno

Level of education and university: PhD, James Cook University

Collaborating Organisations: Balai Konservasi Sumberdaya Alam (BKSDA) Papua Barat

Project Location: Papua Barat

Activity Type: Public awareness campaign

Sector: -

Project Rationale:

Long-beaked echidnas are threatened by subsistence hunting and habitat loss from farming, logging and mining, and all three species are currently categorised as Critically Endangered (i.e. very close to extinction) on the IUCN Red List (Leary et al., 2016). In early February 2018, we conducted a biodiversity survey at the Bintuni Bay Regency in West Papua. Villagers in this area report that Z. bruijnii occurs at a number of sites here, and we have photographic evidence to confirm species identity at Bangun Mulia village. Unfortunately, habitat modification through extractive activities, including illegal logging and palm oil plantations occur in the region, and this has reduced the area of habitat. It is crucial to address hunting of this species, loss of its habitat, and to raise local awareness of the precarious conservation status of the long-beaked echidna here, if the species is to persist in one of the last areas where it exists in the world. Pressure from hunting has already led to local removal of long-beaked echidna species across large areas of New Guinea.

This project aims to achieve community engagement through community education and outreach to support an ongoing conservation program for the Western long-beaked echidna in the project sites. The long-term goal of this project is to protect the Western long-beaked echidna from hunting and to protect its forest habitat from further damage from illegal logging, through a community education and outreach program.

Project Beneficiaries:

Local communities, indigenous people – those who occupy areas near to the habitat of the Western long-beaked echidna – will receive benefits including providing information on the value of their forests. This will help to secure community forest protection, particularly to protect ecosystem services for future food and water resources. Youths including school children surrounding the study sites and their teachers will obtain benefits because they will receive science education from visiting experts to their schools, and educational materials to help understand the importance of flora and fauna as parts of the forest ecosystem.

Priority Development Area:

Economic Recovery

Link with Australian organisation:

University of Queensland/IUCN Australasian Marsupial and Monotreme Species Specialist Commission