Imawbum National Park

National Park in Myanmar

26°17′12″N 98°32′43″E / 26.28667°N 98.54528°E / 26.28667; 98.54528Area233 sq mi (600 km²)DesignationNational ParkCreated2020AdministratorForest Department

Imawbum National Park (Burmese: အီမောဘွန်းအမျိုးသားဥယျာဉ်), also known as Emawbum National Park, is a national park in northern Myanmar. The park was designated in 2020, and covers an area of 149,103 acres (603.40 km²).^[1] It is located in eastern Kachin State, and on the east it adjoins the border with China.

The Nujiang Langcang Gorge alpine conifer and mixed forests ecoregion covers the eastern portion of the park, and the Northern Triangle subtropical forests covers the western portion.^[2]

History

In 2010, biologists found the Myanmar snub-nosed monkey, a critically endangered species in the Imawbum mountains, kicking of a process to preserve the area for its conservation. The snub-nosed monkey became a flagship species for the park.^[3]

Imawbum was the first Myanmar national park to be established through a comprehensive consultation process of the indigenous Lhaovo, Lisu, Achang and Lachik people living in the area. The population within the now national park was fewer than 400 relying on farming and hunting in the remote mountain communities. A total area of 386,176 acres (1,562.80 km²) was proposed initially from the perspective of conservation.^[4] The lands used by the people there are excluded from the National Park and community-based livelihood programs were launched in 2012 as part of the formal process.^[5]

Fauna

The species that drove the creation of Imawbum National Park, the Myanmar snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus strykeri), is critically endangered with only 260-330 individuals in the area.^[4] Their high-elevation forest habitat was threatened by encroachment from logging, which prompted the creation of a conservation area to protect their dwindling habitat. The park was designated in 2020 by the Myanmar Forest department with technical input from Fauna and Flora International (FFI) and the Rainforest Trust.^[3]

The endangered red panda (Ailurus fulgens) has been observed in dwarf bamboo–pine forest within the park.^[6] Other threatened species identified during surveys in the 2010s include the Asiatic black bear, takin and Blyth's tragopan.^[3] The park is also home to black musk deer, sun bears and clouded leopards.The park is a shelter for vulnerable animals, especially in an area with issues surrounding illegal wild animal trade.^[7]

There are 126 bird species in the National Park.^[8]

References

^ ^a ^b UNEP-WCMC (2023). Protected Area Profile for Emawbum National Park from the World Database on Protected Areas. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
^ Emawbum National Park. DOPA Explorer. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c Williams, Nathan (7 April 2020). "New protected area raises hopes for critically endangered monkey". Fauna and Flora International. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
^ ^a ^b "A New National Park for the Myanmar Snub-nosed Monkey". Rainforest Trust.
^ Beesley, Grace (31 July 2020). "Mount Imawbum National Park, Myanmar: ensuring free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of indigenous peoples and local communities". iucn.org.
^ Wei, F.W., Traylor-Holzer, K., Leus, K. and Glatston, A. (eds.). 2014. Red Pandas in China Population and Habitat Viability Assessment Workshop Final Report. IUCN SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, Apple Valley, MN.
^ Thein Nyunt. "ရှားပါးတောရိုင်းတိရစ္ဆာန်များ၏ ကွန်းခိုရာ အီမောဘွန်း အမျိုးသားဥယျာဉ်" [Imawbum National Park, a shelter for rare wild animals]. Myanmar Digital News (in Burmese).
^ "Imawbum National Park". Avibase. 2023.