ORCID Profile
0000-0003-3931-1175
Current Organisation
University of Nottingham Malaysia
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Publisher: Wiley
Date: 17-10-2022
Abstract: Protected areas (PAs) are a cornerstone of global conservation strategies. PAs, however, are not equally effective for all threatened taxa, and it is important to understand taxa‐specific effectiveness of PAs networks. In this study, we evaluate the role of the PAs network on the protection of Asian elephants Elephas maximus and their habitats in Southeast Asia's Sundaic region. Since Asian elephants tend to prefer secondary forests or forest gaps, we predicted that PAs would not represent the species preferred habitats. We conducted the most comprehensive analysis of Asian elephant space and habitat use to date through home range estimations and step selection function analyses using over 600,000 Global Positioning System locations from 102 different elephants from Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo. Our results revealed important similarities in the habitat use of elephants in both regions, with both females and males in Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah preferring secondary forest, forest gaps and areas of regrowth and new plantations. Our results supported our prediction that PAs do not represent Asian elephants' preferred habitats, since for most of the elephants, more than half of their ranges were outside PAs and the probability of selection values for both sexes in both geographical areas were lower inside than outside the PAs. Synthesis and applications. Our analysis suggests that conservation strategies need to acknowledge that the long‐term survival of Asian elephants in the Sundaic region relies on our capacity to promote human–elephant coexistence at the boundaries of PAs. We advocate that Asian elephant conservation strategies should be based on the following three key points: (1) large PAs with core areas where elephants can find safety and potentially survive in the long term (2) promoting connectivity among PAs using a system of wildlife corridors and (3) effective human–elephant conflict management outside PAs.
Publisher: IWA Publishing
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.2166/BGS.2020.014
Abstract: Low- and middle-income countries in Southeast and East Asia face a range of challenges related to the rapid pace of urbanisation in the region, the scale of pollution, climate change, loss of ecosystem services and associated difficulties for ecological restoration. Possible pathways towards a more sustainable future lie in the applications of nature-based solutions (NBS). However, there is relatively little literature on the application of NBS in the region, particularly Southeast Asia. In this paper we address this gap by assessing the socio-ecological challenges to the application of NBS in the region – one of the most globally bio erse. We first provide an overview and background on NBS and its underpinnings in bio ersity and ecosystem services. We then present a typology describing five unique challenges for the application of NBS in the region: (1) Characteristics of urbanisation (2) Biophysical environmental and climatic context (3) Environmental risks and challenges for restoration (4) Human nature relationships and conflicts and (5) Policy and governance context. Exploiting the opportunities through South-South and North-South collaboration to address the challenges of NBS in Southeast and East Asia needs to be a priority for government, planners and academics.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2020
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 21-11-2016
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-11-2019
DOI: 10.1111/CSP2.133
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-2021
DOI: 10.1111/ACV.12749
Publisher: Asian Elephant Transport Working Group
Date: 12-2021
DOI: 10.53847/VYWN4174
Abstract: Asian elephants are endangered across their remaining home ranges in South and Southeast Asia. According to recent estimates, fewer than 52,000 in iduals remain in the wild across 13 range states. Ongoing loss and fragmentation of habitat, increasingly caused by the development and operation of linear transport infrastructure (LTI) - such as roads, railways, and highways - is now exacerbating these threats. The Asian Elephant Transport Working Group (AsETWG) began collaboration in early 2019 to focus its efforts on developing solutions for conserving core habitats and decreasing mortality and barriers to Asian elephant movement. This publication marks a first milestone in AsETWG's work. It highlights the impacts that LTI has on Asian elephants and their habitats, addresses existing frameworks for reducing elephant-transport conflicts, provides seven case studies and a focus on emerging technologies, and makes general recommendations for inspiring urgent and practical actions.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-02-2021
DOI: 10.1111/ACV.12668
Abstract: Misconceptions about species’ ecological preferences compromise conservation efforts. Whenever people and elephants share landscapes, human–elephant conflicts (HEC) occur in the form of crop raiding, elephant attacks on people and retaliatory actions from people on elephants. HEC is considered the main threat to the endangered Asian elephant Elephas maximus . Much of HEC mitigation in Asia is based on rescuing elephants from conflict areas and returning them to nature , for ex le, by means of ‘problem elephant’ translocation. Here, we used two independent and extensive datasets comprising elephant GPS telemetry and HEC incident reports to assess the relationship between elephant habitat preferences and the occurrence of HEC at a broad spatial scale in Peninsular Malaysia. Specifically, we assessed (a) the habitat suitability of agricultural landscapes where HEC incidents occur and (b) sexual differences in habitat preferences with implications for HEC mitigation and elephant conservation. We found strong differences in habitat use between females and males and that the locations of HEC incidents were areas of very high habitat suitability for elephants, especially for females. HEC reports suggest that in Peninsular Malaysia females are involved in more crop damage conflicts than males, whereas males are more prone to direct encounters with people. Our results show that human‐dominated landscapes are prime elephant habitat, and not merely marginal areas that elephants use in the absence of other options. The high ecological overlap between elephants and people means that conflict will continue to happen when both species share landscapes. HEC mitigation strategies, therefore, cannot be based on elephant removal (e.g. translocation) and need to be holistic approaches that integrate both ecological and human social dimensions to promote tolerated human–elephant coexistence.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2020
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 14-07-2021
DOI: 10.3389/FCOSC.2021.682590
Abstract: Theory of Change (ToC) and Social Return of Investment (SROI) are planning tools that help projects craft strategic approaches in order to create the most impact. In 2018, the Management & Ecology of Malaysian Elephants (MEME) carried out planning exercises using these tools to develop an Asian elephant conservation project with agriculture communities. First, a problem tree was constructed together with stakeholders, with issues arranged along a cause-and-effect continuum. There were 17 main issues identified, ranging from habitat connectivity and fragmentation, to the lack of tolerance toward wild elephants. All issues ultimately stemmed from a human mindset that favors human-centric development. The stakeholders recognize the need to extend conservation efforts beyond protected areas and move toward coexistence with agriculture communities for the survival of the wild elephants. We mapped previous Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) management methods and other governmental policies in Malaysia against the problem tree, and provided an overview of the different groups of stakeholders. The ToC was developed and adapted for each entity, while including Asian elephants as a stakeholder in the project. From the SROI estimation, we extrapolated the intrinsic value of the wild Asian elephant population in Johor, Malaysia, to be conservatively worth at least MYR 7.3 million (USD 1.8 million) per year. From the overall calculations, the potential SROI value of the project is 18.96 within 5 years, meaning for every ringgit invested in the project, it generates MYR 18.96 (USD 4.74) worth of social return value. There are caveats with using these value estimations outside of the SROI context, which was thoroughly discussed. The SROI provides projects with the ability to justify to funders the social return values of its activities, which we have adapted to include the intrinsic value of an endangered megafauna. Moreover, SROI encourages projects to consider unintended impacts (i.e., replacement, displacement, and deadweight), and acknowledge contributions from stakeholders. The development of the problem tree and ToC via SROI approach, can help in clarifying priorities and encourage thinking out of the box. For this case study, we presented the thinking process, full framework and provided evidences to support the Theory of Change.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 2016
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-01-2021
DOI: 10.1111/BTP.12889
Abstract: Asian elephants ( Elephas maximus ) have inhabited almost all forests in tropical Asia until recently, yet little is known about their role in ecological processes, particularly in the Sundaic forests of South‐East Asia. These forests are peculiar in their phenology, with supra‐annual and highly irregular episodes of mast fruiting. Here, we present a long‐term (6‐year) monitoring of the seeds dispersed by elephants in dipterocarp forests of northern Peninsular Malaysia. We conducted monthly dung surveys at two mineral licks (11.3 km apart) frequently visited by elephants. Additionally, we recorded haphazard observations of seeds and seedlings in elephant dung at other locations. We recorded a minimum of 48 morphospecies from at least 25 plant families dispersed by elephants. Elephant seed dispersal was very heterogenous in space, with only 30.3% of the morphospecies dispersed at both sites (Jaccard dissimilarity index = 0.48). Temporally, elephants dispersed seeds in sporadic pulses of abundance and ersity, without any apparent seasonality (seeds appeared in 19.1% of 1,284 dung piles and 57.1% of the 63 months in which we found dung) and with long periods without any seed being dispersed. Nearly half (48%) of the plants dispersed by elephants belong to a megafaunal dispersal syndrome. Our long‐term approach allowed us to unravel an important aspect of Asian elephants’ role and effectiveness in the seed dispersal cycle. Sundaland's forests are undergoing a rapid loss of their previously common megaherbivores (rhinos and elephants), with profound and long‐term consequences for ecosystem functioning. Abstract in Malay is available with online material.
Location: Malaysia
Location: Malaysia
No related grants have been discovered for Ee Phin Wong.