KARST AND CAVES OF THE SHAN PLATEAU IN MAYANMAR

The Shan plateau of Myanmar has extensive karst stretching over an area of 500 km x 300 km. Due to its isolated location a systematical exploration for karst and caves is only done since 2009 resulting in ten expeditions surveying 37 km of passages. The areas of Ywangan, Hopon and Pinlaung were systematically investigated while for the areas of Lashio and Kayah state an initial assessment was done. The longest cave in Myanmar is Khauk Khaung (Stone cave) in Ywangan with 4790 m length while Mai Lone Kho is the deepest with -160 m The identified karst objects are registered in a cave data base containing 600 items. It is publicly shared under a CC license as base for further research. One application used from Flora Fauna International (FFI) is to identify karst based biodiversity areas (KBA) for conversation within the IUCN standards. The project collected 251 specimens

Speleological Expeditions To The Shan Plateau In Myanmar (Burma)

The extensive and virtually untouched karst of the Shan plateau is well known from literature. Access is very difficult due to common regional unrest causing travel restrictions in combination with a very limited road network. Few investigations have been carried out since independence in 1948, notably those by Dunkley. This series could be continued by four expeditions from 2010–12 within the Myanmar Cave Documentation Project in cooperation with Myanmar authorities. Caving areas near Hopon, Ywangan and Pinlaung were visited confirming the presence of larger river cave systems. In total 44 caves with an overall length of 16.9 km were documented and new longest and deepest caves of the country discovered. These are Khau Khaung (Ywangan) with 2,355 m length and Mai Lone Kho (Pinlaung) with -160 m depth

Speleological Expeditions To The Shan Plateau In Myanmar (Burma)

The extensive and virtually untouched karst of the Shan plateau is well known from literature. Access is very difficult due to common regional unrest causing travel restrictions in combination with a very limited road network. Few investigations have been carried out since independence in 1948, notably those by Dunkley. This series could be continued by four expeditions from 2010–12 within the Myanmar Cave Documentation Project in cooperation with Myanmar authorities. Caving areas near Hopon, Ywangan and Pinlaung were visited confirming the presence of larger river cave systems. In total 44 caves with an overall length of 16.9 km were documented and new longest and deepest caves of the country discovered. These are Khau Khaung (Ywangan) with 2,355 m length and Mai Lone Kho (Pinlaung) with -160 m depth

Current cave monitoring practices, their variation and recommendations for future improvement in Europe: A synopsis from the 6th EuroSpeleo Protection Symposium

This manuscript summarizes the outcomes of the 6th EuroSpeleo Protection Symposium. Special emphasis was laid on presenting and discussing monitoring activities under the umbrella of the Habitats Directive (EU Council Directive 92/43/EEC) for habitat type 8310 "Caves not open to the public" and the Emerald Network. The discussions revealed a high level of variation in the currently conducted underground monitoring activities: there is no uniform definition of what kind of underground environments the "cave" habitat should cover, how often a specific cave has to be monitored, and what parameters should be measured to evaluate the conservation status. The variation in spatial dimensions in national definitions of caves further affects the number of catalogued caves in a country and the number of caves to be monitored. Not always participants are aware of the complete national monitoring process and that data sets should be freely available or easily accessible. The discussions further showed an inherent dilemma between an anticipated uniform monitoring approach with a coherent assessment methodology and, on the contrary, the uniqueness of caves and subterranean biota to be assessed – combined with profound knowledge gaps and a lack of resources. Nevertheless, some good practices for future cave monitoring activities have been identified by the participants: (1) Cave monitoring should focus on bio- and geodiversity elements alike; (2) Local communities should be involved, and formal agreements envisaged; (3) Caves must be understood as windows into the subterranean realm; (4) Touristic caves should not be excluded ad-hoc from regular monitoring; (5) New digital tools and open FAIR data infrastructures should be implemented; (6) Cave biomonitoring should focus on a large(r) biological diversity; and (7) DNA-based tools should be integrated. Finally, the importance of the 'forgotten' Recommendation No. 36 from the Bern Convention as a guiding legal European document was highlighted

Current cave monitoring practices, their variation and recommendations for future improvement in Europe: A synopsis from the 6th EuroSpeleo Protection Symposium

This manuscript summarizes the outcomes of the 6th EuroSpeleo Protection Symposium. Special emphasis was laid on presenting and discussing monitoring activities under the umbrella of the Habitats Directive (EU Council Directive 92/43/EEC) for habitat type 8310 "Caves not open to the public" and the Emerald Network. The discussions revealed a high level of variation in the currently conducted underground monitoring activities: there is no uniform definition of what kind of underground environments the "cave" habitat should cover, how often a specific cave has to be monitored, and what parameters should be measured to evaluate the conservation status. The variation in spatial dimensions in national definitions of caves further affects the number of catalogued caves in a country and the number of caves to be monitored. Not always participants are aware of the complete national monitoring process and that data sets should be freely available or easily accessible. The discussions further showed an inherent dilemma between an anticipated uniform monitoring approach with a coherent assessment methodology and, on the contrary, the uniqueness of caves and subterranean biota to be assessed – combined with profound knowledge gaps and a lack of resources. Nevertheless, some good practices for future cave monitoring activities have been identified by the participants: (1) Cave monitoring should focus on bio- and geodiversity elements alike; (2) Local communities should be involved, and formal agreements envisaged; (3) Caves must be understood as windows into the subterranean realm; (4) Touristic caves should not be excluded ad-hoc from regular monitoring; (5) New digital tools and open FAIR data infrastructures should be implemented; (6) Cave biomonitoring should focus on a large(r) biological diversity; and (7) DNA-based tools should be integrated. Finally, the importance of the 'forgotten' Recommendation No. 36 from the Bern Convention as a guiding legal European document was highlighted