The Alto Mayo Protected Forest REDD+ project has conducted a prestigious Q-Grader certification course at the coffee laboratory, training cuppers from around the world. The project activities are expanding into Afforestation and Reforestation (ARR) activities, with field data collection underway ahead of verification and validation. A new women’s association has been established, with >200 women participating from 15 communities.
The Sustainable Menstrual Solutions pilot project is gaining steam as it expands across the Rombo Group ranch, creating interest from other communities across the project zone. Education continues to be supported through the awarding of hundreds of bursaries, distribution of school supplies and hiring of new teachers. As wildfires continue to risk the forest, community and wildlife in the project area, the partners continue to implement pro- active mitigation approaches. The project is in the final step of the verification process; new VCUs will be ready for purchase soon.
When Wildlife Alliance began working in the Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia two decades ago, the remote commune of Chi Phat was known as a hub of wildlife smuggling and illegal logging. An appraisal of the region’s resources and economic development options spotlighted tourism as the best opportunity to preserve the vulnerable ecosystem and partner with communities to provide a better livelihood.
When Wildlife Alliance began working in the Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia two decades ago, the remote commune of Chi Phat was known as a hub of wildlife smuggling and illegal logging. An appraisal of the region’s resources and economic development options spotlighted tourism as the best opportunity to preserve the vulnerable ecosystem and partner with communities to provide a better livelihood.
Access to clean water is a top community development priority at the Kasigau Corridor REDD+ project. In an already semi-arid landscape with limited access to clean and safe water, climate change is creating drastic changes to rainfall patterns in the region, resulting in widespread drought and water shortages. Over the past 50 years, mean annual temperature has risen by nearly 2°C, while the number of consecutive dry days is increasing and consecutive wet days are decreasing – resulting in higher frequency and magnitude droughts impacting the region. The seasonal precipitation patterns are highly unpredictable, challenging the efficient management of water resources in the project zone. This is leaving devastating impacts on the community, their livestock, and wildlife in the project area.
One of the most important achievements has been the allocation of emergency funds towards a fire management strategy with an arsenal of new equipment and ranger training that the area had not been able to afford in past years. Through allocation of the emergency grants, partners managed to achieve efficient coordination and allocation of the available resources and enable effective force deployment in the event of an emergency.
The Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary (KSWS) REDD+ Project has a world-class, long-term biodiversity monitoring program. Core to this is program is a distance sampling line transect methodology, which provides estimates of key species abundance, distribution, and population trends for six primate species, six ungulate species, and one bird species.
This project reduces the principal drivers of forest and biodiversity loss and is charting a new pathway for community prosperity through comprehensive investments into the surrounding local communities, which are among the most under-served in the world.
With carbon credit sales made throughout 2021, the project has expanded its impact and scale through the distribution of grantsto selected partners with sector-specific expertise for strategic activities, accelerating implementation versus developing new internal teams to address these activities. Community benefit sharing is also expanding, with more than 100 community-led development activities funded by REDD+ during this period. Core project activities continue to make progress, with another community awarded legal rights to 872 ha for management as a Community Protected Area.
COVID has profoundly impacted the project, introducing challenges due to increased migration into the AMPF and buffer zones, while at the same time providing new opportunities for the implementation of diverse sustainable natural resource- based ventures. Political obstacles have delayed a planned expansion of the project area and the next round of verification.