Defending the traditional rights of Indigenous Bunong people by securing community land titles is a core conservation strategy of the Keo Seima REDD+ project.
The Keo Seima REDD+ Project lies on the frontier of a deforestation wave that has devastated the surrounding landscape in recent years – including the total loss of the nearby Snoul Wildlife Sanctuary. In 2020, the repatriation of over 100,000 Cambodians working overseas due to COVID-19 put even greater pressure on the forest, increasing internal migration as people sought opportunities to meet their urgent livelihoods needs.
The population of 11 key species in the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary (KSWS) were monitored between 2010 — 2020 using line transects. The report shows that populations of green peafowl and pig-tailed macaque are increasing, that populations of black-shanked douc langur, yellow-cheeked crested gibbon, long-tailed macaque, and wild pig are stable, and that populations of Germain’s silvered langur, stump-tailed
macaque, and all ungulates except wild pig are decreasing. More than 80% of species trends matched or improved on the anticipated trends set in 2010 in the REDD+ Project Document. These results highlight the success and impacts of the project, while spotlighting where new conservation interventions are most urgently needed.
Although some field activities were delayed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the quarter nonetheless brought impressive results on the ground. The community’s engagement in the REDD+ project was at the center of the work: An additional 14 Community Patrol Teams were established, trained and equipped, while communities have begun to adopt Ibis rice as a value-adding source of income. And the wildlife monitoring team completed their field data collection, walking a total of 1,260 km over hilly terrain in hot weather.
The wave of deforestation that has rippled through Cambodia over the past 10 years has now spread north from the flatlands toward the more hilly, highly forested periphery. Now it has advanced right to the border of Keo Seima. With a nearby 150,000 hectare park completely deforested in recent years, the threat to the Keo Seima landscape is pressing. COVID-19 presents additional threats with the potential for a large influx of people returning to Cambodia.
The project is under constant threat from accelerating forest clearance for agriculture together with unsustainable resource extraction, abetted by population growth, expansion of road networks and limited rule of law in the region. To alleviate these threats, the REDD+ funds currently support 12 ranger stations within the project area and surrounding landscape. Rangers work to […]
The Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary is the ancestral home of the Indigenous Bunong people, whose unique culture and beliefs are inseparable from the forest in which they live. The project has partnered with the local Bunong communities in an effort to formally secure land and resource tenure. So far, the project has helped the communities […]
The Ibis Rice initiative was established in the project area as a wildlife-friendly alternative to unsustainable rice farming. In this initiative, Cambodian farmers in the Keo Seima REDD+ project (and the Northern Plains) are offered premium prices and organic certification for their rice in exchange for their commitment to zero deforestation, zero poaching and zero […]
The Wildlife Conservation Society has established a world-class biodiversity monitoring program over the past decade, providing estimates of key species abundance, distribution and population trends across the wildlife sanctuary. Camera traps are used to record the presence of rare and cryptic species, and newly developed techniques such as passive acoustic monitoring are being trialed. This […]