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 […]