Southern Cardamom REDD+ Project

Water resources in the Cardamom rainforest landscape have been drying up over the past decade as a result of climate change and deforestation. Families in some communities have to travel up to 5-km to collect safe drinking water from one of the few operational wells as the only other safe alternative is purchasing very expensive bottled water. Some community members have even resorted to collecting nearby river water, which is very often tainted by chemicals originating from upstream plantations. Through the reduction of deforestation, management of the project zone watershed and installation of water wells, >80,000 people living in the area have access to water resources. In 2021 alone, 18 solar-powered water wells have been distributed to 423 families in 2021 with a further 25 wells scheduled to be completed in 2022. These wells will be further distributed through 7 communes in 11 villages in and around the Southern Cardamom REDD+ project area.

The project directly manages more than 150 law enforcement rangers who operate 24/7 out of 11 fully- equipped ranger stations and patrol across more than 5,000-km2 of the landscape. Rangers are well paid and receive life insurance and full health benefits, have the capacity and equipment to work effectively and safely, and are led and motivated by inspirational supervisors. This is critical to the success of the project, where a culture of excellence in conservation, zero tolerance for corruption and achieving high performance has been cultivated.

The Southern Cardamom REDD+ scholarship award program has distributed >$240,000 in bursaries. For example, five full scholarships to universities in Phnom Penh were awarded in 2021. These scholarships include four years of annual tuition, school materials, accommodation, food stipend and health insurance, totalling $6,852 per student per year. Limited education in the Southern Cardamom project area is directly correlated with increased deforestation due to the lack of alternative, sustainable livelihood opportunities. Once educated at the university level, these students will be able to raise awareness on forest conservation and establish new business ventures for their home communities, thereby reducing pressure on the Southern Cardamom rainforest.

In October 2020, heavy rains caused massive flooding throughout Cambodia, particularly the villages of Pursat in Pramouy, Rokay and Bak Chenhchean communes, located in the leakage zone to the north of the REDD+ Project, were badly affected. To alleviate the suffering these communities were facing, a Wildlife Alliance relief mission, supported by the Southern Cardamom REDD+ Project, travelled to the communities from Phnom Penh with crucial supplies to give to the villagers, including rice, dried fish, instant noodles and tents to the affected communities, giving aid to 453 families. 

Additional benefits sharing has been allocated to the development of new roads in 2021, as the current road network has been heavily eroded due to regular flooding and limited upkeep. An 18-km stretch of road from Por Boeung to Sre Ambel – which is particularly dangerous during the rainy season – has been reconstructed at higher elevation with a new drainage system, allowing villages to access the Sre Ambel marketplace, district health facilities and the local secondary school.

The project has established an effective boots-on-the-ground protection of this highly threatened forest landscape. Since 2006, the project has achieved zero poaching of Asian elephants and supported significant recovery of ungulates and carnivore populations. The project employs over 350 rangers, who have conducted nearly 30,000 patrols since 2015 resulting in the removal of >200,000 snares, confiscation of >10,000 chainsaws and logging/poaching vehicles and the rescue of 3250 live animals.

The ranger and enforcement team in Southern Cardamom is constructing a tiger reintroduction station, which includes ponds for swimming, wild pig enclosures for tiger prey, workers house and a veterinary station. By 2023, the Indian government will begin the reintegration process by donating at least 10 tigers, giving them the opportunity to roam free in Southern Cardamom’s dense rainforests under the legal protection of Southern Cardamom REDD+ rangers. The network of protected areas from Southern Cardamom to Tatai and Phnom Samkos wildlife sanctuaries represents an ideal landscape to implement the national tiger recovery program; the first of its kind to be initiated in Cambodia.

The project relentlessly defends 497,000 hectares of forest in a highly threatened landscape. For example, recently the project team stopped the construction of a High Voltage Power Line through the heart of the REDD+ Project. A high voltage power line had been planned to bring electricity from 4 hydro-power dams to Phnom Penh, which would have sliced through 4 National Parks and pristine, untouched rainforest over a 100 km distance. Not only would this fragment the wild habitat, but it would create access to previously remote rainforest, leaving much of the landscape vulnerable to land grabbing, logging and poaching. Wildlife Alliance engaged with government officials at the highest level and published an Environmental Impact Assessment that recommends an identified alternate route around the rainforest that is far less environmentally destructive. Thanks to Wildlife Alliance’s intervention, the Power Line project is currently halted and under review.