Conservation in Cambodia

Part of the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot, Cambodia is home to some of the richest ecosystems on the planet, while having today some of the fastest rate of deforestation. Large-scale developments are turning vast chunks of forests and wetlands into commercial plantations and real estate projects, while poaching and illegal logging are relentlessly degrading and emptying the forests. The situation is further aggravated by the difficult socioeconomic conditions found in rural areas and complicated land rights issues.

Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary

Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary

Prek Toal is a world-class bird sanctuary and Ramsar site located within the Tonle Sap biosphere reserve. Efforts from conservation groups, the ministry of environment and local rangers have led to an increase in the number of birds coming to roost in the sanctuary.
Photos featured in Wayne McCallum’s Mekong Solitaire (Howl press, 2021).

Phnom Kulen National Park

Located to the northeast of the Angkor temples, the mountain range of Phnom Kulen was revealed in 2015 to be the seat of a large ancient city. In spite of being a National Park, the forest has largely been cleared for cashew plantations: it is estimated that only about 20% of the original forest is in good condition.
With Archaeology & Development Foundation (ADF) and HUMY.

Top: Phnom Ta Kho, one of Phnom Kulen’s scenic spot. Below: photos of different areas within Phnom Kulen National Park.

In recent years, archaeologists teamed up with local communities and the National Park to create Community Protected Areas around the last pockets of healthy forests remaining near the villages and developing community-based ecotourism.

Training of community rangers from two of Phnom Kulen’s CPA taking place in BeTreed in Preah Vihear province.
Opening ceremony of the Popel village’s ecotourism center.

Community-based ecotourism in Keo Seima

Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary is home to the largest populations of both the endangered Southern yellow-cheeked gibbon and the critically endangered Black-shanked douc. The Jahoo research & ecotourism project is located in the buffer zone of the sanctuary on land collectively owned by an Indigenous Bunong community.
Photos part of the 2023 Pulitzer-supported exhibition ‘Pray for Prey’ in Phnom Penh.

Left: Kyle from the Jahoo project shows a cashew tree seedling growing out of elephant dung. The wild elephants living within Keo Seima forest sometimes go to look for food into the plantations located on the forest’s edge, a pattern relatively common across Asia. Middle: the Koki tree is native to Southeast Asia and valued for the quality of its wood. This one was felled several years ago when the community decided to use it to build the village school. Right: Veasna and Long, from the Bunong community of Andoung Kralong, guide visitors into the forest of Keo Seima. They are able to spot, identify and track even the smallest of animal from far away.

The mangroves of Prey Nup

Not far from Sihanoukville, at the foot of the Bokor plateau, lies the Prey Nup mangroves, a rich network of flooded forest, mudflats and waterways thriving with a high diversity of bird and endangered mammals species.
Drone shoot for a private conservation initiative.

The Prey Nup mangroves.

Marine ecosystems

Cambodia’s marine environment faces a number of anthropogenic threats, among them overfishing, the omnipresence of marine debris and the poaching of protected species. At the same time, the country is increasing its number of Marine Protected Areas.

1st row: Nudibranch; Dried seahorses on sale on Koh Sdach’s main street. 2nd row: ghost nets collected on the coral reefs by Kuda Divers; Urchin; fishing boat under the monsoon sky; 3rd row: Foreign squid fishing fleet in the gulf of Thailand, seen from Koh Rong Samloen; Fishing boat; Marine blue sponge. All pictures unless stated taken in the Koh Sdach archipelago.

Wetlands & Birds

Cambodia has a large number of wetlands – the floodplain of the Tonle Sap and the Mekong rivers – but these are disappearing fast under new developments, farmlands and expanding plantations.

1st row: Bee-eaters in Boeung Prek Lapov, Takeo, Cambodia’s next Ramsar site in the Mekong delta; The Anlong Pring wetlands, a 217-hectare IBA (Important Bird Area) hosting up to 30% of the global Sarus crane population during the dry season; A rescued Crested Serpent Eagle, a bird of prey occasionally victim of poaching, in the Angkor Center for the Conservation of Biodiversity (ACCB). 2nd row: The disappearing wetlands and floating gardens of Boeung Tumpum, with the construction of the 3rd Aeon Mall in the background; Phnom Penh is home to several dozens Great, Wreathed and Oriental-pied hornbills, likely brought to the capital as exotic pets for members of the city’s elite ; The quickly disappearing wetlands of Preak Ta Sek to the north of Phnom Penh, with the Vattanac tower in the background. 3rd row: A murmuration of Black-tailed godwit over the Anlong Pring wetlands.
Conservation in Cambodia | 2022 | Nature & Conservation | Tags: , , | Comments (0)