Southern Cardamom

The Cardamom Rainforest Landscape is one of the last unfragmented rainforests remaining in Southeast Asia and is a critical part of the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot. Using global best practices for forest protection and community development, the Southern Cardamom REDD+ project prevents more than 3,000,000 tons of carbon emissions annually and protects 497,000 hectares of tropical rainforest in South-West Cambodia. Since 2014, threats to the Cardamom Rainforest have accelerated significantly, primarily driven by Chinese investment in Cambodia as part of China`s national Belt and Road Initiative.

The project developed a unique and effective boots-on-the-ground law enforcement model, focusing on professional, supervised, and mentored law enforcement rangers. Wildlife Alliance manages and supervises all law enforcement at the project,its leadership and supervision is critical to high performance, wildlife conservation, and a zero-tolerance approach for corruption. Since 2006, the project has achieved zero poaching of Asian Elephant and supported the recovery of many mammal and carnivore populations.

Through intensive action-oriented and results-based approaches, the project has achieved an award-winning model of community-based ecotourism which directly benefits 29,000 villagers. It has been regarded as the best community driven bottom-up conservation in tropical Asia