Forests

Deforestation threatens thousands of species and has devastating consequences for humans. Forest loss jeopardizes human food and water security, threatens plants and animals with extinction, and contributes to climate change, putting communities and wildlife at increased risk of floods, droughts, infectious disease, and other natural disasters.

People living in poor, rural communities feel the effects of deforestation and climate change first and most acutely. Almost 80 percent of Cambodia’s population lives in rural areas, nearly all of whom work as subsistence farmers, making their food security almost entirely dependent on natural resources.

Illegal logging, slash-and-burn agriculture, uncoordinated mining, and other unsustainable development have already decimated Cambodia’s forests. In 1990, 73 percent of Cambodia’s land area was covered by forest. In 2007, only 57 percent of Cambodian land was forested.

Cambodia forest cover 1976Cambodia forest cover 2006Wildlife Alliance works in the Cardamom Mountains of Southwestern Cambodia to stop deforestation and protect Cambodia’s endangered wildlife.  Stretching 2 million acres, the Southern Cardamoms are Cambodia’s largest intact forest and one of Asia’s last remaining elephant corridors.

To address these threats, Wildlife Alliance:

• Trains and equips forest rangers to patrol the Southern Cardamoms and provide direct protection to forests and wildlife;
• Enacts reforestation campaigns that mitigate the damage of illegal logging and provide jobs to local communities;
• Works with communities and local governments to demarcate protected land and give communities legal rights to non-protected areas for development and agriculture.

In addition to providing direct protection to forests, Wildlife Alliance addresses the root causes of deforestation in the Cardamoms by offering forest communities economic incentives to preserve their local environment by adopting sustainable practices.  Our environmental education, community agriculture, and ecotourism programs inform and empower communities to preserve the surrounding forests for future generations.

Between 2004 and 2009, Wildlife Alliance has worked with the Cambodian government to revoke agricultural land concessions that would have destroyed important forest habitats without providing sufficient economic benefits. Through these lobbying efforts we have saved 520,202 hectares (1,285,448 million acres) of mainland Southeast Asia’s largest rainforest.

Maps courtesy of Cambodiaatlas.com