APFED Booklet on Good Practices and Innovative Activities 2005 ...

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Cambodia
2009
Community Conservation of Asian Elephants
2006 2007 2008 2009
Project Site Location
Four villages affected by Human Elephant Conflict (HEC)
Background - Problems Addressed and Policy Responses
Habitat degradation and losses, civil war and illegal poaching
have led to a significant reduction of wild Asian elephants
in Cambodia. Forest conservation and sustainable resource
management are crucial for the protection of elephant habitats.
Thus, effective management of land use and improvements
in farming practices among the rural and indigenous
communities will help stabilise the elephant population.
Recording elephant crop damage
2005
Project Outline - Objectives and Activities
The project will secure, protect and conserve the Asian elephant and its habitat in the Cardamom
Mountains of southwest Cambodia through community-based capacity building. The project will assist
selected poor rural communities affected by human-elephant conflict to coexist with wild elephants by
improving farming practices to increase productivity and income and awareness raising on elephant
conservation. The project has four components; 1) Human-elephant conflict reduction, 2) Communitybased
land use planning, 3) Livelihood improvement, and 4) Primary level education.
Impacts and Achievements
The Cambodian Elephant Conservation Group has been working since 2005 to stabilise the national wild
Asian elephant population. In cooperation with Fauna & Flora International, the Ministry of Environment
and the Forestry Administration, it has helped 30,000 people in farming communities to coexist with wild
elephants by improving their farming practices, by providing elephant deterrent methods and education to
raise awareness of elephant conservation.
Future Challenges
Population growth and development is a future challenge that is likely to contribute to increasing use of
natural resources. Encroachment into forests will lead to habitat fragmentation and reduce the elephant
population. Population increases may also lead to intensive farming. Communities may not follow
sustainable methods of resource utilisation and farming practices may required further improvements.
General Information
Name of the Implementing Organisation:
Fauna and Flora International
Type of Organisation: NGO/CBO
Contact: Tuy Sereivathana
PO Box 1380, No. 59, St 306, Boeung Keng Kang III, Chamkarmon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Tel: +855 (0) 23220534 Fax: +855 (0) 23211142 E-mail: vathana.t@gmail.com
Project Reviewer (NetRes / Collaborators) that monitors the project:
Pakamas Thinphanga, Thailand Environment Institute (TEI)
E-mail: pakamas@tei.or.th
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