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Cambodia
Northern Plains
The Northern Plains of Cambodia are the largest remaining intact block of a unique landscape that once covered much of Indochina. Dominated by open deciduous forest, grasslands and seasonal wetlands, the area has been described as the Asian equivalent of the African savannas. It maintains a community of large mammals and wetland birds found nowhere else in the world. Following 30 years of conflict, during which the area was completely inaccessible, WCS initiated the first biological surveys in 2000. Using WCS’s Landscape Species approach, we are working to establish CALM (Conservation Areas through Landscape Management) across the Northern Plains.
Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area
In 1999, nationwide surveys begun by WCS and the Royal Government of Cambodia identified a forest concession in the east of the country as one of the most important sites for wildlife conservation in Cambodia, possibly the region. Since then, in collaboration with the Department of Forestry and Wildlife (DFW) and Samling International, the forest concessionaire, WCS has been building a conservation partnership to secure the future of this area, its wildlife and their habitats.
Tonle Sap Great Lake, Cambodia
 Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Great Lake is the largest freshwater floodplain lake in the world, increasing and decreasing in size annually from 3000 sq. km at the peak of the dry season in May to 12,000 sq. km in the wet season in October, and varying in depth from 1m to 14m over the same period. This annual flood cycle creates an incredibly productive environment for both wildlife and people. The seasonally inundated forest and scrub around the lake has been recognized since 1994 as the last breeding stronghold in Southeast Asia for a number of globally threatened large waterbirds, particularly pelicans, storks and ibis. Since early 2000, WCS has worked with the Cambodian Government to establish conservation activities in Prek Toal, one of three Core Areas of the Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve. The project works to protect the waterbird colonies from egg and chick collection, and to gather baseline research and monitoring data on bird populations and breeding ecology.
Cambodia Eco-tourism
WCS is working in cooperation with the government and local communities of Cambodia to promote wildlife conservation through eco-tourism. Current projects are focusing on developing bird-watching at several sites across northern Cambodia within easy reach of the temples at Angkor. Visits to these sites are designed to engage local communities in conservation, through establishing links between tourism income and donations, local community development and nature conservation. Some of the bird species that can be seen are amongst the rarest in South-east Asia, including the critically endangered Giant Ibis Pseudibis gigantea and White-shouldered Ibis Pseudibis davisoni, Sarus Crane Grus antigone, Bengal Florican Houbaropsis bengalensis, Greater Adjutant Leptoptilos dubius, Milky Stork Mycteria cinerea, Spot-billed Pelican Pelecanus philippensis, White-rumped Vulture Gyps bengalensis and Slender-billed Vulture Gyps tenuirostris.
Links to other collaborative projects
Cambodia Important Bird Areas Project
Batagur baska Project, Sre Ambel
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