Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area

WCS in Cambodia
In 1999, nationwide surveys by WCS identified a forestry concession in the east of the country as potentially one of the most important sites for wildlife conservation in the country, possibly the region. With the Department of Forestry and Wildlife (DFW) and the concessionaire, WCS is building a conservation partnership to secure the future of this area, its wildlife and their habitats.

The Human Aspect
Mondulkiri is a very remote and little developed province in Cambodia. With only 35,000 people, and only a single major road connecting it with the rest of the country, the Provincial economy relies almost entirely on forestry, agriculture and the use of forest products, including wildlife.  Within the project area lives one of Cambodia's ethnic minority groups - the Phnong.

Threats
Increased access provided by roads has caused formerly low-intensity subsistence activities such as hunting and fishing to reach industrial levels, thereby threatening the resources themselves. As markets have become accessible, intensive exploitation has become possible, and since few controls are in place, significant losses to wildlife have occurred.   Illegal hunting, logging and unsustainable non-timber forest products (NTFP) extraction threatens the wildlife populations and the livelihoods of the indigenous communities in the area.   Similarly, a lack of land and resource tenure has resulted in an uncontrolled influx of non-locals seeking to cut, clear and claim land, reducing the livelihood security of the indigenous communities, and increasing their reliance on a ever-shrinking resource base. 

WCS Activites 
Nationwide surveys conducted by WCS and the Cambodian Government have found populations of some of the country's most important wildlife to exist wholly or partially within forest concessions. The Samling forest concession in Mondulkiri is especially important containing significant assemblages of threatened species at levels unparalleled throughout the country. These include not only Cambodia's only confirmed population of tigers and some of the world's most significant populations of Banteng and Green Peafowl, but also eight species of primate and more bird species than the whole of the Cardamom Mountain range. 

• Initial activities are focusing on strengthening law enforcement in order to reduce illegal hunting of key wildlife species, particularly tigers. WCS now assists the Government by equipping, training and managing three ranger teams working day and night patrolling the forest. 
• In parallel to this, WCS is working with the ethnic Phnong communities to increase their livelihood security through better management and protection of the key forest resources on which they depend.
• In an attempt to control and prevent further land encroachment and forest clearance, an intensive mapping program has been initiated with the Government in order to legally delineate specific land use areas.
• A biological monitoring program has also been established to detect trends not only in wildlife populations but also other key resources in the area. This will be used to inform future management.
• In 2002, based on the project's achievements, the Cambodian Government designated 140,000ha of the area to be managed for conservation within the concession due to its exceptionally high importance for global biodiversity.

Important Next Steps

• Further activities with the Phnong communities to improve ways of increasing livelihood security while reducing impacts on threatened wildlife species
• Prevention of further land encroachment and forest clearance through the implementation of a participatory land use planning process around the area.
• Increased patrolling and law enforcement to continue to reduce illegal wildlife hunting and logging.