Cardamom National Park 2021 Progress Report

Global Conservation is supporting Wildlife Alliance's work on the ground in Southern Cardamom Mountains National Park (SCMNP). Read on to discover more about their activities over the past year!

Wildlife Alliance

Thanks to GC's support, the 6-Ranger Global Park Defense System (GPDS) Unit embedded within the Roveang Patrol Station have worked together to install GPDS trailcams, monitoring key areas, and patrolled to crack down on poachers, loggers and land grabbers. The rangers patrolled systematically and in response to GPDS trailcams.

Summary of Patrolling Results

• 475 patrols and 72 night ambushes
• 19,155 km covered
• 584 snares removed
• 315 m of nets removed
• 42 live wildlife rescued
• 61 homemade guns seized

The rangers were able to ensure protection of the Roveang quadrant and cracked down on wildlife poaching, seized large numbers of snares, nets and guns, as well as combatted high levels of land grabbing and logging that is causing deforestation of the wildlife habitat. 

Summary of Logging and Forestland Grabbing Crackdown Results

• 277 illegal camps dismantled
• 450 cubic meters of timber and 204 logs seized
• 481 chainsaws seized
• All 12 land encroachment cases stopped and 5 heavy machineries seized
• 65 oxcarts and 71 mechanical buffalos (koyuns) seized
• 19 land grabbers and 31 loggers arrested with 29 court cases
• 25.67 ha deforestation stopped (Jul 1-Dec 23, 2021)

Numbers of seized chainsaws and timber were much higher than the baseline. In the Roveang Quadrant, the majority of forest crimes are illegal loggers and forestland grabbers attempting to clear the forest.

The rangers will continue to crack down on both poachers and loggers in the area.

Trailcam installation

All 10 Trailcams of the targeted 10 were purchased and placed at the same strategic trail locations of the previous grant in proximity to Roveang Patrol Station, along the Northern border of the Southern Cardamoms National Park and the Biodiversity Corridor, focused around community areas.

The cameras were installed on 2 different networks that are available in the area, utilizing a cell phone coverage map, to ensure that they were in areas with sufficient reception to transmit the images to the GPDS ranger team.

Rangers installing trailcams

One of the photos captured by trailcams which helped rangers to strategize their crackdown operations.

GPDS Success Stories

The combination of GPDS technology alerts and deployment of rangers on the ground has proven successful as follows:

On December 21, 2021, in response to a GPDS alert, the Roveang Patrol Unit followed the track of a suspect inside of the protected area. The Patrol Unit encountered a man who claimed himself as the owner of illegally cleared forestland. The team immediately arrested the suspect and brought him to Roveang station then to Pursat Provincial Department of Environment to complete legal documentation. Next day, the offender was brought to the Court with court case submitted on illegal land encroachment inside PA. The offender was jailed following article 62.1 of the Protected Area Law, imprisonment term from 5 – 10 years.

On November 6, 2021, the Roveang Patrol Unit conducted law enforcement monitoring at Khnorng Real area and found a suspected freshly clearing forestland. Because this area has already been included in the case to the court, the Patrol Unit immediately sought approval from the Prosecutor to arrest and bring the offender to the Court. The offenders ended up in jail following article 62.1 of the Protected Area Law, imprisonment term from 5 – 10 years.

On August 22-25, 2021, in response to a GPDS alert, the Roveang Patrol Unit tracked some people entering the protected area. They found:

• 13 chainsaws (confiscated)
• 9 illegal logging/poaching camps (destroyed)
• 1 AK-47 with 21 bullets (confiscated)
• 4 homemade guns (confiscated)
• 2 sets of electrocute tools (for hunting wildlife, confiscated)

The offenders ran away by the time the Patrol Unit arrived. The evidence was confiscated to Roveang Station.

On August 6, 2021, in response to our informant about an illegal stock of luxury timber (Thnung), the Roveang Patrol Unit led by PDoE Chuon Pheap checked an abandoned house and found 8.48 cubic meters of luxury timber, 1 chainsaw and a suspect. Both evidence and suspect were taken to Phnom Samkos Ranger Station for completion of a court case. The offender ended up in jail.

On July 14, 2021, after an informant provided information about a logging truck, the Roveang Patrol Unit approached the reported location and found 2 logging trucks. Because of difficult road access, the Judicial Police Officer of the Patrol Unit made a request to destroy the trucks on site. 

On July 10-11, 2021, in response to GPDS alert, Roveang Patrol Unit followed the track of suspects inside Central Cardamom National Park in Phnom Kravanh district, Pursat province and found the following evidence:

• 3 chainsaws (confiscated)
• 1 turtle (0.7kg, alive-released)
• 1 monitor lizard (dead, burnt)
• 2 sets of electrocute tools (for hunting wildlife, confiscated)
• 1 oxcart (burnt)
• 4 chainsaws (confiscated)
• 1 homemade gun (confiscated)
• 1 AK-47 (confiscated)
• 3 illegal logging/poaching camps (destroyed)
• 2 pigeons (alive, released)
• 50 hook snares (confiscated)
• 0.720 cubic meters of construction wood (destroyed on site)

The offenders ran away by the time of the Patrol Unit arrival. The evidence was confiscated and live wildlife was released on site next to the water.

On July 5, 2021, upon receipt of a GPDS alert, the Roveang Patrol Unit strategized an ambush along a logging trail and encountered 3 suspects with 3 motorbikes transporting wildlife out of Cardamoms Conservation Biodiversity Corridor. Immediately after stopping the suspects’ motorbikes, the Patrol Unit checked and found the following evidence:

• 5 turtles
• 3 forest monitor lizards
• 3 soft-shell turtles
• 1 set of electrocution tools (for catching wild animals)
• 2 batteries (40Amp) for the electrocution tool
• 2 slingshots

The evidence and the suspects were taken to Roveang Station for further legal procedures. The wild animals were released on site in good health condition. The 3 suspects were sent to jail following article 61.6 of the Protected Area Law, imprisonment term from 1 – 5 years.

Species Facing Extinction

In Cardamom National Park, we are working with our partners to protect the clouded leopard and Sunda pangolin.

Global Conservation is funding a multi-year Species Population Baseline study for clouded leopards and Sunda pangolins to ascertain progress in Park and Wildlife Protection from our investments in Global Park Defense in Cardamom National Park.

Sunda Pangolin

So few of these mysterious animals remain that scientists have been unable to estimate their population.  Sunda pangolins are one of the world's most trafficked mammals. Over a million pangolins worldwide are estimated to have been poached from the wild since 2000, and they are predicted to decline by an additional 80% within the next two decades if they are not protected. GC is working across five national parks and World Heritage Sites in Asia to help save this critically endangered species.

Clouded Leopard

There are two species of clouded leopard in the world, and GC sites have both of them! Just a few thousand individuals of both clouded leopard species remain across their ever-shrinking range in Asia. Illegal hunting for their skins and other body parts, habitat fragmentation due to human developments, and a lack of effective conservation efforts has led these animals to be listed as Vulnerable.  Just 3,700-5,580 clouded leopards and 4,500 Sunda clouded leopards remain in the world.