Global Conservation Mission to Cardamoms National Park – April 2019

Global Conservation’s mission to Cardamoms National Park celebrated the incredible work of Wildlife Alliance to protect the Southern Cardamoms deploying Global Park Defense to provide 24/7 surveillance and rapid response to wildlife poaching and illegal logging.  As well, we did a helicopter flyover of Central Cardamoms with Conservation International, who was instrumental to establishing Central Cardamoms National Park 15 years ago.

Our helicopter overflight highlighted new illegal logging and land clearing occurring within the northern areas of the park due to lack of strong ranger patrols and law enforcement, and we found almost no one on duty guarding the park’s northern flank despite visiting 3 ranger stations, all empty with no government presence. Meanwhile, large areas in the north are being cleared and sold off to investors for pepper and fruit tree plantations just miles from the ranger stations.

Fortunately, over 1.2 million hectares of intact tropical rainforest remaings intact - a wonder to behold from the air.

Since 2016, there has been no known reports of elephant poaching in the national park, a huge achievement, and nearly 2 million hectares of tropical forests remain intact, despite constant threats from land grabbing, deforestation, illegal logging and wildlife poaching.

A New Vision for Cardamoms National Park

Global Conservation is funding Global Park Defense and helping Wildlife Alliance and its partners to envision a new future for Cardamoms National Park:

1. A unified national park combining 1. million hectares of Cambodia’s last intact tropical forests and wildlife habitats for wild Asian elephants.

2. Sustainable financing from REDD+ Carbon Offsets to fund park and wildlife protection and strong management.

3. International Tourism. lodging and recreational centers for Cambodians to enjoy the national park and value its natural resources.

4. Nomination for UNESCO World Heritage for its unique biodiversity and cultural history.

5. Strong park and wildlife protection and law enforcement working with local communities in and around Cardamoms National Park.

2018 Progress Park and Wildlife Protection

Global Conservation is funding the technology, systems, patrol operations and training to support advanced surveillance for Cardamoms Rangers to safeguard 8,350-km2 of the Cardamom Rainforest Landscape: the Amazon of Asia.

Global Conservation supports deployment of Global Park Defense by Wildlife Alliance which directly supervises and manages all law enforcement across this vast landscape, and are are responsible for the management and security of one of Asia’s greatest tropical forest wildernesses.

In 2018, Wildlife Alliance – led teams of park rangers made over 3,200 patrols covering 140,000 km2 of park area under threat by illegal logging, land clearing and wildlife poaching.

Rangers patrol the Cardamom Mountains by ground, water and air. Each station is on alert 24 hours a day and often spend days at a time camping in remote areas of the forest. They remove snares, confiscate illegal timber and chainsaws, dismantle illegal charcoal kilns, saw mills and poachers’ camps, halt illegal land encroachment, and rescue captured wildlife. They trek through dense forest and on unknown stretches of river in search for illegal loggers and dangerous wildlife poachers. Just the knowledge of our rangers’ constant presence in the forest often serves a deterrent to poaching and illegal logging.

In 2018, Wildlife Alliance-led teams of Cambodian park rangers made over 3,200 patrols covering 140,000 km2 of park area under threat by illegal logging, land clearing and wildlife poaching.

During 2018, Wildlife Alliance Rangers field teams in eight stations:

 - Conducted 3,229 patrols which covered more than 130,000-km

 - Removed 20,000 lethal poaching snares and more than 15-km of hunting nets

 - Destroyed 779 illegal forest camps and confiscated 553 chainsaws

The elimination of deforestation in the Cardamom Rainforest Landscape, which act as the Lungs of Asia, is being led by Wildlife Alliance which has been protecting the tropical forests there for the past 20 years.

The Wildlife Alliance rangers go on daily patrols and often spend days at a time camping deep in the forest to catch hunters and loggers. Our rangers spend over 3.5 weeks a month away from their families, fully dedicating themselves to stopping deforestation, dismantling wildlife snares, and often catching poachers and loggers in the act.

Ranger teams removing ‘walls of death’ snares.

Wildlife Alliance rangers are collecting thousands of animal traps every year. They need to reach deep in the forest, sometimes the patrol can last one week.

More than ever, strong ranger protection on the ground is a necessity. Global Park Defense is supporting Wildlife Alliance efforts to keep the rainforest canopy from being cleared and prevent the precious wildlife from being wiped out. Field-based park and wildlife protection makes the difference between a wildlife sanctuary and an empty forest and ‘paper park’.

Deploying Global Park Defense

Global Conservation is funding critical Global Park Defense technologies, systems and training needed to effectively protect over 1 million acres from illegal logging, wildlife poaching and illegal hunting.

Working with Wildlife Alliance and the Ministries of Environment and Forestry of Cambodia, Global Conservation is deploying new technologies including cellular trailcams, aerial surveillance and targeted ranger patrols for increasing the effectiveness of forest and wildlife protection across Core Wildlife Areas of the new Cardamoms National Park.

Given the increased threats to most Protected Areas in the developing world today, Global Conservation’s support of Global Park Defense systems and technologies for the Cardamoms National Park provides the much-needed role-model for other conservation groups and government departments located in threatened biodiverse regions.

Global Park Defense is an integrated program of technology, systems and training to move from random patrolling to targeted patrolling over large area of dense forests and jungles integrating:

 - Ground Surveillance

 - Aerial Surveillance

 - Informant Networks

 - Highly-trained SMART Ranger Patrols

In the Southern Cardamoms National Park, each of the eight ranger stations has 14 men, including 2 judicial police officers in charge of legal fines and court cases, 10 Royale Gendarmerie officers in charge of law enforcement and security, and 2 Wildlife Alliance staff.

Wildlife Alliance staff are critical to deploying technology and systems for Global Park Defense, good governance, training and capacity building, patrol monitoring, receiving intelligence from informant network for effective ambushes, patrol itinerary GPS mapping, wildlife rescue and care, station/budget management, equipment maintenance, interfacing with local authorities, monitoring forest canopy for illegal logging and clearings through aerial surveys, and case reporting and monthly reporting.

Ranger teams are dispatched into 2 units, alpha and bravo, that patrol simultaneously on river, roads and in the forest by foot, boats, and motorbikes and pick-up trucks for main transportation axis, bringing offenders to the court, transporting seized wildlife, snares, illegal timber, chainsaws and other contraband back to the station.

Each year, rangers conduct thousands of patrols, removing snares and rescuing live wildlife, seizing guns and chainsaws, and stopping land encroachment placing thousands of metal signs in illegal clearings, returning regularly to prevent plantations and constructions.