Note from the Editor,

It's been a noteworthy year for GC. We've expanded our operations into more parks than ever to protect wildlife, are leading new initiatives at conservation-oriented Summits around the world, and are targeting new goals to make 30x30 a reality. There's no time to rest. We're entering 2024 with excitement in our hearts and fire under our feet. 

Protecting wildlife and wildlands has never been more important. That might sound like a cliche, but as nature is torn apart literally every single day to make way for human expansions' greeds or needs, it's important to remember that humans rely directly on nature to survive. And all ecosystems are maintained by all wild animals, which means that saving them is actually saving ourselves, not to mention also saving the beauty of this colorful, fragile Earth.

We've been able to share the stories of our work with global news outlets, so in celebration of our work from the past year, we now get to share our Top 4 News Articles of the Year with you in 2024!

We wish you a happy and prosperous year!
Joshua Asel

Elephants in Cardamom Mountains National Park, Cambodia (right). Photo by Paul Hilton.

Targeting 3% of protected areas could accelerate progress on 30×30 goals, says Global Conservation’s Jeff Morgan

"To help protect these vulnerable National Parks and Indigenous Territories in developing countries, non-profit organization Global Conservation works with national park authorities and indigenous leaders to deploy Global Park Defense and Community Protection, providing rangers and local community patrols with the systems, equipment and training they need to combat increasing threats from illegal loggers and wildlife poachers."

An orangutan is released back into the wild in the forests of Leuser Ecosystem World Heritage Site (right).

As Ecotourism Booms, Conservation Leader Says Global National Parks Need More Protection Now

"In December, world leaders adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, targeting the conservation of 30% of Earth by 2030.

However, Jeff Morgan, founder of Global Conservation, points out that simply designating protected areas is not enough to safeguard nature. His organization, therefore, focuses on strengthening protection within UNESCO World Heritage Sites in lower and middle-income countries, utilizing cost-effective technologies for law enforcement against poaching, illegal logging, and more."

"Snare Mountain" with four anti-poachers (right). Photo by Paul Hilton.

‘A war on nature’: rangers build mountain out of wildlife traps found in Ugandan park

"The pile, nicknamed 'snare mountain', was collected over 12 months as part of continuing conservation efforts at Uganda’s Murchison Falls national park. At the bottom are so-called bear traps, used by poachers to catch elephants, hippos and lions. At the top are wire snares used for smaller animals."

Defending National Parks Globally

"Ecocide" in Venezuela's national parks, elephant and rhino poaching in African parks, wildlife trafficking in Vietnam's parks, and illegal gold mining in Belize's parks are just some of the blights on the global collection of national parks and protected areas. It's an ugly list of threats to biodiversity that keeps Global Conservation busy.

The eight-year-old nonprofit organization funds efforts to stop illegal wildlife killing and logging in parks and marine protected areas worldwide, and is already seeing results, including no elephant killings three years in a row in Mana Pools World Heritage Site in Zimbabwe, said Jeff Morgan, executive director.

Rangers stand in front of thousands of snares at the Murchasion Falls National Park headquarters, Uganda. Photo by © Paul Hilton

FORBES INTERVIEW: As Ecotourism Booms, Conservation
Leader Says Global National Parks Need More Protection Now

Already valued at an estimated $185 billion, the worldwide ecotourism segment is expected to exceed $374 billion in global impact within the decade.

The number of travelers seeking out trips that engage with National Parks, Wildlife, Marine reserves, and Indigenous Territories has grown by nearly 18% since just last year, drastically increasing the number of visitors to places like Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe, Indonesia’s Komodo National Park, and Mirador National Park, Guatemala.

Komodo National Park

Together, National Parks in developing countries draw in tens of millions of tourists per year, but due to ineffective international funding for Park and Wildlife protection and in-country corruption, few National Parks receive the needed resources to protect their millions of acres of intact forests and wildlife habitats.

As the planet grapples with the consequences of massive deforestation, illegal logging, cattle ranching, illegal mining, and wildlife poaching, these magnets for ecotourism are critical bastions for keystone species like tigers, elephants, jaguars, chimpanzees, orangutans, and rhinoceroses and their intact forest ecosystems.

To help protect these vulnerable National Parks and Indigenous Territories in developing countries, the non-profit organization Global Conservation works with national park authorities and indigenous leaders to deploy Global Park Defense and Community Protection, providing rangers and local community patrols with the systems, equipment, and training they need to combat increasing threats from illegal loggers and wildlife poachers.

Global Conservation founder Jeff Morgan (left) says national parks across the planet need direct funding to protect vital habitats.

To learn more, we spoke with Global Conservation’s Executive Director Jeff Morgan, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who has spent decades in the non-profit field working to protect the planet’s natural and cultural resources.

Joe Sills: Let’s first address the elephant in the room, the U.N.’s 30x30 goal. Is conserving 30% of the planet’s land and marine habitat by 2030 achievable, in your opinion?

Jeff Morgan: It is a critical goal if we want to reduce climate change. But, in reality, if we don’t do a good job protecting the current 3% of lands already declared “protected,” especially in developing countries—with real funding, systems, equipment, and training—I don’t see how 30x30 will be anything more than an empty slogan.

Sills: What obstacles do national parks in developing countries face that you feel would surprise fans of U.S. national parks like Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, or Yosemite?

Morgan: U.S. and European national parks have incredible support from their governments, both national and state-level. In national parks where we work, like in Angola, Uganda, Guatemala, and Indonesia, national parks can barely pay the salaries of the few rangers they have, and patrolling operations have little support to stop illegal land clearing, logging, and wildlife poaching.

The rule of law is also a problem. Enforcement is rare, and justice is even more difficult as forest and wildlife crimes are low priority in most developing countries. The lack of funding is startling.

A typical U.S. national park like Sequoias National Park in California has a budget of over $18 million, while similar parks in Guatemala, Panama, Uganda, or Angola operate on less than $100,000 a year with just a few rangers protecting millions of acres. An impossible job.

There are no new Suburban trucks for the rangers, pressed uniforms, well-paved roads, or fancy lodges in developing countries. Most national parks are in very poor areas, and local communities lack the jobs, businesses, and benefits from tourism that are needed to convert poachers and illegal loggers from exploitation to conservation.

Still image taken from film produced by © Paul Hilton.

Sills: You’ve had boots on the ground all over the globe for the better part of ten years. Where are the hotspots today? Who needs the most help and why?

Morgan: The Amazon and Congo—these two tropical forests account for 60% of the planet’s carbon sequestration, though the areas protected by national parks and indigenous reserves are under 20% of the forest. Anything outside of national parks and indigenous reserves has little hope of protection. We focus on the very best national parks, and even they are being destroyed and not given the critical funding they need to survive.

Southeast Asia – Asia has been a real challenge. With some of the highest population growth and urban and agricultural development, very few forests are left to protect. We are working in Leuser Ecosystem, Sumatra, Indonesia; Cardamoms National Park, Cambodia; DaMaI Rainforest Complex in Borneo, Malaysia; and Bardiya-Banke National Parks in Nepal. These are some of the last intact tropical forests left in Asia and are critical to protect now.

Sills: Unlike a catch-all “GoFundMe” for wildlife. Global Conservation is actually equipping rangers in the field. What kind of tools do they need to protect endangered or threatened animals?

Morgan: What is really needed is a focused program of systems, equipment, and training for each endangered national park and indigenous territory. We call this Global Park Defense and Community Protection. Giving each country the reusable model and tools to protect their last intact forests is critical. Based on our five years investing in Thap Lan National Park in Thailand, the government decided to purchase over 3,000 cellular Trailcams and deploy SMART patrols in all of the national parks and wildlife reserves in the country. This is real progress.

Sills: What have been your organization’s greatest achievements so far? Biggest obstacles?

Morgan: Global Conservation is the only international NGO focused on the protection of national parks in developing countries.

That is scary.

I think having 100 percent focus on Park and Wildlife Protection is critical and having a repeatable methodology like Global Conservation’s Global Park Defense and Community Protection. With Global Conservation, any country or indigenous group can secure its national park or indigenous territory using basic consumer technology, free software, and readily available training and deployment support.

We have no mission creep - just protecting national park after national park. Whether it is a large landscape forest in Cameroon, or a marine park in Ecuador, the same systems, equipment, and training apply.

But most important is direct funding to the field. Global Conservation never funds government ministries. We only fund directly to on-the-ground NGOs, universities, trainers, and systems and equipment suppliers.

Tools like trail cameras can help level the playing field against poachers. Photo by © Paul Hilton

The biggest challenges we face are large international NGOs using most of the donations for corporate offices, marketing, and executive salaries with little leaving Washington, D.C. The other side is corrupt governments wasting (or stealing) the monies from generous countries like Norway and Germany or from multilaterals like the World Bank, GEF, or IMF, which must fund through inefficient or corrupt government ministries.

The near-total failure of the United Nation’s REDD+ Carbon Offsets program to generate long-term financial sustainability for deforestation protection is a real problem.

Instead of generating real financing for park and forest protection, nearly $2 billion has been spent on 20 years of conferences, meetings, and country visits while generating less than $1 billion total worldwide for forest protection. Until recently, National Parks could not even qualify as they were deemed “already protected.”

Our solution is to raise, through private philanthropy, $100 million over the next 10 years for direct funding to protect 100 National Parks in developing countries, which will save up to 250 million hectares of intact forests, helping to achieve 2-5% of the UN’s climate goals.

Sills: You’ve stated that there’s been a lack of transparency about the funds donated to governments and how that money is being used, which differs from Global Conservation’s method of direct funding. Why do you think it has taken so long for that business model to be challenged?

Morgan: Auditing and accountability - that is what is needed. I have seen five presidents of Guatemala steal over $500 million from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank over the past 12 years. Each has fled to Mexico or other countries, and few are prosecuted. The lack of consequences for large-scale theft by governments and ministries in these countries causes corruption to continue, not to mention the terrible effect of narco-trafficking on governance and forest protection. Over the past 20 years, we have lost 80% of the forests of Northern Guatemala to cocaine traffickers buying thousands of cattle and cutting down the forests to launder illicit monies.

Sills: I don’t think plants get mentioned enough in the global conversation. We talk about deforestation and trees, but people may not realize that plant poaching is also a thing. What can you tell us about areas where specific plants need protection too?

Morgan: Every species is important to Global Conservation, especially highly endangered species – plant or animal. We have many experts working with us, so I trust their counsel. The last rosewood trees were being poached from Thap Lan National Park, but with our support and WCS Thailand assisting the government, over 1,000 rosewood poachers were arrested in five years. Valuable species are highly targeted by illegal loggers. We protect the entire National Park for all species – flora and fauna.

Sills: Most people who’ve been on safari in Africa or done a jungle trek in Southeast Asia have probably come across rangers at some point. And let’s face it, the image of rangers draped in weapons can be pretty intimidating. In your opinion are ecotourists safer or less safe in areas with more organized anti-poaching presence?

Morgan: In most national parks where we work, except for Africa, park rangers are not allowed to carry weapons. When we come across illegal logging or wildlife poaching camps with weapons, rangers must call for backup from police who are often uninterested in forest or wildlife protection. Much of our work entails integrating police, justice, and military into park protection, as well as activating community protection by local groups who have the best knowledge of their forests, with backup from park rangers and police.

Sills: Technology is a huge emphasis of your initiatives. Can you tell us if you’ve seen deployed technology make a lasting impact in your work already?

Morgan: Technology is a critical part of the solution for both Global Park Defense and Community Protection. Surveillance is providing critical security like CCTV cameras do in the cities. Park-wide communication now is possible using low-cost satellite communicators. Low-cost consumer technologies – drones, GPS, satellite communications, smartphones – and medical kits are rapidly declining in price, making them affordable for deployment across large national parks and indigenous territories. There are also great free-of-charge cloud-based systems for fire alerts (University of Maryland), forest monitoring (Global Forest Watch), and park protection (EarthRanger), which are indispensable in our work to target patrols and effectively deploy small teams across large areas of difficult terrain.

A view of La Danta pyramid at the El Mirador archaeological site in San Andres, Guatemala, on January 17, 2023. - Among the vast green mantle of the jungle in northern Guatemala emerges the ridge of the Danta, one of the largest pyramids in the world located in the Mayan megacity El Mirador, an archaeological site that is rediscovered with Lidar technology.

Sills: Let’s switch back to the travel side of this. Which parks would you personally recommend as bucket list destinations for animal lovers? Where are the best places to spot animals, see breathtaking landscapes, or volunteer to make a difference?

Morgan: Here are my Top 5:

1. Mirador National Park, Guatemala - Mayan pyramids and ancient cities buried in the jungle. Wildlife includes howler monkeys, tapirs, wild pigs, and oscillated turkeys.
2. Manu National Park, Peru - A great river trip into the Amazon with experienced guides in many languages. Wildlife includes anacondas, monkeys, tapir, giant otters, and birds galore.
3. Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe - Rich wildlife concentrating on the Zambezi River – lions, elephants, hippos, giraffes, wild dogs, zebra, and buffalo.
4. Kidepo Valley National Park, Uganda - Most impressive and least visited park in Uganda with broad valleys filled with the best of African wildlife.
5. Leuser Ecosystem, Sumatra, Indonesia – Last place on Earth where tigers, rhinos, orangutans, elephants, and bears live together in the wild.

FORBES INTERVIEW: As Ecotourism Booms, Conservation
Leader Says Global National Parks Need More Protection Now

• In December, world leaders adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, targeting the conservation of 30% of Earth by 2030.
• However, Jeff Morgan, founder of Global Conservation, points out that simply designating protected areas is not enough to safeguard nature. His organization, therefore, focuses on strengthening protection within UNESCO World Heritage Sites in lower and middle-income countries, utilizing cost-effective technologies for law enforcement against poaching, illegal logging, and more.
• Global Conservation currently operates across 22 national parks and 10 marine parks in 14 countries and aims to expand its work to 100 sites by 2033. Morgan believes that this focus on existing national parks and habitats is the most efficient and cost-effective way to achieve climate goals.
• Morgan recently spoke with Mongabay founder Rhett A. Butler about Global Conservation’s approach.

Last December, delegates from nearly 200 governments adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montreal, Canada. This agreement aims to conserve 30 percent of the earth by 2030 – a goal colloquially known as “30×30”.

But it’s one thing to set aside areas for conservation and another to actually protect habitat in a state that sustains the health of ecosystems and wildlife populations: Numerous studies have shown that formal protected areas often fail to effectively safeguard nature.

However, it’s one challenge to designate areas for conservation, and quite another to genuinely protect habitat in a way that maintains the vitality of ecosystems and wildlife populations. Many studies indicate that officially protected areas often fall short in effectively safeguarding nature.

Jeff Morgan, the founder of Global Conservation, identifies this as a significant shortcoming in the attempts to combat biodiversity loss and climate change. His California-based non-profit organization focuses on strengthening protection within a distinct segment: UNESCO World Heritage Sites in lower and middle-income countries.

“Global Conservation is the only nature conservation group who’s sole mission is the direct funding of park protection systems for saving our most important and endangered world heritage and national parks in developing countries,” the organization asserts.

Map showing Global Conservation project sites.

Global Conservation strategically targets UNESCO World Heritage Sites because governments tend to prioritize them over other areas due to their prestigious U.N. designation and potential for tourism, explains Morgan.

“Clearly, simple designation of protected areas isn’t what is going to get us to 30×30; coverage does not guarantee biodiversity benefits,” Morgan told Mongabay. “But effective management — through strong enforcement — and with evidence for positive environmental outcomes does.”

Global Conservation’s approach involves working with local conservation authorities – be they government rangers or Indigenous community members – to manage protected areas and enforce laws against poaching, illegal logging, and other unlawful activities. The organization heavily relies on a range of cost-effective technologies, such as satellite imagery, cellular trail cameras, marine radars, and drones, to enhance protection. They term this suite of tools “Global Park Defense.”

Map showing Global Conservation project sites.

Currently, Global Conservation is implementing this program across 22 national parks and 10 marine parks in 14 countries. The organization recently announced its ambition to extend its efforts to 100 sites by 2033, which, if realized, would equate to tens millions of acres of protected areas.

“By focusing on the GC100 – the most important and endangered national parks in developing countries for intact forest, marine and wildlife habitats – we can directly protect 250 million acres of intact forests – helping achieve nearly 1% of UN Climate Goals – similar to taking half a billion automobiles off the highways,” stated Morgan, referring to the Global Conservation 100 sites targeted by the organization’s new $50 Million Global Parks Fund. “Protecting our existing national parks, tropical forests and wildlife habitats is the effective and lowest cost way to achieve our climate goals needed to save humanity.”

Morgan talked about Global Conservation’s approach in a May 2023 conversation with Mongabay founder Rhett A. Butler.

Jeff Morgan, CEO of Global Conservation.

AN INTERVIEW WITH JEFF MORGAN

Mongabay: What inspired your interest in nature and wildlife?

Jeff Morgan: My parents were both from the countryside and moved to Palo Alto because of its great parks – Windy Hill, Huddart Park, Año Nuevo and San Gregorio Beaches – all examples of our great conservation of nature in Northern California.

We see more wild turkey, deer, bobcats and mountain lions next to our house than 80% of the national parks I visit on Global Conservation missions. In many national parks the wildlife fear for their lives and rarely come to visit after decades of over hunting.

Landscape near Huddart Park and Windy Hill, California. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Most endangered national parks we won’t fund due to lack of wildlife – empty forests that will take decades to return even if we start now.

We strategically target intact forest and ecosystems with sufficient wildlife that is achievable to rebound if we protect the park through our Global Park Defense program. Global Conservation is seeking projects where we can increase overall predators and prey by 20% and 40% over ten years, respectively. Similar to requiring edge forests in logging areas, there needs to be enough wildlife left to restart populations.

Mongabay: You previously founded Global Heritage Fund (GHF). What led you to start Global Conservation?

Jeff Morgan: As Executive Director of GHF, I travelled to 60+ countries and saw the massive loss of national park lands, forests, marine ecosystems, and wildlife refuges in developing countries.

Over the past twenty years, we have lost millions of acres of intact tropical forests to cattle ranching, palm oil, soybean and corn, coca cultivation , and timber plantations, mining, urbanization, and other crops. Often, national parks are being cleared in developing countries without rule of law or proper enforcement.

I worked at GHF for 12 years in developing countries to preserve their UNESCO World Heritage cultural and archaeology sites which were often deep in the jungle like Mirador National Park (Maya civilization) or Bantaey Chamar Cambodia (Khmer civilization).

Often the story of nature’s destruction by man within 1-2 generations has led to the collapse of major civilizations. This ‘human destroys nature and later dies’ story is recurring and prominent throughout history. My hope is that our work with Global Conversation can reverse some of this damage to nature and biodiversity.

Mongabay: Global Conservation takes a unique approach to protecting nature and biodiversity in that it works exclusively in World Heritage sites. Why is this your strategy?

Jeff Morgan: We work on the Global Conservation 100 – the one hundred (100) most endangered and important national parks in developing countries. We don’t work in North America or Western Europe but do work in Eastern Europe: Ukraine, Georgia in the Caucuses, and a new project, Shar Mountains National Park in North Macedonia and Kosovo. We are focusing on enabling developing countries to protect their own national parks.

UNESCO World Heritage sites tend to get higher priority in government budgets due to their tourism potential. The designation itself – UNESCO World Heritage provides better guidelines for improved park management and monitoring.

How does Global Conservation’s approach relate to the 30×30 initiative?

Jeff Morgan: The critical value of Global Conservation is in contributing to effective conservation through improvements in enforcement. Without the model of Global Conservation and Global Park Defense, the world can’t successfully achieve 30×30 Protection in a meaningful way.

We need to work in each country to succeed in protecting one national park which can be a model for all the other parks they are creating, and one’s that just aren’t being protected.

In December 2022, at COP15, the new Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreed on various 30×30 elements, most importantly including:

“Effective conservation and management of at least 30% of the world’s lands, inland waters, coastal areas and oceans, with emphasis on areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and services. The GBF prioritizes ecologically-representative, well-connected and equitably-governed systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation, recognizing indigenous and traditional territories and practices. Currently 17% and 10% of the world’s terrestrial and marine areas respectively are under Protection.”

Strong management locally is critical, but so is the measurement of the actual ecological outcomes of strong management and enforcement in order to truly claim effectiveness.

Clearly, simple designation of protected areas isn’t what is going to get us to 30×30; coverage does not guarantee biodiversity benefits. But effective management — through strong enforcement — and with evidence for positive environmental outcomes does.

Patrol in Cambodia’s Southern Cardamom National Park.

A recent Nature Climate Change study found that the presence of wildlife is critical for healthy ecosystems and carbon sequestration. Their findings found that restoring the world’s wild animal populations can get us 95% of the way to the global target of extracting 500 gigatons tons of carbon from the atmosphere.  There is a good write up on this in Mongabay and Bloomberg.

Mongabay: Global Conservation puts a heavy emphasis on technology. What technologies have you found to be the most useful in the field?

Jeff Morgan: There are a number of critical consumer technologies we use. Most national parks have no budget for military gear, and we must focus on low-cost consumer solutions for communications, surveillance, satellite monitoring, etc.

Cellular trailcams, marine radars and drones are critical for real-time 24/7 protection of endangered national parks. Recently, a drone monitoring a marine protected area led to 33 people being held and a number of them prosecuted in a single day.

Without trailcams, marine radars and drones most national parks have no idea how many illegal actors are entering and actively destroying the park with snares, illegal logging, hunting, and clearing and burning park lands.

Trailcam in the Carpathians.

Cattle, sheep and goats by the thousands are still being driven into national parks and destroying sensitive biodiversity and making soils and waterways sterile. Cattle and hunting should be outside national parks, period. MPAs should have large ‘no take’ zones and eliminate industrial and tourism fishing. This alone could solve many of the threats we face in developing countries, and make enforcement Black or White – much easier – you are inside the National Park or Not.

On water, we are bullish on marine radars to provide real-time 24/7 surveillance of coastal and island Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Nearly every sports fishing or industrial fishing boat in the world has a radar and likely AIS, and every MPA should also have a marine radar and AIS receiver tracking all vessels. They are inexpensive and a proven consumer solution – millions of boats have a marine radar today driving down the price to be affordable for all MPAs – for example, it’s $12,999 for medium power radar with a five-mile radius.

Mongabay: And what technologies haven’t lived up to the hype? Why?

Jeff Morgan: Where we work, drones have not yet been proven effective for support of anti-poaching teams or finding poachers at night, for example, but are great for identifying illegal logging camps deep in the forest.

Cellular trailcams are ideal when there is good cellular coverage. Most national parks have little or no cellular service so there is a huge need for satellite trailcams to combat wildlife poaching and illegal logging in our national parks.

Trailcam in the Maya Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala.

Anti-Poaching trailcam requirements for real-time surveillance are quite different than wildlife cameras, for example, which have no transmission capability. We use real-time Cellular trailcams mounted up in trees 12 feet or more so they cannot be easily seen. wildlife cameras, on the other hand, are usually mounted just three feet off the ground, and would quickly be stolen or vandalized in most Global Conservation project areas.

While technology and systems are all well and good, without the full support of the communities, Indigenous Peoples, farmers and ranchers, local villages and towns around the national parks, real long-term protection is not possible.

Mongabay: In the past five years there has been a significant shift in conservation toward greater emphasis on the roles Indigenous Peoples and local communities play in achieving conservation outcomes. This trend is arguably at odds with the top-down approach traditionally embraced by park authorities in many places. How is Global Conservation navigating these developments?

Jeff Morgan: Indigenous and community protection is critical to our mission.

We have five Indigenous-led Global Conservation Projects where government authorities are largely non-existent and Global Conservation and the Indigenous Authorities work directly together for territory protection.

Training of rangers in Komodo National Park, Indonesia.

In Panama, after 20 years of legal battles the Naso People were finally given titles to their lands. Now, with Global Conservation support, 60+ Naso Community Ecoguards have been equipped, trained, and patrol operations supported to protect their 300,000+ acres of native-titled lands. Neighboring La Amistad National Park, on the other hand, has only four rangers [Editor’s note: park staff employed by the government] covering over two million acres. In many cases, Indigenous Peoples have more people ready to protect their lands than the government’s park authority.

We need to work hard and effectively to protect both Indigenous Territories and government-backed national parks and marine reserves.

In order to protect endangered national parks, their gateways and buffer zones, we work closely with local communities and Indigenous leaders to collaboratively plan for biodiversity conservation and sustainable land use.

By balancing the needs of the people with the needs of the national parks, its forests, rivers, coastal oceans and wildlife, true community protection can be possible.

Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) ranger in Kidepo Valley National Park, Uganda.

We work on the basis of three key values we hold dear – respect, trust and equity.

In Sierra del Divisor National Park in Peru, only 12 rangers cover five million acres across multiple provinces. Over the past five years, we have built strong protection force with local Indigenous peoples based on respect, trust and equity. Now multiple Indigenous protection teams have over 50 Community Ecoguards equipped and trained to patrol 5,000 kilometers a year. This is a great success in protecting the Peruvian Amazon.

Mongabay: Is there a particular project or initiative that best exemplifies what Global Conservation is trying to achieve?

Jeff Morgan: As many governments have not been able to protect their national parks from illegal logging, especially in poorer countries, we have invested heavily in our first five years in middle-income countries like Republic of Georgia, Ukraine, Thailand and Mexico.

In Thailand’s Thap Lan National Park, Global Conservation funded WCS Thailand to assist the deployment of Global Park Defense to stop illegal logging of Siamese rosewood, which we decimating the last stands of these critically endangered trees. Southeast Asia has lost much of its teak, mahogany and other hardwoods, with the prized rosewood now mostly limited to national parks.

Over five years, we enabled 90% patrol coverage and deployed hundreds of cellular Trailcams to see illegal loggers coming into the national park leading to arrests of over 1,200 loggers. After five years, few illegal loggers are returning to the national park and the government of Thailand is replicating Global Park Defense model across all its national parks purchasing over 2,000 cellular Trailcams.

Mongabay: The Global Conservation web site lists visitor numbers as a metric for various protected areas. Do you see tourism as a key aspect in the long-term financial sustainability of the parks in which you operate and support?

Jeff Morgan: Tourism to UNESCO World Heritage sites is one of our foundation strategies for long-term financial sustainability of park and wildlife protection. Without visitors, communities are left on the edges of the parks with few livelihoods other than wildlife poaching and illegal logging. By focusing on potential for Community-led Tourism as a core selection criterion for GC Projects we undertake, we have a higher chance of success in financial viability for long-term protection.

Mongabay: What are other interventions or mechanisms that you’re hopeful about when it comes to financing parks?

Jeff Morgan: Global Conservation is leading a new Global Parks Fund, which will invest $500,000 to $1 million over five years into protecting each of the largest intact forests and wildlife habitats in the world. Upon Global Conservation project inception, we require signed contracts that the government will increase base park protection funding to continue the program for at least ten years. Over the life of an endangered national park, this will increase overall funding for park protection by 4-5 times.

Radar installation in Turneffe, Belize.

A typical one million acres national park like Darien in Panama or Mirador in Guatemala sees less than $100,000 a year in total budget, operating with 10-12 rangers at the most. Global Parks Fund nearly triples this funding and secures government commitment to support the new level in years 6-10.

Our goal is to focus on the GC100, the largest forests and intact wildlife habitats in the developing world which are critically endangered today.

Mongabay: Many people still view conservation as a niche issue or a distant concern. How does conservation make a case of its relevance to the average person?

Jeff Morgan: I believe only a small percentage of the people on this planet really care deeply about nature. We need greater understanding that saving the forests, especially large intact tropical forests, will be the most cost-effective way to achieve our climate goals. By keeping our forests safe and protected, along with the animals in them, we can make significant progress toward slowing climate change in the coming decades.

Mongabay: Do you have a favorite place in nature that serves as an escape or refuge for you?

Jeff Morgan: We live in paradise here with protected parks and waterways and the most pristine coasts in California. This took decades to fix the pollution, killing of wildlife, returning the California Condor and removing the garbage from our beaches.

Northern California gives me sanctuary to regroup and rebuild my optimism and energy to tackle some of the most difficult countries in the world which would otherwise drag me into pessimism and defeatism – death for protection – where morale and energy must be high.

Mongabay: Conservation seems daunting in the face of the challenges it faces. What gives you hope?

Jeff Morgan: We strategically focus on the best intact forest, marine and wildlife habitats – about 3% of our planet.

Elephants in Cardamom Mountains National Park, Cambodia. Courtesy of Global Conservation.

By focusing on the GC100 – the most important and endangered national parks in developing countries for intact forest, marine and wildlife habitats – we can directly protect 250 million acres of intact forests – helping achieve nearly 1% of UN Climate Goals – similar to taking half a billion automobiles off the highways.

Protecting our existing national parks, tropical forests and wildlife habitats is the effective and lowest cost way to achieve our climate goals needed to save humanity.

Disclosure: Rhett A. Butler served in an informal capacity on the advisory board of Global Conservation from 2017 and 2020.

Introduction

Central Cardamom Mountains National Park (CCMNP) consists of over 400,000 hectares of dense monsoon forest, melaleuca wetlands, mangroves, and a vast network of estuaries and rivers that course across the mountain slopes and into the Gulf of Thailand. Rivers in the CCMNP  provide drinking water for more than 30,000 people and support rice and fish production in the lowland agricultural plains, ensuring food security for many of Cambodia’s poorest people.

The Cardamom rainforest has the greatest watershed value of any forest in Cambodia, with a staggering rainfall of 3,500-4,500mm per year due to its dense evergreen forest cover and its position along the Gulf. Protecting this continuous forest canopy and the flow of water from the forest to the coast is a conservation priority for Cambodia.

Despite its protected status, illegal land clearing and wildlife poaching continue to threaten this park. Cambodia faces some of the highest deforestation rates of any country in the world: over 15% of its forest has been cleared over the past 10 years.

Thousands of wildlife snares, which conservationists call “walls of death” for their ability to create fatal barriers to wildlife, are confiscated every year in the Cardamom region. In the depths of the unexplored forest, such activities are difficult to stop without daily aerial and satellite monitoring. Further, because of its highly desirable real estate location, industrial and community-level land grabbing and wildlife poaching continue to threaten Cardamom’s biodiversity on a daily basis.

To protect this park, Global Conservation, Conservation International (CI), and the Ministry of Environment are deploying new technologies, including command and control, cellular trailcams, aerial surveillance and targeted ranger patrols for increasing the effectiveness of forest and wildlife protection. Wildlife Alliance builds rangers’ professional capacity and provides full support for their livelihoods. This enables them to focus completely on their duties and creates a culture of zero tolerance for corruption. 

Global Park Defense provides critical technology and training for rangers. Effective and well-managed patrolling is vital to stop commercial poaching, often involving deadly snares laid on the forest floor to catch wild animals on their way to drink in the rivers. Effective enforcement also deters illegal logging operations and forest clearing for agriculture and other land uses. It's absolutely critical that surveillance, patrolling and law enforcement are conducted on a daily basis.

Summary of Progress

With support from Global Conservation and others, Conservation International continued to provide support for protected area management and law enforcement in the Central Cardamom Mountains National Park (CCMNP) and the Biodiversity Conservation Corridor. With the Ministry of Environment (MoE) and Provincial Departments of Environment (PDoE) as the main implementing partners, CI continued to support eight MoE officers and twelve PDoE officers, as well as to provide technical support, oversight and funds for supplies and salary supplements for 42 rangers to patrol CCMNP from six ranger stations. 

During this reporting period CI also continued progress in preparing the necessary documents for establishment of the REDD+ project in the CCMNP. 

2022 Key Activities and Outcomes

Patrol Activities

• 42 rangers (one female ranger) from 6 stations conducted patrols covering a total of 24,422 km (6,271 km by car, 2,202 km by foot, 434 km by boat, and 15,515 km by motorbike). 
• Each station achieved more than 100% of the patrol plan and overall target activities. This includes 747 patrols, 1,012 days, and 265 nights. Deforestation hotspots have been checked and processed and the legal documents sent to PDoEs and provincial courts. 
• 2 offenders were arrested for land clearance, 18 people were educated due to entering the PA without permission, and 3 people were fined due to illegal logging transportation. 
• 49 cases of illegal logging were encountered, totaling 32 m3 of timber (14.95 m3 of 15 cases were collected and confiscated to store at ranger stations, and 17.50 m3 from 34 cases were left and destroyed at scenes as it was impossible to transport). 
• 103 locations of illegal land encroachment were identified totaling 1,267.13 ha being cleared. 
• 50 total cases of illegal land clearing and 2 cases of illegal timber logging were sent to court.
• 1 elongated tortoise (Indotestudo elongata) was released and 5 kg of wild pig (Sus scrofa) was destroyed. 
• 33 illegal camps were destroyed (1 illegal settlement, 13 illegal huts, 10 illegal logging camps, and 9 illegal poaching camps). 
• 66 chainsaws and 1 small sawmill were collected, confiscated, and destroyed. 
• 21 illegal vehicles were confiscated (1 excavator, 2 trucks, 1 vehicle, and 17 motorbikes). 
• 106 land clearance prohibition signs were posted between the boundary of farmland and forest. 
• 68 species of wildlife were directly observed during patrols. 
• 690 traps and snares were collected and destroyed, including 7 bird nets, 7 civet traps, 288 nylon snares, 27 small bow snares, 351 small wire snares, and 10 wire snares (motorbike brake cable). 
• 7 illegal hunting tools were confiscated including 4 air guns and 3 home-made guns. 
• 8 sets of illegal fishing gears were collected and destroyed. 

Sustainable Livelihood Development

Community consultations for project FPIC and REDD+ planning and implementation 

• In 2022 CI conducted 56 village consultations with 2103 villagers (1008 female) across 24 villages which are set in four communes within Pursat and Kampong Speu provinces. The consultations sought to inform the communities of the Central Cardamom REDD+ Project and to gain Free Prior and Informed Consent from the communities to initiate project implementation. Consent was gained from all 24 villages. 

Socio-economic livelihoods assessments 

• In 2022 CI conducted village level sketch mapping with 24 villages through workshops with 299 community members (96 female). The sketch mapping process gathered relevant village information and mapped community land use and resources. The sketch mapping was used an engagement tool for new communities where CI has not been present and will later be utilized to inform the village-level development initiatives. 

Value chain and field assessments 

• A value chain scoping assessment was conducted to identify opportunities and constraints to improve the incomes of small-scale farmers in the project area. Four potential products, including Banana, Cardamom, Orange, and Rice were selected for conducting further value chain analysis. 97 participants (41 female) joined the interviews and focus group discussion in 9 villages in Kampong Speu, Koh Kong and Pursat province. 

Implementation of sustainable livelihoods 

• CI continues to support a butterfly farm enterprise in Tatei Leu community. In this reporting period, CI worked with Banteay Srey Butterfly Center to provide a technical training to the Spean Kdar Butterfly Enterprise, focusing on butterfly production and enterprise operations. The enterprise continues to produce and release butterflies, while keeping a strong relationship with BBC with a vision to sell to them once international flights carrying live animals start again. 
• Additional targeted livelihoods interventions will be informed by the results from the value chain and agricultural assessments. The assessments will identify products and systems which are both economically and environmentally suitable to focus on, for example Cardamom production, processing and sale within an agroforestry system for communities within a Community Protected Area, or chicken production for landless households who are high risk profiles for illegal forest activities. 

Conservation Technology Training

Train PDoE management team and rangers in SMART 

• CI conducted a trainer of trainer (TOT) training to 33 MoE and PDoE managers and rangers from seven provinces. The training aimed to strengthen the capacity of these focal people in using and training others on the use of SMART law enforcement activities. 
• CI provided training to 24 Officers and Rangers from Koh Kong, Kampong Speu and Pursat, aimed at strengthening their capacity to observe and record patrol data and better understand how to use the SMART app with a smart phone. 
• CI supported 41 rangers to use up-to-date deforestation data to plan future law enforcement activities in Pursat, Koh Kong and Kampong Speu Provinces. 

Biodiversity Science: biodiversity monitoring program

A holistic and long-term biodiversity monitoring plan for the CCMNP is being developed. In this reporting period, the plan has been drafted and presented to MoE and other conservation stakeholders for feedback and input. The monitoring plan will align with the REDD+ verification and validation methodology and will allow for robust biodiversity monitoring over the next 15 years. 

• To support the development of the REDD+ Project, CI conducted 23 forest inventory and bird surveys within this period. The data collected will be used for both monitoring of biodiversity in CCMNP, and to calculate the amount of carbon for the REDD+ Project. 
• A targeted camera trap study was conducted at specific sites within CCMNP. A team of 22 local community members and rangers supported the work and were trained by CI in the deployment and use of camera traps. 

Safeguard System

Set up and implement grievance redress mechanism enabling complaints to be tracked and addressed. 

• A grievance mechanism was established covering all participating villages. This mechanism provides several access points (grievance boxes, telegram, facebook etc.) which the communities can use to submit any grievances directly caused by project activities. CI has also established the systems used for collecting, assessing and responding to grievances. During this reporting period 30 grievance boxes were installed in 24 villages and 1346 village members were made aware of the system. 

Despite operating under pandemic restrictions, Global Conservation continued to support our park and marine protection work around the world. 

Global Park Defense is now a proven model we can deploy in any endangered park. Using the latest low-cost surveillance, satellite communications, cloud-based protection systems and a rigorous methodology, we are building up targeted protection in key high-threat areas.

In 2021-2022, we grew the areas under Global Park Defense protection to over 18 million acres (nearly 10 million hectares), adding four new projects and working in 12 endangered national parks and 8 marine parks in 10 countries. 

We also finished three five-year Global Park Defense deployments – in Central and Southern Cardamom National Parks in Cambodia and Thap Lan National Park in Thailand – leaving each national park well-protected and financially sustainable.

Our Work in Cardamom National Park

Cardamom National Park was gazetted in 2016, owing to the work of our partner, Wildlife Alliance. The park consists of over 800,000 hectares of dense monsoon forest, melaleuca wetlands, mangroves, and a vast network of estuaries and rivers that course across the mountain slopes and into the Gulf of Thailand.

The Cardamom rainforest has the greatest watershed value of any forest in Cambodia, with a staggering rainfall of 3,500-4,500mm per year due to its dense evergreen forest cover and its position along the Gulf. Protecting this continuous forest canopy and the flow of water from the forest to the coast is a conservation priority for Cambodia.

Despite its new protected status, illegal land clearing and wildlife poaching continue to threaten this park. Cambodia faces some of the highest deforestation rates of any country in the world: over 15% of its forest has been cleared over the past 10 years.

Thousands of wildlife snares, which conservationists call “walls of death” for their ability to create fatal barriers to wildlife, are confiscated every year in the Cardamom region. In the depths of the unexplored forest, such activities are difficult to stop without daily aerial and satellite monitoring. Further, because of its highly desirable real estate location, industrial and community-level land grabbing and wildlife poaching continue to threaten Cardamom’s biodiversity on a daily basis.

To protect this park, Global Conservation, Wildlife Alliance, Conservation International, and the Ministry of Environment are deploying new technologies, including command and control, cellular trailcams, aerial surveillance and targeted ranger patrols for increasing the effectiveness of forest and wildlife protection. Wildlife Alliance builds rangers’ professional capacity and provides full support for their livelihoods. This enables them to focus completely on their duties and creates a culture of zero tolerance for corruption. 

Global Park Defense provides critical technology and training for rangers and Wildlife Alliance teams. Effective and well-managed patrolling is vital to stop commercial poaching, often involving deadly snares laid on the forest floor to catch wild animals on their way to drink in the rivers. Effective enforcement also deters illegal logging operations and forest clearing for agriculture and other land uses. It's absolutely critical that surveillance, patrolling and law enforcement are conducted on a daily basis.

Recent Progress: Wildlife Alliance in Southern Cardamom Mountains National Park

Patrolling Results

Thanks to the support of Global Conservation, the 6-Ranger Global Park Defense System (GPDS) Unit embedded within the Roveang Patrol Station have worked together to monitor key areas in the north of Central Cardamom National Park and Cardamom Biodiversity Corridor from January to August 2022.

They have installed GPDS trailcams and patrolled to crack down on poachers, loggers and land grabbers. The rangers patrolled systematically and in response to GPDS trailcams. 

Key Accomplishments, Patrols, January-August 2022

• 330 patrols and 35 night ambushes 
• 14,310 km patrolled
• 1,217 snares removed
• 470 m of nets removed
• 25 live wild animals rescued
• 34 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.

While poaching is a major pressure in the area, forest land grabbing and illegal logging are also a major threat. Of all the Cardamom Forest Protection stations, Roveang Patrol Quadrant has the biggest percentage of forest land grabbing and illegal logging.

That is because prior to Wildlife Alliance arrival in the Roveang patrol quadrant in August 2019, there had been no law enforcement on forest crimes. Therefore, people are still becoming accustomed to following protected area laws and complying with logging and clearing prohibitions. 

Logging and Forest Land Grabbing Crackdowns, January-August 2022

• 160 illegal camps dismantled
• 149 m3 of timber and 152 logs seized
• 327 chainsaws seized
• All 13 land encroachment cases stopped and 5 heavy machineries seized
• 42 oxcarts and 43 mechanical buffalos (koyuns) seized
• 6 land grabbers arrested with 4 court cases submitted where 4 offenders were jailed 
• 145 acres deforestation stopped

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 forest land grabbers attempting to clear the forest.

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

Trailcam installation

Ten trail cameras were purchased and placed at strategic trail locations in proximity to Roveang Patrol Station, along the Northern border of the Central Cardamoms National Park and the Cardamom Biodiversity Corridor, focused around community areas. 

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

On January 13, 2022, in respond to a GPDS alert, Roveang Patrol Unit followed the track of the suspect inside Cardamom Biodiversity Corridor next to Central Cardamom National Park boundary in Rokat commune, Phnom Kravanh district, Pursat province.

The team rescued two turtles from illegal smuggling; unfortunately, the offenders were aware the arrival of the patrol unit and ran away. The team also confiscated one homemade gun and 50 hunting snares. Turtles were freed the same day.

On January 15, 2022 Roveang Patrol Unit conducted a daily routine patrol in respond to a GPDS alert, the team was able to encounter five oxcarts illegally transporting two cubic meters of construction timber inside of Cardamom Biodiversity Corridor in Rokat commune, Phnom Kravanh district, Pursat province.

The oxcarts and timber were destroyed on site due to lack of confiscation means.

On January 17, 2022 Roveang Patrol Unit conducted a long patrol in response to intel network information. The team found an illegal sawmill site deep in the jungle inside of Phnom Aural Wildlife Sanctuary (5 kilometers from the Cardamom Biodiversity Corridor boundary) in Santreae commune.

At the sawmill site, the rangers found:

• 3.42 cubic meters of construction timber
• 1 illegal logging truck
• 1 illegal logging camp
• 3 illegal chainsaws
• 1 sawmill machine
• 1 generator with electricity dynamo

All the evidence was destroyed on site due to lack of confiscation means.

On February 14, 2022 Roveang Patrol Unit conducted a daily routine patrol to Rokat commune inside of Cardamom Biodiversity Corridor. The rangers found an abandoned bike with carcasses of 3 long-tailed macaques (critically endangered on the IUCN Red List) and a wild bird.

The rangers burnt the wildlife carcasses and confiscated the bike to impound in Roveang Patrol Station.

On March 11, 2022 Roveang Patrol Unit conducted a long patrol following the information network to look for illegal logging trucks. At the trail near Knoung Srol area, the rangers saw the track of a logging truck to Da Loung river, so they followed the trail and found an ox-cart and an illegal camp.

The camp and ox-cart were destroyed on site and the rangers found and confiscated one chainsaw, two homemade guns and a set of electric fishing gear.

The rangers continued their patrol following the trail until Da Loung river and finally found a logging truck with 3.27 cubic meters construction timber on it, without offenders, inside of Phnom Aural Wildlife Sanctuary. The logging truck was confiscated to impound in Roveang Patrol Station.

On April 2, 2022 Roveang Patrol Unit followed the information network to Pramouy commune inside of Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary.

Following a track, the rangers found an illegal logging truck with 0.86 cubic meters of construction timber and a chainsaw. The evidence was destroyed on site due to lack of transportation means.

On May 22, 2022 Roveang Patrol Unit conducted a daily routine patrol to Krapeu Pi area in Pramouy commune. The rangers found an illegal excavator and platform truck parked next to an illegally cleared site.

The rangers approached the machinery and found fresh dirt contaminated on the chain of the excavator so the rangers immediately report this case to Pursat Prosecutor to confiscate this machinery. No offenders were found on site.

On June 19, 2022 Roveang Patrol Unit collaborated with Pursat Provincial Authority to clean up 61 illegal land encroachment flying-huts to grab over 6,894 acres (remaining from the total of 180 illegal flying-huts) at Stung Khiev area Cheung Phnom Khmouch in Chamka Chrey Khang Tbong village.

During the operation, Roveang rangers arrested one offender who is the organizer of this illegal land encroachment operation in that area and submitted the court case following article 62 of the protected area law. The offender was jailed following the Pretrial Detention no. 397 dated June 20, 2022.

On July 30, 2022 Roveang Patrol Unit conducted a daily routine patrol to Trasok Paem area inside Cardamom Biodiversity Corridor. The rangers encountered two offenders cutting to clear forest and burning to grab 6.55 acres of state land. The two offenders were arrested and the rangers filled court case documentation to submit to Pursat Provincial Court. 

On August 19 to 20, 2022, Roveang Patrol Unit collaborated with Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary rangers to conduct a search operation following the information network to surround and check a suspect compound in Tumpoir village inside of Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary. 

As a result, the rangers confiscated a total of 13.88 cubic meters of huge logs and timber.

On August 21, 2022 Roveang Patrol Unit collaborated with Samkos rangers to evacuate one offender to Pursat Provincial Court for his forest crime of illegally building a house inside of Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary. The offender has committed repeat offense as he was already arrested once before by the rangers for building an illegal house inside protected area and had signed a contract of non-reoffense at that time. The offender was jailed.

At the Global Conservation Gala, which took place in San Francisco on September 29, 2022, Wildlife Alliance CEO & Founder Suwanna Gauntlett received Global Conservation's prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dr. Suwanna Guantlett has dedicated her life to saving the new wild. She has spent the last 15 years in Cambodia helping to create and protect Cardamom National Park, one of Asia's only remaining major intact tropical forests and wildlife habitats. Due to her tireless efforts over 17,478 km2 (4.3 million acres) of continuous forest have been protected.

Partnering with the Ministry of Environment since 2005, Suwanna and her team built the capacity of park authorities and ranger teams for protection and built political will at all levels of government and with local communities to stop illegal activities. Global Conservation supported deployment of Global Park Defense in Cardamom National Park for the past five years to stop illegal logging, hunting, land clearing and illegal settlements.

Last year, Wildlife Alliance secured $40 million in carbon offsets to pay for park protection and community improvements over the next ten vears Together we celebrate the Lifetime Achievement of Dr. Suwanna Gauntlett for protecting our planet's incredible natural wonders and species facing extinction.

GC's Work in Cardamom Mountains National Park

Cardamom National Park was gazetted in 2016, owing to the work of our partner, Wildlife Alliance. The park consists of over 800,000 hectares of dense monsoon forest, melaleuca wetlands, mangroves, and a vast network of estuaries and rivers that course across the mountain slopes and into the Gulf of Thailand.

The Cardamom rainforest has the greatest watershed value of any forest in Cambodia, with a staggering rainfall of 3,500-4,500mm per year due to its dense evergreen forest cover and its position along the Gulf. Protecting this continuous forest canopy and the flow of water from the forest to the coast is a conservation priority for Cambodia.

Despite its new protected status, illegal land clearing and wildlife poaching continue to threaten this park. Cambodia faces some of the highest deforestation rates of any country in the world: over 15% of its forest has been cleared over the past 10 years.

Thousands of wildlife snares, which conservationists call “walls of death” for their ability to create fatal barriers to wildlife, are confiscated every year in the Cardamom region. In the depths of the unexplored forest, such activities are difficult to stop without daily aerial and satellite monitoring. Further, because of its highly desirable real estate location, industrial and community-level land grabbing and wildlife poaching continue to threaten Cardamom’s biodiversity on a daily basis.

To protect this park, Global Conservation, Wildlife Alliance, Conservation International, and the Ministry of Environment are deploying new technologies, including command and control, cellular trailcams, aerial surveillance and targeted ranger patrols for increasing the effectiveness of forest and wildlife protection. Wildlife Alliance builds rangers’ professional capacity and provides full support for their livelihoods. This enables them to focus completely on their duties and creates a culture of zero tolerance for corruption. 

Global Park Defense provides critical technology and training for rangers and Wildlife Alliance teams. Effective and well-managed patrolling is vital to stop commercial poaching, often involving deadly snares laid on the forest floor to catch wild animals on their way to drink in the rivers. Effective enforcement also deters illegal logging operations and forest clearing for agriculture and other land uses. It's absolutely critical that surveillance, patrolling and law enforcement are conducted on a daily basis.

Suwanna's Presentation at the 2022 GC Gala

About Suwanna

Originally from San Francisco, Suwanna grew up in Brazil and Europe. A formative experience with a jaguar tortured by poachers in the Brazilian rainforest sparked her early connection to the environment. After pursuing her undergraduate, master’s, and doctorate degrees in France and Switzerland, she began consulting for wildlife conservation organizations, assisting them with strategic planning for direct protection to wildlife in danger.

1994 – 2004 – Russian Far-East

Suwanna teamed up with Steven Galster to save the Amur (Siberian) Tiger in the Russian Far East by creating, training and equipping a specialized ranger team. In only five years (1995 – 2000) the Amba patrols reduced rampant poaching by 80 percent and intercepted Tiger traffickers smuggling pelts into China. As a result, the Tiger population rebounded from only 80 individuals in 1994 to more than 400 individuals by 2000.

1998 – 2000 – India

Suwanna responded to the call for help from the Wildlife Conservation Society of India to reverse the drastic decline of the Olive Ridley turtle along the coast of Orissa where 40,000 cadavers were stuing the coastline due to industrial fishing boats coming to close to the coast in contravenance of the National Marine Law.

Suwanna and her team organized marine law enforcement to intercept the fishing boats and impound them when found too close to the coast. Results were immediate-mother turtles coming to mate and nest along the coast were no longer stopped by the industrial nets. This brought back nestings to 600,000 in 1999 and over 1 million in the year 2000, from an all-time low of 8,700 in 1998.

1998 – 2004 – Ecuador

Responding to the Ecuadorian government’s international appeal for help in 1998, Suwanna assisted with the surface increase of the Galapagos Marine Reserve, expanding the boundaries from 5 to 40 nautical miles.

The team provided technical assistance, training, equipment and infrastructure to conduct high seas law enforcement operations to stop industrial fishing boats from coming into the Marine Reserve boundaries and decimating the wildlife inside.

1997 – 1998 – Myanmar and Thailand

Suwanna Gauntlett teamed up with Steven Galster to decide on an effective strategy to bottle-neck the Southeast Asian wildlife trade supplying China’s black market.  They targeted three countries of the Indo Burmese Peninsula: Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia.

2000 – Cambodia

Suwanna launched the Cambodia Conservation Program, continuing the strategy of reducing the Southeast Asian wildlife trade supplying China’s black market. Cambodia was chosen because it had a very large surface of rainforest and rampant wildlife trafficking.

She began by partnering with the Forestry Administration to conduct a country-wide wildlife trafficking assessment and evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the Special Forestry Task Forces in charge of stopping illegal logging. Based on the findings of the assessment, Wildlife Alliance designed and delivered a law enforcement training program for the Special Forestry Task Forces and the Royale Gendarmerie Khmer.

As part of the training, Suwanna conducted two sting operations with them that resulted in seizure of seven live tigers.

The most notable result of this training was the creation of the first wildlife law enforcement unit in the country and in Southeast Asia, the Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team, WRRT. With judicial authority to arrest smugglers and seize trafficked wildlife across the country, the unit started operations in July 2001. By 2021, the unit has arrested 7,054 Illegal wildlife traders, seized 72,787 live wildlife, confiscated 18.5 tons of bushmeat and body parts.

2000 – 2010

Partnering also with the Ministry of Environment, Suwanna and her team built the capacity of government ranger teams for protection of Bokor National Park. Wildlife Alliance continued ranger support for ten years, until 2010, including building the National Ranger Center, developing the National Ranger Training curriculum, and delivering training to 770 park rangers across the country.

2002

Based on the successful partnership with the government, Wildlife Alliance was requested to provide technical assistance in the Cardamom Rainforest Landscape which was being decimated by forest fires and real estate speculation.

35 to 40 fires were burning the forest every day to clear land for real estate deals. 37 elephants and 28 tigers were killed in just a few months. Suwanna helped the Department of Forestry organize ranger teams to address the urgency of the situation. She started building political will at all levels of government to bring illegal activities under control.

Suwanna worked closely with the provincial governor to stop his district governors from selling state forests under the table. She appealed to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for strong intervention to return grabbed land back to State. She worked with three ministries to resolve land grabbing and create a long-term land management plan. As part of the management plan, village zones were clearly delineated to allocate land for community livelihoods. Outside the villages, forestland was declared strictly protected and visible demarcation posts were installed on the ground. Thanks to persistent vigilance of the ranger teams, the 2003 zoning agreement is still enforced today, 20 years later. The rangers and Wildlife Alliance achieved together the ZERO POACHING of elephants since 2006.

2003

Suwanna worked with the Provincial Governor of Koh Kong, the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries and the Ministry of Land Management to create Sovanna Baitong Community Agriculture Project that aimed at stopping forest slash and burn and providing the poorest landless farmers with land ownership, access to capital and markets, and access to education and healthcare.

2004 – 2016

Wildlife Alliance worked successfully with the Forestry Administration, 5 ministries and the highest levels of government to obtain 34 economic land concessions that were threatening to destroy the Cardamom Rainforest. Mining and agro-industry exploitation permits were canceled or reduced in size, thus saving the rainforest from destruction representing more than half of the size of Yellowstone National Park.

About Wildlife Alliance

Wildlife Alliance is the leader in direct protection of forests and wildlife in tropical Cambodia. They specialize in on-the-ground interventions with government rangers and local communities, directly addressing the causes of deforestation and the illegal wildlife trade. Wildlife Alliance helps recruit rangers, train them, and equip them.

Rangers are taught how to conduct professional law enforcement, strengthen legal procedures through the judiciary system, and report large land-grabbing cases to local and central government. Rangers also learn how to document crimes for government interventions: all cases are documented with precise GIS data, photographic evidence, and detailed history of legal offenses.

Thirteen rural communities surround the perimeter of the Cardamom National Park. New community-led organizations, ecotourism, community rangers, and environmental education are increasing interest in protection and have already substantially raised the standard of living for participating communities. 

Wildlife Alliance assists these communities in developing livelihoods that do not damage the rainforest: either sustainable agriculture, ecotourism, or development of family-run small businesses. At the same time, community members are rallied to re-plant lost forest cover by enriching the soil and planting indigenous tree species. The goal is to help the forest watershed recover and replenish water reserves in the village water wells. 

Wildlife Alliance is also working on long-term sustainable financing for forest protection in the landscape through developing carbon credit revenues from the Southern Cardamom Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) project. 

Showcasing 12 GC Projects in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Marine, Global Conservation’s San Francisco Gala brought together prominent philanthropists, conservation funders and world-renowned speakers at the Julia Morgan Ballroom on September 29, 2022. Keynote speakers were Dr. Greg Asner of ASU Global Discovery, Dr. Laly Lichtenfeld of African People & Wildlife, and Michael Keigwin of Uganda Conservation, who leads conservation projects in Murchison Falls and Kidepo Valley.

Dr. James Deutsch, CEO of Rainforest Trust, introduced the purchases of over $4.2 million to protect tropical rainforests in GC Projects – DaMaI Rainforest Complex in Sabah Borneo, Cardamom Mountains National Park, Cambodia and Mirador National Park, Guatemala. Global Conservation supported Rainforest Trust's $3.4 million purchase to protect the critical Upper Kluet River valley in the Leuser Ecosystem, the only place on Earth where tigers, rhino, orangutan and elephants coexist in the wild.

Dr. James Deutsch, CEO of Rainforest Trust (left), with our Executive Director Jeff Morgan.

Dr. Greg Asner from ASU Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science announced Hawaii’s largest new Community-Based Marine Protected area – Miloi’i of South Kona – supported by Global Conservation.

Bushlife Conservancy spoke of their great work in Mana Pools World Heritage Site, Zimbabwe, which has just logged their third year of no elephant poaching for the first time in history.

Global Conservation is the only international NGO focused 100% on protection of endangered national parks and UNESCO World Heritage Sites in developing countries. Numerous funders and co-funders were present and we secured $620,000 in GC Project support, including the Lion Recovery Fund, Bushlife, Elephant Crisis Fund, International Elephant Foundation, and others.

Jeff Morgan, Executive Director of Global Conservation, addresses the audience.

Dr. Greg Asner from ASU Global Discovery (right).

Dr. Laly Lichtenfeld gave details on Warriors for Wildlife, our new GC Project in Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. 

Michael Keigwin of GC Partner Uganda Conservation told us about the recovery of Murchison Falls.

Dr. Suwanna Guanlett receives the GC Lifetime Achievement Award, which included a $50,000 grant for Wildlife Alliance’s work to protect the Cardamoms National Park, Cambodia.

Presentations

Suwanna Gauntlett, Wildlife Alliance:

Michael Keigwin, Uganda Conservation:

Greg Asner from ASU Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science:

Laly Lichtenfeld, African People & Wildlife:

Introduction

The Cardamom Mountains. The name evokes images of fervid green hills enveloped in mist, full of wild creatures that roam in the forest’s gloaming. That’s not far from the reality; Cardamom National Park and its surrounding mountains contain Southeast Asia’s largest surviving rainforest, a vast, exceptionally diverse wilderness which remains mostly unexplored.

One might imagine that the Cardamom Mountains still harbor the ghosts of the Khmer Rouge, who left this forest just over two decades ago. In the uneasy peace that followed the Cambodian Civil War, the Cardamom Mountains suffered rampant logging, poaching, and slash-and-burn agriculture as people struggled to find their way in this post-conflict era. The areas that survived that period, however, remain one of Southeast Asia’s most pristine expanses of wilderness.

Two hundred million hectares of rainforest once covered southern Asia, but only about 10 million hectares are left. One-fifth of that remaining forest is in Cambodia. 

The Prek Khlang Yai Delta is the gateway to Cardamom National Park on the Cambodian border with Thailand.

Natural Heritage

Cardamom National Park was gazetted in 2016, owing to the work of our partner, Wildlife Alliance.

The park consists of over 800,000 hectares of dense monsoon forest, melaleuca wetlands, mangroves, and a vast network of estuaries and rivers that course across the mountain slopes and into the Gulf of Thailand.

The Cardamom rainforest has the greatest watershed value of any forest in Cambodia, with a staggering rainfall of 3,500-4,500mm per year due to its dense evergreen forest cover and its position along the Gulf. Protecting this continuous forest canopy and the flow of water from the forest to the coast is a conservation priority for Cambodia.

In the Cardamoms, baby elephants are often the victims of poacher's snares intended for adult animals.

This fragile forest conceals a menagerie of endangered wildlife species, including Malayan sun bears, elephants, gibbons, clouded leopards, Indian civets, banteng, dholes, gaur, and Sunda pangolins. In all, the park hosts more than 60 globally threatened animals and 17 globally threatened trees, many endemic to Cambodia. Here, one of the largest protected wild elephant populations in Southeast Asia rambles through one of Asia’s last unfragmented elephant corridors. In the rivers swim the exceedingly rare Irrawaddy dolphin, fewer than 100 of which remain in the world. Alongside those dolphins live some of the last populations on earth of Siamese crocodiles. 

Sun bears are one of the threatened species that call the Cardamom Mountains home.

Though tigers have not been seen here for some time, tiger reintroduction to Cambodia was identified as a priority in the Cambodia Tiger Action Plan and was recently endorsed by the Cambodian Prime Minister Samdach Akka Moha Senabdeiy Techo Hun Sen. The Ministry of Environment, responsible for managing Cardamom National Park, is also supportive of tiger reintroduction into the Cardamom Rainforest Landscape in the coming years.

Clouded leopards and other large mammals are under attack in the Cardamoms.

Saving Cardamom National Park

Despite its new protected status, illegal land clearing and wildlife poaching continue to threaten this park.

Cambodia faces some of the highest deforestation rates of any country in the world: over 15% of its forest has been cleared over the past 10 years.

Thousands of wildlife snares, which conservationists call “walls of death” for their ability to create fatal barriers to wildlife, are confiscated every year in the Cardamom region. In the depths of the unexplored forest, such activities are difficult to stop without daily aerial and satellite monitoring. Further, because of its highly desirable real estate location, industrial and community-level land grabbing and wildlife poaching continue to threaten Cardamom’s biodiversity on a daily basis.

A Cardamom National Park ranger installs cellular trailcams.

To protect this park, Global Conservation, Wildlife Alliance, and the Ministry of Environment are deploying new technologies, including command and control, cellular trailcams, aerial surveillance and targeted ranger patrols for increasing the effectiveness of forest and wildlife protection. Wildlife Alliance builds rangers’ professional capacity and provides full support for their livelihoods. This enables them to focus completely on their duties and creates a culture of zero tolerance for corruption. 

Global Park Defense provides critical technology and training for rangers and Wildlife Alliance teams.

Effective and well-managed patrolling is vital to stop commercial poaching, often involving deadly snares laid on the forest floor to catch wild animals on their way to drink in the rivers. Effective enforcement also deters illegal logging operations and forest clearing for agriculture and other land uses. It's absolutely critical that surveillance, patrolling and law enforcement are conducted on a daily basis.

Rangers remove hundreds of illegal snares, which capture wildlife indiscriminately.

We are determined not to let this forest disappear, the way that 95% of Asia’s rainforests already have.

Our rangers patrol 24/7 across 600,000 hectares of the Cardamom Rainforest Landscape, protecting the homes of elephants, clouded leopards, and gibbons so that this vast wilderness can remain wild. 

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.

Partners in Conservation

Wildlife Alliance

Wildlife Alliance is the leader in direct protection of forests and wildlife in tropical Cambodia. They specialize in on-the-ground interventions with government rangers and local communities, directly addressing the causes of deforestation and the illegal wildlife trade. 

Wildlife Alliance helps recruit rangers, train them, and equip them. Rangers are taught how to conduct professional law enforcement, strengthen legal procedures through the judiciary system, and report large land-grabbing cases to local and central government. Rangers also learn how to document crimes for government interventions: all cases are documented with precise GIS data, photographic evidence, and detailed history of legal offenses.

Cardamom National Park rangers and Wildlife Alliance team members patrol the park, working together to protect the forest and wildlife.

Thirteen rural communities surround the perimeter of the Cardamom National Park. New community-led organizations, ecotourism, community rangers, and environmental education are increasing interest in protection and have already substantially raised the standard of living for participating communities. Wildlife Alliance assists these communities in developing livelihoods that do not damage the rainforest: either sustainable agriculture, ecotourism, or development of family-run small businesses. At the same time, community members are rallied to re-plant lost forest cover by enriching the soil and planting indigenous tree species. The goal is to help the forest watershed recover and replenish water reserves in the village water wells. 

SMART patrols respond to threats in the park using speedboats.

Over 5,000 people in the area have benefited from development of sustainable jobs, 8 communities have had their land zoned for alternative livelihoods, and six ranger patrol stations are conducting over 2,500 patrols per year.

Wildlife Alliance is also working on long-term sustainable financing for forest protection in the landscape through developing carbon credit revenues from the Southern Cardamom Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) project. 

Cambodia Ministry of Environment

Cambodia Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

Deforestation threatens wildlife like this hornbill in the Cardamom Mountains.

Cardamom National Park in the News

Khmer Times - Cambodia to propose five natural areas as UNESCO World Heritage sites

Asian Review - Going 'wild' in Cambodia's Cardamom Mountains

The Guardian - Rangers Find 109,217 snares in a single park in Cambodia

Phnom Penh Post - Shortage of rangers leads to abundance of poachers

The Times - On the Trail of Poachers in the Cardamom Mountains, Cambodia

South China Morning Post - Six of the best wildlife-spotting locations in South and Southeast Asia

Phomh Penh Post - On the brink: pangolins in peril

Mongabay - Could REDD help save an embattled forest in Cambodia?

Rainforest Trust - Strategic New National Park Created in Cambodia

Cardamom National Park in Pictures: Saving Southeast Asia's Largest Surviving Rainforest

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.

Ranger wearing the donated Patagonia gear in Umphang-Thung Yai, Thailand.

A generous donation by Patagonia and the Thin Green Line Foundation was well received by over 400 park rangers working in park and wildlife protection in GC Projects in twelve developing countries.

This was a great collaboration between Global Conservation, the Thin Green Line Foundation and Patagonia that enabled the shipping of over 80 packages around the world.

Park Rangers in the developing countries of Africa, Asia and the Americas face dangerous threats fighting illegal activities constantly threatening endangered parks and their communities. In most cases, they are accomplishing their missions with very little in the way of resources for protection. Over the past ten years over 1,000 rangers have been killed in the line of duty.

"The Belize Maya Forest Trust and its Ranger team extend a warm thanks to The Green Line Foundation and Global Conservation for the Patagonia uniforms received. Great gear helps us to be more effective in combatting illegal poaching activities and protecting the amazing biodiversity of the Belize Maya Forest, from the mighty jaguar to our verdant trees." -Elma Kay, Executive Director, Belize Maya Forest Trust

Gear arrives in Leuser National Park, Indonesia.

"We would like to thank you so much for the generous donation of 20 sets of apparel (uniform & pants). The clothes we received are currently being handed over to the rangers and officers who are working tirelessly on the ground. We appreciate and are grateful for your kindness." - Sabah Environmental Trust

Global Conservation works to protect endangered UNESCO World Heritage and national parks facing destruction and species extinction. We deploy a proven Global Park Defense methodology of technology, systems and training, combined with ‘boots on the ground’ support for patrolling operations, arrests and prosecution to deter forest and wildlife crime.

Thank you to Patagonia and Thin Green Line for your incredibly generous support.

These are the genuine ‘Thank Yous’ from every corner of the world. Patagonia’s high quality donated surplus gear was well received and greatly appreciated.

"The very generous donation of surplus gear from Patagonia gives our rangers in GC Projects around the world a fighting chance and increases morale and comfort on long patrols in difficult environments - jungles, deep forests, mountains, river valleys and deserts. We are extremely thankful for their gift and the Thin Green Line Foundation who supports rangers around the world." -Jeff Morgan, Executive Director, Global Conservation

The Sabah Environmental Trust in Malaysia receives the donated uniforms.

Sabah Environmental Trust, Malaysia.

Rangers wearing the donated gear in Umphang-Thung Yai, Thailand.

The gear arrives in Mirador National Park, Guatemala.

Ranger wearing donated gear in Umphang-Thung Yai, Thailand.

Ranger using the donated gear in Umphang-Thung Yai, Thailand.

Ranger holding the donated Patagonia gear in Leuser National Park, Indonesia.

Ranger wearing the donated gear in Umphang Thung Yai, Thailand.

Rangers in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda wear the donated uniforms.

Rangers in the Greater Maya Forest, Belize wear the donated uniforms.

About Patagonia

Patagonia, Inc., based in Ventura, California, is a leading designer and retailer of core outdoor, alpine, fly fishing, snow, surf and sport-related apparel, equipment, footwear and accessories. The company is recognized internationally for its commitment to authentic product quality and environmental activism, contributing over $55 million in grants and in-kind donations to date, incorporating environmental responsibility into product development, marketing and its global advocacy.

About Thin Green Line

The Thin Green Line Foundation Protects Nature’s Protectors by providing vital support to Park Rangers and their communities who are the front-line of conservation. TGL work predominantly in developing nations and conflict zones, and with Indigenous Park Rangers within Australia and abroad. TGL is the only organization solely dedicated to providing Rangers worldwide with the assistance they deserve and need. As the official charity arm of the International Ranger Federation, TGL has unparalleled access and a global network to support Rangers worldwide.

Thank You from GC Projects around the world:

AMERICAS

• Mirador National Park, Guatemala
• Sierra Del Divisor National Park, Peru
• La Amistad World Heritage, Costa Rica & Panama
• Greater Belize Maya Forest, Belize
• Darien National Park, Panama
• Los Katios National Park, Colombia

ASIA

• Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park, Myanmar
• Cardamoms National Park, Cambodia 
• DaMal World Heritage, Sabah Borneo, Malaysia
• Leuser Ecosystem, Sumatra, Indonesia
• Thung Yai - Huai Kha Khaeng UNESCO World Heritage, Thailand

AFRICA and EUROPE

• Dja World Heritage, Cameroon
• Mana Pools World Heritage, Zimbabwe
• Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda
• Carpathian National Park, Ukraine
• Borjormi National Park, Republic of Georgia
• Bardiya-Banke National Park, Nepal

Film Script: Protecting The Last Intact Forests and Wildlife Habitats of Asia 

Asia is losing the last of its major intact forests and wildlife habitats... very fast. Massive population growth has led to the destruction of 95% of Asia’s wildlife and 80% of their habitats. Global Conservation is focused on saving the last 5% of Asia’s intact tropical forests.

Cambodia has lost over 80% of its forests in the past 20 years.  The last tiger was seen in 1990, and now less than 500 elephants survive, mostly in the Cardamoms.

Global Conservation is supporting Global Park Defense deployment by Wildlife Alliance, which has recently secured over $40 million in long-term Carbon Offset REDD+ financing, making Cardamoms financially sustainable in its battle against deforestation and wildlife poaching.

Global Park Defense delivers the technology, systems and training needed to stop wildlife poaching and illegal logging.

The island of Borneo is one of the most breathtaking and biodiverse places on our planet. In the Heart of Borneo, Global Conservation funded the establishment of the DaMaI Rainforest Complex, creating a new park authority to prevent illegal logging and arrest poachers. 

DaMaI PROTECT teams are deploying Global Park Defense systems including SMART Patrols, Cellular Trailcams, and a unified command for all forestry and protection teams saving the last intact forests and wildlife habitat for the top five megafauna in Malaysia.

Leuser Ecosystem is the last place on earth where rhinos, elephants, tigers and orangutans coexist in the world. Today, less than 300 tigers and 100 rhino survive here.

Global Conservation funds the protection work of FKL fighting against illegal palm oil expansion and wildlife poaching. Working with our Partners like Rainforest Trust which has purchased over $3 million in critical habitats, we fund SMART Patrols and road and trail surveillance to stop poachers from hunting in Leuser, who are using snares which cause the painful deaths of Asia’s most treasured animals.

The single largest threat to Leuser is deforestation. In the past, illegal palm oil plantations burned down large swaths of jungle destroying critical wildlife habitats for elephant and orangutan like Tripa Swamp. Today, annual deforestation in Leuser has declined by 80% since we started our work.

Working to protect Thap Lan World Heritage, Global Conservation funded a five year program to stop all Rosewood poaching in the national park, resulting in over 1,000 arrests.  Today, the Rosewood Wars are over and few illegal loggers enter the park due to its strong security and risk of arrest.

Monitoring the park with over 120 Cellular Trailcams for 24/7 surveillance, Thai Rangers are able to directly target illegal loggers in the thick jungles, and now are seeing the results with new sightings of Indochinese Tigers in the national park for the first time.

Saving the last major forests and wildlife habitats in Asia is critical to the survival of all species, including our own. The recent COVID Pandemic shows how humans can suffer with wildlife and its habitats are unprotected.

Help us protect the Intact Forests and Wildlife Habitats of Asia. Support Global Conservation.

Introduction 

On March 1, 2022, Global Conservation led a second mission for further assessment of Los Katíos National Park, Colombia. Director of South America, Margoth Quispe, met with Officials of Colombia National Parks, where a commitment was made to sign an MOU and deploy and test initial steps of Global Park Defense for effectiveness in Los Katíos. Global Conservation will assist in protection against illegal logging, land clearing, and wildlife poaching within the park, as well as economic development for surrounding local communities.

Los Katíos lies on the southeastern edge of the Darién Gap, the thickly forested area on the border between Colombia and Panama that is infamous for its lawlessness. This region has long suffered from violence between the Colombian government, paramilitary armies, and guerilla forces (like FARC and ELN); neglect of the local communities by the faraway Colombian government; and intensive illegal activities, such as drug and human trafficking.

Although the Colombian Civil War has smoldered on continuously since 1964, Colombia has been far safer and more welcoming for international visitors since the early 2000s. 

Once off-limits to tourists, the formerly FARC-controlled northwestern corner of the country is now ripe for tourism and eager for international support for protecting its natural treasures. And these treasures are many: Colombia has 1,826 bird species, the highest diversity of any country on the planet.

3,500 orchid species also occur here, and in the past ten years, the government has almost tripled the area of officially protected lands, from 13 million hectares in 2010 to 38 million hectares in 2018, with plans to continue expanding protected areas in the next year. 

Los Katíos is the only protected area in this part of Colombia, a refuge for species that may otherwise go extinct. It sprawls across 72,000 hectares of forests and wetlands and shares a border with the 575,000-hectare Darién National Park in Panama. Because of its biogeographical position on the southern end of the Isthmus of Panama, the Darién’s dense forests have filtered the exchange of plants and animals between South and Central America.

Populations were stranded and isolated on the Darién’s mountaintops as sea levels rose and fell, resulting in an astonishing number of endemic species, found nowhere else in the world. One in every five plants here is unique to the Darién. Thousands of species of animals and plants likely remain undiscovered, shrouded by the thick jungle.

Bisecting Los Katíos is the Atrato River, the wellspring for a number of important and biodiverse wetlands. The park’s diverse habitats – from hilly forests to low-lying floodplains – offer an incredible wealth of plant and animal species. Los Katíos is a birder’s paradise, containing 450 bird species – or 25% of all bird species of Colombia – in just 1% of its area, including endemics like the grey-headed chachalaca (Ortalis cinereiceps).

The park also contains some of the highest diversities of amphibians, reptiles, and freshwater fish in the world. Other notable wildlife includes capybaras, ocelots, giant anteaters, howler monkeys, harpy eagles, caimans, American crocodiles, and jaguars. In fact, the Chocó-Darién region, where Los Katíos lies, has been identified as one of seven places in the world with the greatest potential to sustain jaguar populations in the long term.

Scouting Mission to Los Katíos

In March 2021, we went on a mission to Los Katíos to determine the potential for a Global Park Defense Program to protect against illegal land clearing, logging, and hunting. The Park is accessed by river via the small town of Turbo, where the park office is located. It takes about 3 hours from Turbo via the Atrato River to reach the Main Ranger Field Base in Suatata. Here’s what we discovered:

Primary threats to Los Katíos

1.     Poaching.

Mammals are poached inside Los Katíos, primarily for food. Bird poaching is an issue both for sale and consumption. Two endemic turtle species, the Colombian slider turtle and the critically endangered Magdalena river turtle, are hunted for consumption by setting fires to drive the animals into certain areas.

In addition to threatening the turtles themselves, this practice often results in out-of-control forest fires that may burn many hectares. However, this is a difficult practice to halt, as turtle hunting is deeply rooted in the cultures of this region.

Tumaradó, fishing village at the edge of Los Katíos.

2.     Illegal fishing.

Fish are usually sold in Turbo. In some cases, families are allowed up to 5 nets, which when set in succession can span 750 meters. Because overfishing has severely depleted fish stocks in the area, this method is sometimes necessary just to meet their daily legal quota, and is no longer a sustainable, year-round source of income for some communities.

3.     Illegal Logging.

Though Colombia has maintained about 50% of its natural forest cover, making up 6% of the world’s forests, deforestation is a major problem. 20-40% of total timber production in Colombia is illegal. One cubic meter of legally extracted wood can cost $375.00. The same volume of illegally extracted wood costs around $200.00.

Much of the large-scale timber is extracted using false permits and sent to markets in China. Smaller operations use the many waterways to float logs out. Two recent military checkpoints in the communities have detoured some of the large-scale commercial operations. Reviving two damaged remote outposts on the Cacarica River could increase arrests for illegal logging. Already, most mahogany trees have been removed from the Darién region.

4.     Burning.

Fires have been an increasing threat recently in Los Katíos. Unnatural fires can mostly be attributed to two causes: burning to clear the land for cultivation, and fires set to drive out turtles and other wildlife to the riverbank for poaching.

5.     Poverty.

This is a major driver of environmental degradation, especially amongst the Afro-Colombian fishing communities within the park and the surrounding area. These communities lack basic resources. The only source of income is fishing, and the competition is fierce. A dwindling fish population, due to overfishing as well as an old dam put in place many years ago for a logging operation, has had an extremely adverse effect on local fishing communities.

They lack the means and resources to produce clean drinking water, so all drinking water is store-bought bottled water brought in via boat from Turbo. They have no real means for recycling or waste disposal, so much of the plastic and waste ends up either burned or in the river. There is limited cell service and no internet access.

The constant burden of poverty makes communities vulnerable to resorting to illegal activity for survival. The absence of basic resources and assistance causes a lack of trust, among some communities, in government and NGOs due to a lack of programs or early program abandonment.

6.     Development and land-use change.

The Pan-American Highway has long loomed over the Darién region as a potential ecological disaster. The Darién “Gap” is so named because it is a gap in this highway, and the completion of this section has been shelved several times due to environmental concerns.

However, some interests continue to push for its construction. When the highway was extended south in Panama in recent decades, deforestation spread like wildfire along both sides of the road. If this project were to move forward, it would inevitably result in high levels of deforestation, the fragmentation of this vast block of forest, and the invasion of potentially ecologically harmful species, like the coyote, which has thus far been blocked from spreading into South America by the dense Darién forests.

Economic Opportunities

Potential for Carbon for Forests Financing

As part of this pilot, Global Conservation aims to secure adjacent high-biodiversity lands to nearly double the national park's size, while developing Carbon for Forests financing for long-term, sustained park and wildlife protection. This will be similar to the $6 million secured from Shell Oil for Cardamom  World Heritage Site to protect 6,450,000 hectares of critical wildlife and elephant habitat in Cambodia.

Tourist lodging in Tumaradó.

Ecotourism

Tourism is viable though challenging, and currently nonexistent. However, there is great potential. The new Director General of Colombia National Parks is focused on increasing tourism. 

Several local communities understand the importance of conserving their natural resources and are eager to find alternative means of supporting their economies. The communities of Tumaradò and Puente Amèrica, located along the edge of the protected area, have an established relationship with the parks department and welcome support in building tourism. 

One of the hurdles will be how to ensure financial benefits to the communities for ecotourism.

Potential ecotourism opportunities:

1. Lagoons. There are 3 beautiful lagoons that could be a great location for a floating lodge and bungalow design, ideal for bird watching. 
2. Day trips for Bird Watching. Another option is to run day trips out of Turbo. You would need to scout locations for potential Viewing Structures or Floating Platforms and purchase a couple of boats to shuttle tourists. 
3. Ecolodge at the Main Base site. There is enough land here to build a small ecolodge. There are also a few existing outbuildings that could be remodeled or possibly added on to make an ecolodge. There is a trail just steps away that leads to amazing waterfalls and swimming holes. The trail needs maintenance but is wide enough to support ATV’s, UTV’s, and possibly a small transport vehicle.
4. Existing Community Lodges. There was a program with the EU that provided an ecolodge structure, remote internet, and a small solar power system, but the project has since been terminated and neither the solar nor internet is currently functioning in either community. This option would involve remodeling and improving existing lodging facilities. 

However, the greatest obstacle to protecting Los Katíos and developing tourism is the existence of coca production and cartel operations deep within park boundaries, bolstered by government corruption. While cartel activity is currently contained in undeveloped and unpatrolled areas, rangers keep their distance for fear of retaliation; cartel members are militarized while rangers are not.

GC will assist in strengthening communications between park rangers and the military for effective response against cartel threats. The military has bases directly across and near multiple ranger posts. The potential for rangers to pressure cartel operations out of Los Katíos with the aid of the military will be further assessed after the initial trial of GPD in the next two years.

First Steps in Launching Global Park Defense

1. Meeting with Park Directors

GC Director of South America, Margaret Quispe, discussing park needs with Director-General Orlando Molano.

Global Conservation’s Director of South America, Margoth Quispe, discussed the mutual conservation goals with Officials from National Parks, Colombia. Global Conservation’s role and capacity to aid the park were outlined, and a commitment to sign a formal Memorandum of Understand to test initial steps of GPD within Los Katios was made, with the official signing to be held in April of this year.

GC team and parks officials.

2. Equipment Donation

To take patrolling to the next step, Global Conservation delivered the following equipment to the Los Katíos team in the first round of donations on March 1st:

• 2 Garmin GPS radio units
• 6 Blackview cell phones and 2 computers for SMART patrolling
• Noncellular camera traps to gather data on scarcely patrolled areas
• Binoculars
• A new generator for the main base (Sautata)
• Motorized Blade Trimmer for maintaining trails

Donated equipment.

3. Training

Global Conservation was happy to find that the National Parks Department is a step ahead and already trained in and utilizing SMART software in their patrols.  We will continue to aid in refining the platform to best suit Los Katíos individual needs as more data is collected on high threat areas using the newly donated equipment.

Rangers will be further trained to best utilize the software and will expand their recording area from only within park boundaries to further include observations made outside of the park while commuting between Turbo and Los Katíos.  

Park rangers using SMART patrolling in the field.

4. Understanding Community Needs

Global Conservation and Head of Protected Areas, Nancy Murillo, met with local communities Tumaradò (Unguia, Choco) and Puente Amèrica (Riosucio Choco) and their leaders to better understand their needs and to forge relationships for future work in developing eco-tourism. 

Elias Valoyes, community leader and legal representative of Tumaradó.

Next Steps:

• Use Garmin InReach to mark cell coverage boundaries
• Set Camera traps around Peye, Palon, and Limón to gather information about traffic in the area to modify patrol routes
• Establish a boat radio or set line of comms with military and main HQ via Garmin InReach

Perancho ranger base.

Bases:

• Rehabilitate damaged base at Perancho, rebuild its water tower, and provide comms
• Clear entrance at Sautata and back trail for patrolling and tourism to the waterfalls (now possible with newly donated bladed trimmer)
• Argo Utility Vehicle would solve entrance issues immediately and allow for clearing trails
• Provide temporary Tent Base and water container at teardown location

Local children playing in the river.

Community:

• Implement a results-based reward system for information leading to arrests
• Provide a large boat and dumping fees for a clean-up day in two communities
• Reconnect satellite internet
• Provide one Garmin InReach or radio for each community
• A fishing agreement amongst the communities and the government exists and a modernized version will be signed in the coming months. Members from three communities currently assist in the regulation of fishing practices and the new agreement should bring in more regulators.

Long term goals:

• Fully deploy Global Park Defense systems, equipment and training
• Ecotourism Center with Lodging (2 star) for Birders, visitors for economic development and sustainable funding for park
• Village Improvements - Housing, School, Clinic, Sanitation
• Strengthen relationship between Rangers and Military

With Global Park Defense, the park authority and ranger teams will have increased capacity and improved effectiveness to greatly improve park and wildlife protection, law enforcement, and biodiversity monitoring. Our goal is to achieve ‘No, Cut, No Kill’ protection for the national park within 5-6 years.

Los Katíos park entrance.

A Cardamom NP ranger sets a cellular trail camera, an important piece of surveillance equipment that can alert rangers when criminals enter the park. Photo courtesy Wildlife Alliance.

Wildlife Alliance, Global Conservation’s partner in protecting Cardamom National Park in Cambodia, has secured over $10 million in long-term funding for park and wildlife protection from the sales of REDD+ VCS (Verified Carbon Standard) Carbon Credits. This marks one of the first major successes in a previously ineffective carbon offset system developed by the United Nations over 20 years ago.

The Southern Cardamom REDD+ Project (SCRP) is an initiative designed to promote climate change mitigation and adaptation, maintain biodiversity, and create alternative livelihoods under the United Nations scheme of "Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation" (REDD+). 

After the investment of millions of dollars and nearly 4 years in developing it as a REDD Project, Cardamom National Park has now secured solid funding for long-term protection through REDD++. These carbon offsets were developed by Wildlife Works, one of the world’s premier carbon project developers.

Cardamom NP rangers on patrol, protecting these priceless forests. Photo courtesy Wildlife Alliance.

The SCRP's climate benefits include the avoided emission of approximately 12 million tons CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) during this first monitoring period and over 115 billion tons CO2e over the lifetime of the project. The Project will generate substantial community and biodiversity co-benefits.

New and sustainable livelihood opportunities, such as direct employment, alternative income generating activities (IGAs) and initiatives to stimulate investment in businesses will be designed to reduce pressure on the environment while significantly increasing community well-being. Additional programs will address food security, improve health and education facilities, as well as raise environmental awareness. 

Community outreach and involvement is a critical component of Wildlife Alliance's programs in the Cardamom Mountains. Photo courtesy Wildlife Alliance.

Biodiversity co-benefits will be achieved through greater protection of the ecosystem predominantly by means of increased security and improved monitoring. The Project will also be protecting critical habitat for significant populations of many IUCN listed species, including Asian elephant, Asiatic black bear, sun bear, large spotted civet, clouded leopard, and dhole, as well as the critically endangered reptiles Siamese crocodile and Southern river terrapin.

Global Conservation has been funding field protection for Cardamom National Park in Cambodia since 2018, investing nearly $500,000 into the last major intact forests left in Southeast Asia. Protecting these forests is critical for achieving our planet’s climate goals.

GC has helped to train Cardamom NP rangers in patrolling, surveillance, and enforcement. Photo courtesy Wildlife Alliance.

Despite its global importance, uncontrolled small-scale land conversion of forest to agricultural land by migrants and conversion to agro-industrial plantations by the private sector make the Southern Cardamom region one of most threatened forest landscapes in South East Asia. Rural communities depend on small-scale agricultural production to support their livelihood. 

Deforestation is a major problem in the Greater Cardamom Mountains Rainforest Ecoregion. Photo courtesy Wildlife Alliance.

The 445,339-hectare SCRP encompasses parts of Southern Cardamom National Park and Tatai Wildlife Sanctuary, and will protect a critical part of the Cardamom Mountains Rainforest Ecoregion – one of the 200 most important locations for biodiversity conservation on the planet. Cardamoms National Park supports at least 52 species of IUCN Threatened birds, mammals, and reptiles including Siamese crocodile and one of Cambodia’s two viable populations of Asian elephant. The landscape has also been identified by the Royal Government of Cambodia as an opportunity for tiger reintroduction.

Photo courtesy Wildlife Alliance.

Wildlife Alliance has been assisting the government in the management of the Cardamom Rainforest Landscape since 2002. Global Conservation has funded Global Park Defense deployment since 2018, achieving significant protection and enforcement successes. Core Global Conservation funded activities include surveillance, park communications, ranger patrols protecting the forest and technical assistance to the government to help it implement forest protection, as well as community involvement. For more on GC projects to protect Cardamoms National Park see GC News: Cardamom National Park. 

To purchase Cardamoms VCS Certified Carbon Offsets, contact Everland.

A critical prerequisite to Global Park Defense is a park-wide communications network. Consequently, GC supported the construction of additional communications towers in Cardamom National Park. Photo courtesy Wildlife Alliance.

Cardamom Mountains National Park (CMNP) consists of a vast expanse of dense monsoon forest, melaleuca wetlands, mangroves, and a network of estuaries and rivers that course across the mountain slopes and into the Gulf of Thailand. Protecting this continuous forest canopy and the flow of water from the forest to the coast is a conservation priority for Cambodia.

This fragile forest conceals a menagerie of endangered wildlife species, including Malayan sun bears, elephants, gibbons, clouded leopards, Indian civets, banteng, dholes, gaur, and Sunda pangolins. In all, the park hosts more than 60 globally threatened animals and 17 globally threatened trees, many endemic to Cambodia. 

But despite its new protected status, illegal land clearing and wildlife poaching continue to threaten this park. Cambodia faces some of the highest deforestation rates of any country in the world: over 15% of its forest has been cleared over the past 10 years. 

Thousands of wildlife snares, which conservationists call “walls of death” for their ability to create fatal barriers to wildlife, are confiscated every year in the Cardamom region. Thankfully, Wildlife Alliance has made great progress removing those snares.

To protect this incredible ecosystem, Global Conservation has been working with Wildlife Alliance and Conservation International in Cardamom Mountains National Park. We’ve been deploying new technologies, including command and control, cellular trailcams, aerial surveillance and targeted ranger patrols for increasing the effectiveness of forest and wildlife protection. Already, our partners have made incredible progress in 2019-2020. Here are their most recent updates:

Progress: Wildlife Alliance

As of 2020, Wildlife Alliance’s Cardamom Forest Protection Program (CFPP) covers 1,309,812 hectares of directly-protected rainforest in 7 Protected Areas, one of which is Cardamom National Park.

Wildlife Alliance is the Development Partner of the Ministry of Environment (MOE) since 2001 for the protection of the Cardamom Rainforest Landscape and has supported the Ministry in the creation of a ten-station ranger force, National Park infrastructure, protection strategy, and ongoing capacity building. 

The ranger stations are working hard to counter wildlife poaching, illegal logging, forestland encroachment and commercial charcoal production. Ten ranger stations, composed of MOE Judicial Police, Royal Gendarmerie Khmer (RGK) Military Police and Wildlife Alliance civilian rangers, are on patrol every day of the year. 

Their tireless work has been effective in strengthening law enforcement, returning forestland from land grabbers to the State, and cracking down on illegal logging and poaching networks. Wildlife Alliance has supported the work of the rangers by engaging local communities in sustainable natural resource management, facilitating participatory land use planning, zoning and demarcation and working closely with the Government at all levels to ensure good governance. 

The Wildlife Alliance park protection model is holistic and addresses all the drivers of deforestation simultaneously by: 

1. Implementing law enforcement to stop poaching, illegal logging and forestland grabbing; 
2. Rescuing wildlife and providing professional care to preserve and reinforce the Cardamom wild populations; 
3. Conducting zoning and demarcation to provide local communities with clear community land and strictly protected forest boundaries; 
4. Building political will to keep the forest standing; 
5. Working with local communities to develop sustainable livelihoods that earn proper income without having to cut the forest or kill wildlife for survival. 

WA’s policy is to preserve continuous forest cover, as opposed to delineating priority biodiversity areas and allowing the rest to be developed by urban expansion, farms or mining. By protecting vast expanses of continuous forest cover, WA’s work is contributing to global planetary climate benefits by preserving the water regulation function and carbon sequestration function of the rainforest.

In 2020, WA’s rangers patrolled 193,651-km, stopped 140 land encroachment attempts, seized 5,714 logs and 1,854 m3 of timber, destroyed 25,886 illegal hunting snares, rescued 562 live animals from illegal wildlife traders, and confiscated 1,720 chainsaws and 33 heavy machineries clearing the forest. As a result of this action, WA’s ranger Judicial Police Officers filed 115 court cases against forest and wildlife criminals. 

WA’s approach has demonstrable effective conservation results: the Cardamoms are the best protected body of rainforest in Cambodia and we have significantly reduced deforestation (<0.3% annual deforestation compared to the National average of 3.8% annually between 2013 and 2018), achieved Zero Poaching of Asian Elephants since 2006, and supported the recovery of populations of ungulates and carnivores.

In Numbers: Wildlife Alliance Success in 2020

• Kilometers patrolled: 193,651
• Land encroachment attempts stopped: 140 
• Court cases submitted: 115 
• Offenders taken to court: 53 
• Fines payment cases: 253 
• Excavator/bulldozer/tractors seized: 33 
• Vehicles seized: 150 
• Number of snares removed: 25,886 
• Meters of snares removed: 31,316 
• Timber seized (cubic meters): 1,854 
• Chainsaws confiscated: 1,720 
• Guns seized: 134 
• Illegal logging camps/huts removed: 960 
• Commercial charcoal kilns removed: 146 
• Live wildlife rescued: 562 
• Dead wildlife seized: 211 

Enforcement Highlights

A WA patrol unit dismantled 1 saw mill and confiscated 4 motorbikes, 246 pieces (45m3) of log planks and 2 chainsaws. The WA teams have also halted logging operations on several other occasions, dismantling or confiscating logging trucks, sawmills, and illegal timber.

  The WA team stopped 3 machines (1 excavator, 1 drilling machine and 1 truck) and arrested 3 offenders for the illegal dynamiting of the mountain and compression digging in the mountain rock, in an area of 5.12ha inside the Conservation Biodiversity Corridor. The team brought the 3 offenders to Kampong Speu Provincial Department of Environment for legal prosecution. 

A WA patrol unit conducted a night patrol ambush. They seized three critically endangered Sunda pangolins. The offender ran away. As the pangolins were healthy, the team released the pangolins back into the wild.

A team patrolling a village confiscated 1 dead muntjac, 1 Mini-tractor, 57 snares, 4 camps, 1 homemade gun and 6 chainsaws.

A WA patrol unit confiscated 7 chainsaws, burned 11 kg wild pig meat and released 51 birds (right) back to the forest.

A patrol unit confiscated and burned 38 kg of wild pig meat, 13 kg of Muntjac meat, 8 kg of Monitor lizard meat and arrested the offenders, issuing transactional fines.

A WA patrol unit conducted an ambush patrol to crack down on poachers. The unit confiscated 72 kg of Gaur meat, already for delivery to a wildlife trader. Gaur, Bos gaurus, are on the IUCN Red List as Vulnerable. The offenders ran away. The team confiscated the meat and burnt it. However, the team kept investigating to find the offender. On August 10, 2020, the team were able to identify the identity the trader and brought her to PDoE. The trader was punished through payment of a transactional fine of $2,000.

WA patrols dismantled 51 illegal settlements. These settlements were a result of a land-grab of 1,179 hectares of forest by someone who then illegally sold it. 

A patrol unit found a dead Muntjac trapped in a snare.

They also rescued and released a live, critically endangered elongated tortoise and 5 snared live wild pigs. They removed 350 rope snares.

A patrol unit rescued and released an 80kg live Burmese Python.

Results: Global Park Defense System Unit

Global Conservation is specifically supporting a Global Park Defense System (GPDS) Unit embedded in one of CCMNP's patrol stations. In 2020, this team worked to install trail cameras, monitor key areas, and patrol to crack down on poachers, loggers, and land grabbers. 

Results in Numbers: GPDS Unit

• 266 patrols
• 19 night ambushes
• 8,818km covered on patrol
• 411 snares removed
• 120m nets removed
• 33 live wildlife rescued
• 36 homemade guns and 1 SKS carbine rifle seized
• 185 illegal logging camps dismantled
• 153 cubic meters of timber seized
• 100 logs seized
• 234 chainsaws seized
• 16 land encroachment cases stopped
• 7 pieces of heavy machinery seized
• 49 oxcarts and 17 mechanical buffalos seized
• 19 land grabbers and 17 loggers arrested with 11 court cases
• 130.41 ha deforestation stopped

Conservation International Partnership in the Central Cardamom Mountains National Park

In September 2019, we also partnered with Conservation International (CI) to launch a project in CCMNP.

Since then, CI has made great progress restructuring the management of the park. To help with this, they performed inventory assessments of ranger stations and worked with the Ministry of Environment to equip 30 rangers with essential patrolling equipment (hammocks, GPS units, boots, first aid equipment, helmets, etc.). CI also provided them with funds for fuel and food, as well as salary supplementations.

Rangers maintained their patrols during in difficult conditions during the wet season. 

CI also conducted trainings on best practices in law enforcement, on strengthening law enforcement and court cases, on patrol strategy, and on GPS and SMART patrol data collection. They also educated local communities on protected area law, so that they understand what they may and may not collect from the forest.

From October 2019 to June 2020, Cardamom rangers working with CI:

• Conducted 480 patrols across 24,605km
• Arrested 4 suspects, fined 15 people, and wrote warnings to 30 who had committed offenses in the protected area
• Confiscated 40.5 cubic meters of illegal timber, one axe, and 87 chainsaws
• Confiscated 12 air guns, one rifle, and one home-made gun
• Confiscated 12 sticks of dynamite and 4 batteries used for electro-fishing
• Removed 595 leg snare traps, 3 drift nets, and one small mammal trap
• Confiscated 3 cars, 3 carts, 18 tractors, 12 motorbikes, and 11 trucks for transporting illegal timber
• Recorded 33 hectares of illegal land encroachment
• Destroyed 29 illegal camps
• Recorded numerous signs and sightings of 12 large wildlife species

Illegal snares were removed by rangers from Thma Baing & Areng stations in Koh Kong province.

From July 2020-December 2020, CI staff continued to provide support for protected area management and law enforcement in CCMNP. With the Ministry of Environment and Provincial Department of Environment as the main implementing partners, they continued to provide technical support and oversight with the CCMNP Trust Fund providing the financial means for fuel and food costs, as well as salary supplementations for 30 rangers to patrol CCMNP from six ranger stations.