Environmental & Conservation News: Cambodia
23 May 2008
Mekong dolphin population is in danger!
WWF’s dolphin population surveys* conducted in April-May 2007 in partnership with the Cambodian government’s Fisheries Administration and World Conservation Society resulted in an estimated abundance of 71 dolphins with a range of 66 to 86 dolphins (at the 95% CI). Alarmingly, the mortality rate of calves has continued to increase since 2005 where 9 young died from a total recorded dead of 14, 16 from 19 in 2006 and 11 from 13 in 2007. According to Richard Zanre, WWF’s Freshwater Conservation Programme Manager, this is a serious problem threatening the survival of this critically endangered species. » Read more
23 May 2008
US Ambassador visits Eastern Plains of Cambodia
For the first time since the US government began its support of conservation work in the Cambodian Eastern Plains Dry Forest, a senior US government delegation saw for themselves how their investments have been used to support a wide range of conservation activities. US Ambassador Joseph A. Mussomeli, US Embassy staff, together with a group of Cambodian journalists, spent three days in March with WWF’s project staff and field rangers in the heart of the Dry Forests in Mondulkiri province. » Read more
23 May 2008
Another area in the Cambodian Mekong region under environmental protection
A 55-km section of the Mekong River in Kratie and Stung Treng provinces, northeast Cambodia, has been proposed as a ‘special management site’ because of its high biodiversity values. The site was nominated by agencies from provinces and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). This result came from a two-day meeting in February 2008 in Kratie, attended by many government representatives from MAFF’s Fisheries and Forestry Administrations, Environment, Tourism, Land Management, and the Kratie and Stung Treng Governor’s offices, and supported by WWF. In the same meeting, official support was also given for a protected area in Prek Prasob district, Kratie Province, to save an endangered animal, the Hog Deer. The Fisheries and Forestry Administrations and WWF are working closely to follow up these positive results. » Read more
23 May 2008
First community fishery election in eastern Cambodia
Indigenous community members living along the Srepok river in Koh Myeul Leu and Koh Myeul Krom villages, Koh Ngek district, Mondulkiri province, joined for the first time the community fishery vote, organized in March jointly by Fisheries Administration, Local Authority and WWF, to elect their peers to take the role and responsibility of the newly established ‘Sen Kanha Community Fishery Committee’. » Read more
23 May 2008
Learning by seeing
27 representatives of Senate and National Assembly and Ministry of Environment joined the WWF’s Cambodian Mekong Dolphin Conservation Project (CMDCP) team in a boat ride on the Mekong at Kampi dolphin site in Kratie province to get an understanding of dolphin situation and conservation work. It was a study tour with the topic of ‘Environmental Law and Policy’ organized in early April by Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAF) as part of the cooperation between the Parliament of Cambodia and the German Center for International Migration (CIM). » Read more
04 Apr 2008
Preliminary population abundance estimate for the Mekong dolphin in 2007
Our research found that as at the end of May 2007 the preliminary population abundance estimate for the Mekong dolphin was between 66 and 86 dolphins, with a best estimate of 71 dolphins. Further population surveys and careful monitoring of mortalities will be conducted to increase our confidence in the number of dolphins remaining in the Mekong in Cambodia and southern Laos.
» Read more
29 Mar 2008
Vietnam province redefines hydropower development
On the eve of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Summit in Vientiane, Mr Nguyen Duc Hai, the Chairman of Quang Nam Provincial People’s Committee, has taken a bold and visionary stance for sustainable dam development in this Vietnam province. WWF, the global conservation organization, says this sends a timely and powerful signal to regional leaders as they seek to manage the pressing challenges of rapid infrastructure development and economic growth in a sustainable way. » Read more
30 Jan 2008
Cambodian conservation work – not just a man’s world
By Porny You
Women are working as hard and sweating as much as the men in WWF conservation programs in remote areas of Cambodia.
In WWF-Cambodia’s Srepok Wilderness Area Project (SWAP), in the country’s eastern plains, Khmer, foreign and local indigenous Phnong women play a vital role in preserving the Mondulkiri Protected Forest (MPF). » Read more
26 Jan 2008
The wild of Cambodian dry forests
It was inside the Cambodian dry forests where Sophoan, Porny, Soeun and Asnarith, all from WWF Cambodia’s head office, spent four nights in early December to participate in a team building workshop, organized annually by the Srepok Wilderness Area Project (SWAP) this time at its Mreuch headquarter, as they respectively gave presentations about WWF and financial policy and guidelines, and in particular to see for themselves the beauty of the unique Cambodian dry forests and the magnificent wildlife it harbors. The forests are located in the east of the country in Mondulkiri province and are one of the WWF’s important protected areas, called Mondulkiri Protected Forest (MPF). » Read more
