NEW VIDEO: Elephant on the Road

As previously reported, elephant sightings in the Southern Cardamoms have been on the rise in the past several months.  In January, an adolescent male began appearing every day on an access road to a sugar cane plantation.  The situation between the elephant and the workers escalated and remained tense for two weeks, while Wildlife Alliance forest patrollers managed the situation and protected the elephant.  For a detailed report, check out January’s newsletter and for previous reports on elephant sightings, click here and here.  Watch the video below to see how and why this elephant visited the road every day and the fantastic job our forest patrollers did in moderating this tense situation.

52 Weeks to Save the Cardamoms: Suwanna's Blog--Week 3

This is a series in which Suwanna Gauntlett, Founder and CEO of Wildlife Alliance, tries to push forward new legislation that will provide protection for 1 million acres of rainforest in the Southern Cardamoms. We are now in our third week out of 52 weeks.

Suwanna presents a magazine to the Vice Prime Minister with maps and photos that highlight the urgent need for the new Protected Forest legislation After debates between pro-development and pro-conservation agencies reached a screeching halt last week, it seems that the idea of a new Protected Forest is facing greater obstacles than anticipated.  The project could even be indefinitely delayed…. if we don’t find greater leverage to move it forward.

We absolutely need a breakthrough to get us over this difficult situation.  Resistance to the proposed sub-decree has come mainly from the pro-development Licensing Office.

I have become quite familiar with this agency over the past years.  I know the officers, I am accustomed to their economic justifications for converting rainforest to agro-industrial plantations and I have witnessed over time an unwavering drive to process commercial requests. But nevertheless, there is mutual respect. They know me well, they see me as a strong woman and they let me carry on with my activities to keep the rainforest standing.  But now a page has been turned and we are all in a new, tenser situation. We have proposed Protected Forest legislation.  Future economic gains are at stake. If a protection sub-decree were to be passed, no more requests for rainforest land would be allowed, depriving some people from hefty revenues. The fight is going to be different now….

That’s why it is crucial to find a way as soon as possible to rally support from someone above the Licensing Office.  But who?  We focused on this issue completely for an entire day with the whole Southern Cardamom program team. We started brainstorming and problem-solving right after the agencies’ debate had ended last week.  We had a deck of cards in our hands that we had not yet fully analyzed: 33 requests for land in the Southern Cardamoms by large-scale industrial companies over the last 9 years had been either avoided, rejected, reduced or their permits cancelled.  At Wildlife Alliance we had written our share of letters and taken our share of meetings with government officials to prevent these companies from coming into the Cardamoms and destroying vast stretches of rainforest. At all levels of government, officers had weighed in, putting time and effort to over the years to disallow unjustifiable permits in the middle of “dense evergreen forest”  that would also damage the hydrology system of the watershed.

So, the team reviewed one by one all of the 33 requests for Southern Cardamom rainforest land that had been submitted by commercial companies since 2004. We looked at whether the applications had been submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries or to the Council of Ministers or directly to the Prime Minister’s cabinet. We tried to recall who exactly had worked on these cases and had been instrumental in obtaining rejection of those company requests. We listed all the officers that had played a key role and had been influential over the years. In this process, we found that the highest ranking and most forthcoming official had been the Vice Prime Minister. Could he be the person that we were searching for?  Would he have the power and the drive to make things happen and move the idea of a new Protected Forest towards approval? Whatever happened, we had to try.

So we immediately contacted the Vice Prime Minister’s cabinet and requested a meeting to present the proposed legislation. Obtaining time for an appointment at this level of government can sometimes take months but we prepared to be ready within just a few days.  The team and I carefully planned our presentation strategy on how to present the topic by making the message the most compelling and creating the most positive impression - while at the same time remaining brief.

I was delighted to receive confirmation of our appointment from the cabinet just five days after we placed our request.  His Excellency welcomed us the very next day and the meeting was cordial and upbeat. We started by reminiscing about his visit to the Southern Cardamoms last year, where we had visited the titanium mine site together and reviewed the community economic development projects in Chi Phat.  At that point, I presented to His Excellency’s our request for support and along with beautiful photos of waterfalls, rivers and wildlife, showed him the maps in the magazine that we had prepared for him. This helped to visually describe the high economic and conservation value of the proposed Protected Forest area: 

• forest watershed map with river catchments and hundreds of headwaters directly supplying 7 hydropower plants;  
• Southwest Elephant Corridor map;  
• endangered endemic wildlife species map;  
• REDD+ map. 

The Vice Prime Minister seemed pleased to hear about this new protection initiative. He agreed that protecting the rainforest in the sub-decree area is of strategic importance to the country’s economy.  He assured me that he would provide strong support.  He asked me to send him a formal letter requesting intervention, after which he would send letters to the relevant ministers. I was really happy about the positive outcome of the discussion and felt re-energized when His Excellency expressed his genuine, earnest support. 

The main point of my presentation: That it is urgent to provide Protected Forest status to the Southern Cardamoms in order to stop the current trend of allocating long stretches of forest to other industrial uses (large-scale plantations).  If this new sub-decree is not implemented and the forest continues to shrink, then this could reduce rainfall and water supply to the 16 hydropower plants currently under construction in the Cardamom Mountain range.  Of those, 7 hydropower projects are located inside the section that does not yet have legal protection.  Since the total electricity generation is anticipated to meet 25% of the country’s electricity needs, it is then of strategic economic importance for the country to ensure that no more forest is cleared. That is why it makes good economic sense to quickly pass the new legislation.

Love Letters for the Kouprey Express

After a recent trip to the Chi Phat Primary School by the Kouprey Express, the team received 13 ‘love’ letters from students.  So enthralled by their experience, the kids felt compelled to express their gratitude to the team for helping them learn about animal welfare and the environment.  As the bus drove out of town, several of the kids ran behind the bus waving and cheering.  It is immensely gratifying to team in specific and the whole of Wildlife Alliance to know that we are making a positive impact in the lives of these children while teaching them to preserve Cambodia’s natural heritage.  Below are a few of the letters:

Teacher I really don’t want you to leave because I love and miss you very much when i learned with you it made me very happy and feel very comfortable. From me, the person who love and miss you very much. Han Thorn, Grade 4 

Teacher I really don’t want to get away from you because and love and miss you very much, we want you to teach us again. From me, Tong Yi, Grade 4

 To help the Kouprey Express continue their work with children and communities throughout Koh Kong Province and Phnom Penh, click here.

NEW VIDEO: Plant a Forest in 2012!

Looking for something to do to help the environment in this new year?  Help Wildlife Alliance plant a forest in 2012!  Our Reforestation program aims to plant 1.9 million trees in an effort to reconnect fragmented rainforest in the Southern Cardamom Mountain Range.  Creating this continuous forest cover preserves the watershed for this region and protects large mammal ranges.  In 2012, 400,000 trees over 425 hectares of forestland is due to be planted and the 500 hectares we’ve already planted will be maintained as the trees mature from seedlings to major forest growth.  Members of the local community work in our Million Tree Nursery collecting seeds, preparing and cultivating seedlings, and then when the time is right, head out to the planting fields and plant trees over formerly destroyed, but newly enriched, forestland.  But we need the support of donors like you to realize these goals.  Watch the video below to see how we are working to regrow forests in the tropical belt and how you can help!

52 Weeks to Save the Cardamoms: Suwanna's Blog--Week 2

This is a special series in which Suwanna Gauntlett, Founder and CEO of Wildlife Alliance, details the process of securing legislation to provide protection for 1 million acres of rainforest in the Southern Cardamoms by the end of 2012.

I spent the entire week in meetings negotiating with the government. We have now entered the first phase of drafting the legislation: shaping the initial agreement on the map and boundaries for the new proposed Protected Forest.  The agency that is in charge of making the initial decision on the map is the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.  This ministry has legal jurisdiction over the area.  All of the departments within the ministry must first agree on the map before the legislation can be drafted.

I knew that obtaining any agreement within the ministry was going to be a difficult task, since different offices have different agendas. As I anticipated, negotiations proved to be tense and stressful.  Opposing factions presented their position again and again but could not agree. At one end of the table, Forestry Administration officers took a very strong position, proposing Protected Forest status and vehemently defending the boundaries presented on the map. At the other end of the table, representatives from the land licensing office had a pro-development agenda and were trying to cut out pieces of the forest to earmark for agro-industrial plantations.  My role was to advise the meeting participants about the real situation on the ground.  When discussions became heated, the Chair would turn to me and ask: “Could Wildlife Alliance please show us the satellite photos and data for this specific section of forest?” Then I’d present technical maps and data on how forest cover in that area provided key watershed and water supply for one of the hydropower facilities. To support this data, I used several excerpts from the Prime Minister’s speech last month at the Atai hydropower plant opening ceremony, where he ordered this forest to be preserved for electricity production.  But I became increasingly frustrated because even this order from the Head of State did not seem to have a great affect on the licensing officers and their position remained the same.

To keep my calm during the meetings, I had to remind myself of another long negotiation process undertaken years ago by Wildlife Alliance, starting in 2003.  We worked with all levels of provincial government and the local people to provide exact boundaries for the rainforest along the newly constructed freeway 48.  We facilitated endless meetings to negotiate clear delineation of land for 5 main communities and for over 500 kilometers of forest borders. We installed hundreds of cement demarcation posts to show strictly protected forest zones. Every single post had to be signed off by four agencies! It was long and tedious, but very successful in the end. 

By the end of the week, negotiations came to a grinding stand still and the decision making process was completely “stuck.”  I knew that I needed help, help from somewhere to move this process forward.  Obviously, the only help that could be effective in this situation is at the top. I rarely do this.  And it’s not always politically correct to go directly to the top.  But, however daunting, I must strengthen my resolve and be bold enough to ask.  Please join me next week as I request meetings with high level officials who have been defenders of the Southern Cardamoms in the past.  Let’s see if they are willing to take a stance once again and to provide a push for this new Protected Forest.

52 Weeks to Save the Cardamoms: Suwanna's Blog--Week 1

Our biggest challenge ever: to obtain legal protection for 1 million acres of rainforest

As founder and CEO of Wildlife Alliance, I am fighting to protect the Cardamom Mountains: a critical rainforest that stands as one of Asia’s last elephant corridors, holds one of Southeast Asia’s most important watersheds and is home to some of the world’s most extraordinary and endangered species. This has been my fight since the day I arrived in Cambodia over 10 years ago.  Now, in my 11^th year here, the final piece of the puzzle is nearly within reach: one final piece of legislation that would preserve this amazing eco-system for future generations.  Join me this year in my fight to get this legislation on the books: to Save the Cardamoms in 52 Weeks.

Together with our ranger patrol teams on the ground, I have put my life on the line for more than ten years to fight for these two million acres of jungle and the people and wild animals who call the Cardamoms home. Day after day, rescuing wildlife, stopping traffickers, providing sustainable livelihoods to former poachers and loggers, reforesting land that was slashed and burned, Wildlife Alliance has saved one of Asia’s last seven elephant corridors—at least for now. 

On patrol with our forest ranger team

Our biggest challenge is directly ahead: only half of these two million acres has legal status as a national park or protected forest.  Protection for the remaining one million acres must be granted this year to stop industry from gaining land concessions in the Cardamoms. We have just submitted this request to the government and we are finally on track to start drafting this critical legislation.  However, success depends on acceptance by many ministries and departments in which individuals surely have private interests that conflict with this legislation.  Will we be able to put the missing piece of the puzzle in place—legislation that keeps industry from bulldozing one million acres of the elephant corridor?

The elephant corridor is a large piece of prime real estate and everyone wants a piece of it—private companies most of all!  Last year, we were able to obtain the cancellation of a massive titanium mine that was planned right in the middle of the Cardamoms.  This mine would have stripped thousands of acres of rainforest, decimated wildlife habitat and destroyed entire villages’ livelihoods.

Overruling the titanium mine was a great victory but requests for forestland never stop: 6 Chinese companies followed shortly behind requesting licenses to bulldoze 170,000 acres of forestland for industrial plantations, followed by an Australian company seeking to establish a 13,000 acre banana plantation and just last week 3 other companies requested another 93,000 acres for sugar cane. Without legal protection for the Cardamoms, we will continue to take two steps forward and one step back. 

Corporations are eating up tropical rainforests everywhere, in the Amazon, the Congo basin, and in other countries in Southeast Asia. Our tropical rainforests are being systematically destroyed. This is causing drought and diminished rainfall, not only in these specific locations, but worldwide. Wildlife Alliance must get this legislation passed and preserve as much tropical rainforest as possible before it is too late.

In Cambodia to date, we’ve been able to obtain the cancellation of 33 corporate requests for industrial crops and mining licenses, and have stopped thousands of uncontrolled grabbing attempts on rainforest land.  This means that we have directly stopped the bulldozing of rainforest twice the size of Yellowstone Park!  With all of these private interests stacked against us, this last piece of the puzzle will undoubtedly be the hardest.  But if we don’t try, what could be lost might come at too high a cost for us all.  That’s what Wildlife Alliance is all about: getting the job done despite the odds. Who said saving a rainforest was impossible?  Join me here each week as I fight to Save the Cardamoms in 52 Weeks.

Happy Holidays from Wildlife Alliance

Click through to watch a holiday greeting from Wildlife Alliance!

An Interview with Chi Phat CBET Deputy Chief

Marnet, right, with her sister In November, two members of the Chi Phat CBET Committee were able to travel to Japan to attend a training for young leaders in the tourism industry in Cambodia.  The Japan International Cooperation Agency provides aid and support to promote economic and social development in developing countries.  Thanks in part to support from Transat and JICA, CBET Deputy Chief, Ms. Min Marnet was able to participate in the JICA training and learn new strategies for improving operations back in Chi Phat.  She came back with ideas on how to improve the existing waste management system as well as the development of traditional handicraft enterprises in the village.  It’s truly amazing to think how becoming a member of the CBET has transformed her life in only a few short years.

Before joining CBET, Marnet was a student who often had to skip school in order to help her parents harvest rice at their small farm or to collect fruit from the jungle.  Her family’s income was $20 per month.  Marnet chose to become involved with the CBET because the income her family made on rice farming was not enough.  She was unable to continue her studies because she needed to work to help her family.  Starting as a mountain bike guide and working her way to CBET Committee Deputy Chief, she now averages $120 per month on her own.  Marnet explains, “The CBET controls the forest and wildlife.  With my CBET income, I don’t need to go into the forest anymore to collect fruit.  I bring more income to the family which means my parents do not need to continue illegal slash-and-burn farming, but have enough income with their small paddy field.”  She also recognizes what CBET does for her community at large: “CBET develops the village; it helps people have jobs and get more income; it protects natural resources.  Without trees around Chi Phat, the weather will just get hotter and hotter.”  Best of all, working at the CBET has provided her opportunities she never would have had otherwise.  It allows her to practice English and work to fulfill her dream of one day attending university.  It has already allowed her the opportunity to travel to a foreign country.  And through this fantastic opportunity, she has been able to increase her knowledge and training and improve the CBET for its visitors and for Chi Phat community members.  To learn more about the CBET project, click here, and to help Marnet and the rest of the CBET committee achieve these improvements, click here.

NEW VIDEO: Wildlife Rescue at a Floating Zoo

The Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team works throughout Cambodia to prevent the illegal trade and trafficking of wildlife.  This usually means patrolling roads, raiding markets, and policing border towns.  Yet, it sometimes also means rescuing animals from unsafe conditions, even if they are not in danger of being trafficked.  Recently, Wildlife Alliance received a tip that several animals were being held inhumanely and put on display at a floating zoo on Tonle Sap Lake near Siem Reap.  The WRRT raided the zoo, rescued the animals which included long-tailed macaques, civets, various species of birds, pythons, and a leopard cat, and brought them to Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center to be rehabilitated and cared for by their able team of veterinarians.  See the unit in action below and click here to support their efforts to eradicate wildlife trafficking throughout Southeast Asia.

NEW VIDEO: On Patrol with Stung Proat Station Rangers

Everyday our forest protection teams are out on the rivers and roads, and trekking through the deep forest of the Southern Cardamoms patrolling for signs of wildlife poaching, logging, and other illegal activities.  Wildlife Alliance has six patrol stations scattered across the area and each station has teams patrolling day and night for offenders.  Our presence there has cut down illegal activities considerably, but unfortunately offenders persist.

The Stung Proat station is located at the intersection of two major rivers, making it ideally situated to monitor trafficking.  Patrollers there apprehended a logger and confiscated nearly 300 kilos of rosewood…but it wasn’t as easy as it sounds.  Station supervisor Kaspars Cekotins tells the tale:

“It was a regular day at the station towards the end of October when I decided to go on patrol with my daytime team just after 2pm.  One of my two teams was on monthly leave so I only had 5 military police (MP) at the station.  Leaving 2 MPs on duty, I set out by boat with 3 MPs and turned up the Stung Proat River.  Offenders have informants throughout the area so they always know when one of the teams is off on leave and can expect fewer patrols.  This was probably why only 15 minutes after our departure, we saw 4 small boats loaded with rosewood heading in our direction.

First, I tried blocking them on the river but they noticed how few men we had in the boat so they tried to outpace us in their smaller boats.  I swung the boat around and gave chase.  The boats with smaller pieces of wood were throwing the pieces overboard to lose weight and elude capture.  These people know the river very well so even though it was high tide, they dropped it in the areas they know to be most shallow so they could come back and retrieve it. 

After only 40 seconds, I was close enough to touch the nearest boat.  Even though I already had a grip on the boat, the driver refused to stop and continued to try to escape, so I stepped into the boat and dragged him over to our vessel.  I asked one of the MPs to quickly handcuff him and then drive his boat to shore so we could go after the rest of the boats.  Another 2 minutes and we were almost to the second boat.  At that moment, the offender realized he couldn’t escape us and he steered the boat to shore and ran into the forest leaving the boat with the wood behind.

Meanwhile, I called the MPs at the station and asked them to get out on the speedboat and stop the rest of the boats as they passed.  Unfortunately, by the time the other 2 boats arrived, they had ditched all their wood and appeared as normal boats when we searched them.  Cambodian law dictates that a logger or poacher must be caught red-handed with the illegal material on them in order to be arrested so we had to let them go.

Despite this disappointment, we had captured 2 of the 4 boats and 1 of the offenders, so it was not a total loss.  We returned to the station to document the evidence.  Only when we got back did we realize that the first boat had not returned as we thought.  When being dragged off the boat, the offender managed to let some water into the boat.  Already heavy with wood, the boat sank into 4 meters (over 12 feet) of water.  With night coming on quickly, we had to figure out how we were going to retrieve the evidence from the bottom of the river.  We managed to get the boat and a bag with a 2 kilo snake but all the rosewood and the boat engine remained underwater.

The only thing we had going for us was that nobody but us knew exactly where the boat sank so I ordered all traffic halted on Stung Proat River.  I knew the offenders would return to look for the sunken wood.  At first light, around 5am the next day, we went to retrieve the wood from the riverbed.  Since the tide was low, we could clearly see all the pieces that had been thrown overboard lying in the shallow parts of the river.   After picking up the rosewood from the shallow areas, we came to the location where the boat had sunk.  Even though it was low tide, we still had to dive nearly 3.5 meters (approx. 10 feet) to get to the bottom.  This boat had been carrying the biggest pieces (some weighing nearly 50 kg), so we dove down with a rope, tied it around each piece and pulled them up into the boat.  After 3 hours of diving, we recovered 270 kilos of rosewood and the sunken boat engine.

Later that day, we saw a lot of “fishermen” setting up their nets in the area and looking for the wood.  Yet, there was none to be found after our very successful patrol.”

To learn more about this patrol and the activities of the patrollers at our Stung Proat Station, check out the video and to help our forest protection teams with their vital work preserving Cambodia’s natural heritage, click here.

NEW VIDEO: Elephants in Danger

Wildlife Alliance’s mission of direct action on the ground means that we can respond unequivocally and immediately when incidents occur in the rainforest.  As we reported two weeks ago, there have been several elephant sightings in villages in the Southern Cardamoms.  Now there have been ten confirmed sightings in the last month—historically, this is not a typical occurrence.  And now, elephants are being sighted every couple of days.  A large tusker damaged a home in the Prek Tanoung area.  The house owner had lived there for 33 years and had never encountered an elephant.  Several days later, a group of loggers came across a herd of five elephants in Kirirom 2.  The increasing numbers of elephant sightings are cause for concern.  Not only does it indicate active deforestation in the elephant corridor, but it means the chance of elephant killings is rising exponentially.  Check out the video to see how Wildlife Alliance is tackling the situation through increased patrols, the installation of camera traps, and a heightened presence in the area.  Wildlife Alliance addresses both deforestation and the protection of animals in the Southern Cardamom Mountain Range.  Our efforts over the last ten years have kept much of the illegal activity in the area at bay.  But it is clear that our work is never done.  Now more than ever we need your help to maintain and grow our activities on the ground.  Click here to see our original reporting on this issue and click here to see how you can help.

Wildlife Alliance on the Today Show!

Watch a great video of Chhouk, our elephant with a prosthetic leg, and interview with Care for Rescued Wildlife Program Director, Nick Marx, that aired on the Today Show on November 4, 2011.

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