Raise Awareness to Protect Wildlife in Cambodia

In order to strengthen its cross-border efforts, the Kouprey Express (KE) mobile environmental education team conducted wildlife protection lessons with 624 (298 female) students in two primary schools along the Cambodia-Thai border. After classroom lessons and activities in the morning, we planted 32 trees in the compound of the Phnom Proek school in the pouring rain. The school director along with teachers and students helped us dig holes and provided tools and other materials we needed to plant those trees. The KE team also conducted teacher training on climate change adaptation, waste and sanitation management, and biodiversity conservation. This will allow the conservation education in the border communities to continue after Kouprey Express's visit. 

Later in the month, the KE team provided wildlife and habitat protection lessons to 559 (310 female) students from 4 core schools in Kampong Speu province. This area has been a hotspot for wildlife trafficking and has been a focus of our Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team's investigations and recent busts. The WRRT, managed and supported by Wildlife Alliance, is a unit dedicated solely to cracking down on wildlife crime and the illegal wildlife trade. The KE’s outreach initiative in the areas the WRRT have been frequenting is complementing the ongoing efforts by the WRRT and augmenting the efforts to mitigate wildlife trafficking. In addition to classroom lessons, the KE team brought 670 students and teachers from schools in the area to visit Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center to meet animals that were victims of the wildlife trade and give them a memorable experience to complement their conservation lessons from the previous week. 

Thank you for helping us spread conservation awareness in Southeast Asia. Your support is helping bolster long-term behavioral changes and empowering the next generation of conservationists. 

The Kouprey Express Mobile Environmental Education Unit (KE) delivers environmental curricula to educate schoolchildren, teachers, and communities about conservation. The team was invited by Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to their project site in Keo Seima district, Mondulkiri province to disseminate environmental education, focusing on snaring and wildlife/habitat conservation. Snares are the greatest threat facing wildlife biodiversity in Southeast Asia and are extremely prevalent in Cambodian forests, even in protected areas. Over the course of a week, the KE held interactive lessons about the importance of wildlife conservation to 517 (261 female) students at seven schools; Srae Chhouk, Hun Sen Keo Seima, O’chra, Pu Cha, Gati, Pu Hiam primary schools and O’ Am secondary school.

The team also cunduted a Community Night Show that approximately 320 local people attended. In addition, the weather cooperated so we were able to conduct a CNS with approximately 320 local people. Community Night Shows are fun and engaging events that focus on the illegal wildlife trade, the importance of protecting forests and biodiversity, and Cambodia’s wildlife laws. These shows are designed for families and give community members the opportunity to learn and also share their ideas on how to protect their communities’ natural resources.

Thank you for helping the Kouprey Express raise awareness about the pitfalls of poaching in remote villages in Cambodia.