Raise Awareness to Protect Wildlife in Cambodia

On August 20th, a transboundary reforestation event hosted by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) took place in Banteay Chhmar Province in Cambodia. To inaugurate this historic project, local Thai and Cambodian officials and community members gathered to plant over 2,000 saplings of native trees to improve watershed function of this critical ecosystem. At the invitation of Freeland Foundation, Wildlife Alliance’s Kouprey Express Mobile Environmental Education and Community Outreach Project was invited to attend this important transboundary event.

The governor of Banteay Meanchey asked the Kouprey Express team to conduct an interactive Q&A session with the approximately 514 audience members. The team engaged the audience with games and lessons that demonstrated the importance of environmental protection in a fun and non-threatening manner – which was especially important as logging by Cambodians in Thailand is a sensitive issue. The team also brought their attention-grabbing costumes to add some excitement to the event. The team’s environmental message was well received by the audience, and highlighted in IUCN Thailand’s recent newsletter. Kouprey Express’s project coordinator, Ying Horn was quoted as saying, “The rangers physically cannot cover such a large area. Therefore, community protection of the forests is vital. It is far more likely for a villager to be able to spot an instance of wildlife poaching and all they would have to do is call a hotline, following which rangers will be able to close in on the location and arrest the perpetrators.”

We are honored to be included in this event, and excited by the positive response of the community and local officials. The Governor even asked the team to return to do more activities as he greatly supports the Kouprey Express’s environmental outreach efforts.

Thank you for helping the Kouprey Express continue to raise awareness and create lasting change in Cambodia! Your gift is making a difference in improving attitudes about forests and wildlife conservation in Asia.

The Kouprey Express works to not only educate students about conservation issues, but also raise awareness in the general public. This dedicated team uses community workshops, PSA’s and billboards to inform the general public about wildlife laws. They also attend meetings between various entities to promote regional cooperation in Asia.

In July, our Mobile Environmental Education Project Manager, Amy Van Nice attended an Asia's Regional Response to Endangered Species Trafficking (ARREST) Partners' meeting in Thailand. This informative session provided valuable insight into the important work being done to combat wildlife trafficking in other Asian countries. Sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and in partnership with Freeland Foundation, ARREST works to promote regional cooperation and halt the illegal trafficking of endangered species.

The meeting resulted in greater cooperation with Thailand, and Thai Police plan to visit the Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team and the Southern Cardamom Forest Protection Program to learn more about our effective wildlife and timber trafficking methods. The Kouprey Express education team will also prepare to present at an outreach event for border communities to help train Thai staff, so that similar environmental education can be done in Thailand. The Partner’s meeting was a very productive session, and we look forward to working together to increase capacity building and coordination on wildlife trafficking operations and investigations.

This program also allows us to produce large scale public outreach efforts to address the supply and demand driving the illegal wildlife trade, as well as educate the public about the steps they can take to protect wildlife in Cambodia. One such effort is the installation of major billboard signs promoting an anti-wildlife trafficking message. In June, the Kouprey Express installed four large double-sided overhead billboard signs along key national highways. These signs make it clear to the public that obtaining wildlife products is illegal, as well as promotes our 24-hour nationwide wildlife rescue hotline for citizens to report wildlife crime. We would like to give a special thanks to Gowri Shankar, who kindly provided the images of the king cobra for the billboard.

Education is vital to ending the demand for illegal wildlife products, as well as promoting conservation in poor countries like Cambodia. Thank you for supporting this important project!