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Welcome to Cambodia

Introduction to Cambodia

Cambodia (181,035 km2), the smallest country in Indochina, is situated between Thailand to the west, Viet Nam to the east, and Lao PDR to the north. Cambodia is a country rich in culture, history and politics, and biodiversity. With its recent emergence from nearly 30 years of conflict, Cambodia is struggling to rebuild many of the economic, social, and physical foundations of the country. More than four fifths of the people still live in the rural environment and the poverty remains a significant challenge. The highest priority of the Government is to alleviate the poverty within Cambodia's population through economic progress and social development.

Basic geophysical description
Cambodia's varied topography and hydrology account for its rich biological diversity. The topography is dominated in the east by the western slope of the Annamite mountain chain and in the southwest by the isolated highlands of the Elephant and Cardamom mountains. Forests are the most dominant vegetation, covering approximately 55% of the country. Wetlands cover 30% of the land area as Cambodia lies within the plains and valley of the Mekong and Chao Phraya Rivers. The Mekong River and its tributaries and the large Tonle Sap Lake (the largest freshwater lake in southeast Asia) dominate the hydrology of the country.

Statement on the environmental context
In contrast to neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam, Cambodia has very low human population density, a relatively high proportion of undeveloped land (forest, wetlands) and one of the least disturbed coastlines in the world. Cambodia's ecosystems - forests, wetlands, freshwaters, and marine waters - provide rural Cambodia with its main source of income. Despite their importance, ecosystems are degraded and species are threatened due to conversion of wetlands and forests for agricultural use, poor land-use planning, weak regulatory enforcement, uncertainties in land tenure, hunting and wildlife trading.

The operational context
Cambodia is still recovering from almost three decades of civil war. Consequently, natural resource management and wildlife conservation are still in their infancy. The institutional problems include an insufficient legal structure, a lack of technical capacity, a lack of financial resources, and a lack of data on which to make informed land management decisions. Today, if all forms of conservation area were totaled (national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, forest reserves, etc.), the country has 27% of its land area set aside for some form of biodiversity conservation. Cambodia's conservation challenge for the 21st Century is to produce an effective conservation network that is integrated with the country's pressing development priorities.

What are the key government policies in biodiversity, where are donors active, what international conventions is Cambodia signatory to
Cambodia's commitment to environmental protection has been demonstrated by a number of significant legal measures to prevent pollution, habitat damage and to protect wildlife, including the creation of the Environmental Secretariat in 1993, the enactment in 1996 of the "Law on Environmental Protection and Natural Resource Management" creating a full fledged Ministry of Environment and the adoption of a National Environmental Action Plan in 1998. The National Assembly has also ratified several international conventions related to the environment including: The Convention on Biological Diversity, The Climate Change Convention, The Ramsar Convention, CITES, The World Heritage Convention and the Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin. The donor community is diversity in scope and origin. Funds come from a variety of organisations, unilateral and multilateral agencies and governments.

Why is BirdLife working in Cambodia?
Cambodia supports a number of large, relatively intact natural landscapes that have existed, until very recently, with minimal impacts from humans. For example, the Srepok River in northeastern Cambodia represents the largest undisturbed riverine forest ecosystem in Southeast Asia. Due to the loss of lowland forests and seasonally inundated grasslands throughout the Indochina region, the forests of

Cambodia remains notably rich in biodiversity. It is the only country in southeast Asia that still has extensive undeveloped wetlands and dry dipterocarp forests, and healthy populations of large waterbirds. The most notable of these are the Giant Ibis Pseudibis gigantea and White-shouldered Ibis Pseudibis davisoni, the former of which is now virtually confined to Cambodia, and the country is also a stronghold for Greater Adjutant Leptoptilos dubius, Spot-billed Pelican Pelecanus philippensis, and Bengal Florican Houbaropsis bengalensis. Cambodia has some of the healthiest populations of vultures in southeast Asia and the extensive undisturbed moist forests in the Cardamom mountains are the stronghold of the endemic Chestnut-headed partridge Arborophila cambodiana.

The BirdLife Cambodia Programme Office was established following the publication of the "Directory of Important Bird Areas in Cambodia - Key Sites for Conservation" (2003). This publication aims to detail those areas in Cambodia that are internationally important for the conservation of birds and biodiversity. Most of these sites lie outside of the national protected areas system and as such are vulnerable to competing development interests. Moreover, relevant Government agencies currently lack the institutional capacity and political leverage to properly manage these protected areas and cannot take on the responsibility of managing additional sites. By working collaboratively with partner NGOs, relevant government institutions, and local communities, BirdLife International is working to build a foundation for conservation amongst local stakeholders and within government. The goal is to inform, support, and empower local stakeholders so that biodiversity conservation remains a high priority in land-use planning and natural resource management processes. By bringing the significant technical expertise and global experience of the BirdLife International network, we hope to make a significant contribution toward the long-term conservation of Cambodia's rich natural resource heritage.

How many EBAs, how many IBAs, how many GT species?
There are no EBAs wholly within Cambodia. The Secondary EBA Area ("Thailand-Cambodia mountains", s085) includes the mountains of south-east Thailand and the Cardamom and Elephant mountains in south-west Cambodia. It is defined by the range of the threatened Chestnut-headed Partridge Arborophila cambodiana, classified as Vulnerable, which is found in evergreen forest above 700 m. A secondary area is an area that supports one or more restricted-range bird species, but does not qualify as an Endemic Bird Area because fewer than two species are entirely confined to it. Cambodia currently has 40 IBAs and a total of 22 Globally Threatened species.

What are governments constraints on further support to biodiversity?
Cambodia's government institutions are relatively young and still continuing to develop the capacity to institute and enforce legislation. Constraints include:
1. Limited knowledge, skill and experience among officers and staff in government institutions.
2. Existing laws are not well implemented due to political influence, uncontrolled development, wealthy people's interests and technical constraints.
3. Due to shared responsibilities among ministries, there exists a great degree of management overlap and conflict between and among the responsible authorities.
4. The lack of funds from both internal and external sources for provinces and municipalities prevents the ministries and other agencies from fulfilling their mandates.

What is state of civil society?
The civil working environment in Cambodia is encouragingly free of government restrictions and interference. The immediate benefit is that this has created an atmosphere where conservation and environment NGOs are relatively free to work throughout the country and initiate a great diversity of projects. The long-term concern is the government's ability and commitment to assuming a conservation role. At present, there are a large number of international conservation and development/aid organisations with projects throughout the country. Local NGOs are a relatively new phenomenon but have been growing in popularity and cover all aspects of social and environmental issues.

Current Programme
In following with BirdLife International's global conservation approach, the Cambodia Programme has prioritised its activities around four principal themes, species, sites, habitats, and people. A significant proportion of the most important areas for birds (and other wildlife) in Cambodia are wetlands, either those within the Tonle Sap and Mekong Floodplains or those within the dry forest landscape across northern Cambodia. As such, the natural landscape of Cambodia has greatly shaped the activities and priorities of this Programme Office. Our activities are also guided by the country's existing protected area system. Currently, many of the country's IBAs are outside of protected areas and therefore do not have appropriate legal protection. Conservation priority is given to those sites that have no legal protection or that have little or no existing conservation presence.

Cambodia has 22 Globally threatened bird species of which 4 are critically endangered. These 4 species, Giant Ibis Pseudibis gigantea, White-shouldered Ibis Pseudibis davisoni, Slender-billed Vulture Gyps tenuirostris, and White-rumped Vulture Gyps benganlensis are all focal species for on-going conservation activities.

An overarching emphasis of this Programme is the direct involvement and close cooperation with local communities and the appropriate legal authorities. This Programme recognises that successful long-term conservation requires the commitment and capability of the local people in and around the conservation area.

The Cambodia Programme has three sites where activities have been underway since 2003. Boeung Prek Lapouv and Kampong Trach IBAs in southeast Cambodia are seasonally inundated wetlands that are the country's second and third largest non-breeding sites for the Eastern Sarus Crane Grus antigone sharpii. This Programme has established Site Support Groups made up of local community members, district and military police, and provincial forestry officers. Conservation activities include conducting bird surveys and monitoring, illegal activity prevention (hunting, grass burning, etc.), and community education and outreach. Boeung Prek Lapouv is currently proposed by the Forestry Administration as a Sarus Crane Conservation Area.

Western Siem Pang in north-east Cambodia is exceptional given its biological diversity, low population density, and relatively undisturbed condition. All 4 of Cambodia's critically endangered bird species are found in this IBA. Conservation activities are similar to most areas in Cambodia, focusing on biological surveys and monitoring, community education and capacity building, and illegal activity prevention. Due to this IBA's large area, there are currently three Site Support Groups working to further conservation. Western Siem Pang is also the current focal area for the Programme's vulture conservation activities.

In addition to continuing the activities already underway, this Programme is in the process developing partnerships and initiating similar activities in the inundated grassland IBAs around Tonle Sap Lake and along the riparian habitats of the Mekong tributaries.

In partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Cambodia BirdLife Programme is developing a conservation action plan to manage and protect the country's vulture populations. These species are undergoing devastating population crashes in South Asia and consequently the Cambodian populations are becoming increasingly important.