Conserving Threatened Trees in Cambodia’s Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary

Conserving Threatened Trees and Critical Habitat in Cambodia’s Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary

Partner: Wild Earth Allies
Years: 2024-2027

Wild Earth Allies (WEA) is conserving threatened tree species in Cambodia’s Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary so that healthy forest ecosystems support thriving wildlife populations and sustainable livelihoods of Indigenous Kuy communities. Through this project, natural habitats will be restored using a mix of seeds collected from threatened trees, but also from elephant dung, and from trees that are part of the pileated gibbon’s diet.

Dalbergia cochinchinensis

The Prey Lang landscape is one of the largest remaining areas of lowland evergreen forests in the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot. Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary (PLWS), a protected area representing the forest’s ecological core, contains vitally important biodiversity including several globally threatened tree species of significant ecological and cultural value, such as the Siamese rosewood (Dalbergia cochinchinensis), Burmese rosewood (Dalbergia bariensis), and an endangered species in the Dipterocarpaceae family (Anisoptera costata). This forest is also home to Indigenous Kuy communities, whose livelihoods and culture are intimately connected to the forest. However, Prey Lang faces intense pressures from deforestation, illegal logging, and unsustainable land-use practices.
In response, Wild Earth Allies (WEA), together with community and government partners, has developed a project to: (i) identify, assess, and map threatened tree species in priority areas of PLWS; (ii) design a monitoring program to track population phenology, recruitment trends, health, and distribution; (iii) integrate threatened trees into conservation zoning and habitat management; and (iv) restore degraded habitats using seeds collected from threatened trees, from elephant dung (WEA has identified 80 plant species eaten by elephants as part of a diet study) and from trees that have been identified in the diet of pileated gibbon. In complement to core botanical and restoration work funded by Fondation Franklinia, WEA also integrates work with Indigenous Kuy communities on sustainable livelihoods, supported with matching donor contributions.