Restoring Cambodia’s threatened flooded forest trees

Restoring Cambodia’s threatened flooded forest trees

Partner: Conservation International (CI)
Years: 2025-2027

Floodplains are amongst the world’s most threatened ecosystems. And those of the Cambodian Mekong River and Tonle Sap Lake are no exceptions, suffering from agricultural expansion, wildfire, invasive species, hydrological alternation and climate change. Conservation International is conserving and restoring six globally threatened floodplain tree species, with another 36 tree species expected to benefit from this project.

Since 2010, Conservation International has been working with local communities to conserve and restore high conservation value freshwater ecosystems in Cambodia. This project is part of their Cambodia’s Freshwater Programme.
The long-term goal is to restore and protect large and threatened trees of Cambodia’s degraded flooded forests around Tonle Sap Lake and beyond. To do so, the project will (i) conduct field surveys and document threatened species abundance and distribution in Cambodia; (ii) measure the threats these trees face and prioritize trees for community lead protection of 500 ha of the highest value threatened trees; (iii) engage with community partners to grow and plant 21,800 threatened tree seedlings; and (iv) build community capacity to protect at least 500 hectares of priority tree sites.
The targeted species which benefit from conservation action include Homalium brevidens (EN), Garcinia cochinchinensis (EN), Terminalia cambodiana (VU), Terminalia rivularis (VU), Hydnocarpus annamensis (VU), and Crudia zeylanica (CR).