The project lies on the southwestern edge of the Prey Long Wildlife Sanctuary (PLWS) in central Cambodia, one of the largest remaining areas of lowland evergreen forest in Cambodia, forming part of the Indo-Burma Hotspot, one of the world’s 34 biodiversity hotspots

Uncontrolled small-scale forest conversion to agricultural land by migrants and conversion to agro-industrial plantations by the private sector make the area one of most threatened forest landscapes in Cambodia

The project area (PA) is 66,645 ha

Project accounting area (PAA) is 41,196 ha (62% of PA) and it is the forested area where the carbon accounting takes place, with carbon units only created out of the PAA, not the entire PA

Project zone (PZ) provides a 5 km buffer around the PAA

All villages in this area influence PAA land-use and increasing population increases deforestation drivers

Deforestation drivers include high demand for new agricultural and cash-crop land, illegal logging, fuel gathering and charcoal production

Key to the project is reducing forest clearing and logging by local communities, and improving villagers’ livelihoods so as to reduce the overall pressure on the forest

Sustainability benefits beyond carbon include:

• creating additional employment opportunities and increasing long-term employment by expanding community ranger force
• support local business development by the long-term practice of local liquid resin and wild honey collection, and improving the value of these non-timber forest products to local collectors
• enhancement of technical skills to implement intensive agriculture and supporting private sector investment in agricultural businesses in order to create and market deforestation-free commodities
• improved farming techniques of local communities, alternative sources of income and livelihoods, enhanced food security
• improving and strengthening the social infrastructure between provincial government and local communities, and enhancing local participation and management of forest resources
• support for improvements to community health care system and development of clean energy for the local communities
• protection of corridor connecting viable populations of threatened species with large home ranges (e.g. clouded leopard, dhole and bear)
• provides a buffer for the Prey Long Wildlife Sanctuary, an extremely rare example of lowland evergreen tropical forest that contains an abundance of globally threatened species

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Information about the project has been sourced from the publicly available documents provided here:

https://registry.verra.org/app/projectDetail/VCS/1689

All images are either representative stock images, images supplied by the project, or sourced from the Verra VCS Project Database