Sam Veasna Center for Wildlife Conservation

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Siem Reap Angkor, Cambodia
In Partnership with The Wildlife Conservation Society

 

Sam Veasna Center for Wildlife Conservation is a local NGO registered in 2006. Its namesake, Sam Veasna, died at the age of 33 of malaria during field work, his friends and colleagues decided to set up a centre dedicated to conservation in his memory. SVC opened in 2003 in close collaboration with Wildlife Conservation Society and local communities at their bird sites.

In partnership with Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), SVC arranges itineraries and day trips to key bird sites across Cambodia, using local information from WCS rangers to locate flagship species. Ecotourism is more than simply taking tours to view wildlife in its natural habitat, it is also a mechanism for protecting the environment and all its inhabitants. Cambodia is developing rapidly but with this development is the inevitable environmental degradation. SVC works in partnership with Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to conserve sites of unique and endemic biodiversity by creating an incentive through eco-tourism for local communities to look after their local environment.



The main objective of SVC is to provide alternative sustainable livelihoods from ecotourism for local communities linked to no hunting and land conversion agreements. SVC also use eco-tourism to generate funds that support conservation at the sites they visit.

In return for income and employment from ecotourism, WCS ensures no hunting in the villages and land use conversion agreements are honoured. SVC trains candidates to become professional bird guides; this has meant field trips with international bird experts to SVC destinations as well as customer service training back in Siem Reap. The guides themselves organise regular bird watching trips around Siem Reap which people are welcome to join.

The SVC activities to promote wildlife conservation in Cambodia include:

• Facilitating and managing ecotourism to key birding sites in Cambodia
   
• Building capacity for local communities to generate income from ecotourism
   
• Rolling out environmental education in Siem Reap to schools and visitors and at site
   
• Developing interpretive material and a resource library on environmental issues

 

Ecotourism is more than simply taking tours to view wildlife in its natural habitat, it is also a mechanism for protecting the environment and all its inhabitants. 

 

To learn more, please visit their website: http://www.samveasna.org