Partnerships Link Population, Health,
and Environmental Interventions
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Young children from the Chumnoab commune.
Source: Conservation International/Wayne McCallum |
For millennia, the jungle-clad slopes of the Cardamom Mountains of
southwest Cambodia have provided a home for animals and people.
Globally threatened species such as the Siamese crocodile, Asian
elephant, and tiger have dwelled alongside the indigenous Khmer
Daeum population, whose culture and beliefs have remained intact
through war and genocide. Today, however, this balance is under
mounting strain as rising levels of forest destruction and wildlife hunting
threaten to undermine the natural and indigenous values of the region.
Behind this process, internal population growth, the absence of reliable
health services, and the associated vulnerability of local livelihoods
have emerged as key drivers in this downward spiral of change.
In response to this, the U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID) supported the work of Conservation International (CI), in
partnership with CARE Cambodia, to create strategies reducing and
mitigating the effects of these threats on the environment. USAID and
CI entered into partnerships with various local agencies to deliver family
planning, reproductive and general health services, and livelihood support
and educational outreach to the Cardamoms. The area chosen for these
activities – the district of Thma Bang – is a key location where population
growth and human vulnerability threaten to overwhelm a range of
significant biodiversity values.
The range of activities covered by the program has been extensive.
- On the population and health side, the promotion of voluntary birth spacing, antenatal and postnatal care, support of a health post and outreach services, and an emergency referral system are the lead activities.
- On the livelihood side, community mapping, the restoration of derelict rice paddies, and the supply of water buffalo are the key initiatives.
- On the Education side, a prominent endeavor has been the production of a 24-minute film, The Cardamoms: Have Forest, Have Life. Designed for local audiences, the film informs about the uniqueness of the Cardamom environment, its relevance to rural well-being, and the efforts being made to harmonize its protection with indigenous livelihood needs.
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| Villagers and Program staff working in the field to develop a community map for the Chumnoab commune. Source: Conservation International/ Wayne McCallum |
Together, the above set of activities has combined neatly to address some of the key population, health, and
environment (PHE) factors generating biodiversity decline and human vulnerability in the Chumnoab commune,
one of five that make up the program’s target area. Other initiatives have been integrated into the program to
build on these efforts, such as engaging villagers in the other five communes through Participatory Land Use
Planning exercises designed to increase community decisionmaking and ownership over natural resources.
An important part of this initiative has been a participatory community mapping project that has sought to secure
village rights over commune lands, balanced with the development of rules and responsibilities for the management
of high-biodiversity areas. This has included the drafting of special community regulations to protect one of the
last global populations of wild Siamese crocodile, which resides within a river and series of small lakes found
inside the commune.
The approaches adopted in Chumnoab have been followed, with variations to suit their local contexts, across
the other five communes in the Thma Bang area. Collectively, they have yielded significant positive change
in the livelihoods of over 3,000 people, including improvements in health care provision, family planning, and
agricultural options. These improvements, in turn, have reduced some of the major drivers of biodiversity decline
in this ecologically rich portion of Southeast Asia, as well as the threats they pose to the region’s unique
indigenous culture. Further, village support for the agreements has generated additional support from the district
governor for the program’s activities across the entire target area, benefiting both PHE and the wider activities
of the program.
January 2008
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