The tropical forests are amongst the planet’s most biodiverse ecosystems and support some of the most threatened and charismatic species on earth. The Southern Cardamoms are a critically invaluable biodiversity hotspot and host 55 threatened wildlife species and 29 forest communities.
The Southern Cardamom REDD+ project protects 497,000 hectares of tropical rainforest in South-West Cambodia which are globally significant for wildlife conservation, ecosystem servicing, and community livelihoods. The project uses global best practices of forest protection and community development to safeguard the forest.
VCS is a voluntary program where projects are issued credits known as Verified Carbon Units or VCU's, each equivalent to 1 tonne of CO2e.
The Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standards evaluate land management projects.
Tropical deforestation is one of the major drivers of carbon emissions and global climate change. Halting this deforestation could potentially contribute to over one-third of the total emissions reductions needed by 2030. The Southeast Asian rainforest and its wildlife are among the fastest-disappearing in the world, and the protection of this region is critical. Hence, this project is countering the biggest current driver of deforestation — forest clearing for land grabbing and land speculation.
The primary project activity is to stop deforestation and forest degradation. This includes these activities: