With an MSc in Biodiversity Conservation and a background in plant science, Sarah is keen to get people excited about botanical conservation.
The Cardamom Mountains landscape stretches across 10,000 km2 of south-west Cambodia. A globally recognised biodiversity hotspot, the landscape harbours a remarkable diversity of species including Asian elephants, Siamese crocodiles, bears and gaur (the world’s largest bovine). Still relatively unexplored, this landscape has many secrets left to reveal, and new species are regularly discovered by biologists surveying its forests.
Fauna & Flora International has been working in Cambodia for over 20 years, supporting the government’s conservation work and partnering with NGOs and communities to help preserve the country’s remarkable, yet threatened, biodiversity.
One way we can learn more about the biodiversity of the Cardamom Mountains is to deploy camera traps. These cameras provide unique insights into the lives of the species living in this relatively unexplored landscape, providing crucial information that can help us understand how species are faring in light of growing threats, including widespread habitat loss and snaring for bushmeat.
Our latest camera trap surveys offer a privileged glimpse of the daily habits of the elusive sun bear. Now extinct across much of their former range, sun bears are officially categorised as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, but are clinging on in the Cardamom Mountains. Poaching for their body parts and industrial-scale deforestation are contributing to the species’ continued decline, but, through our landscape- and national-level work, we are addressing illegal snaring and protecting habitat for the sun bear and countless other species, including Asian elephants and Siamese crocodiles.
Take a look at our recent camera trap findings:
An exponential rise in demand for products such as ivory and rhino horn is decimating biodiversity and threatening species with extinction. Learn more about our approach to combat the illegal trade.
Cambodia is one of the most biodiverse countries in Southeast Asia, with as many as 8,260 plant species and more than 250 species of amphibian and reptile, 874 fish species and over 500 bird species.
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