THE CAMBODIA DAILY
Friday, October 20, 2000 Vol 19 Issue 20

P12: Tiger Conservation Project Brings Help to Villagers Too
By John Gallagher, The Cambodia Daily

At first the villagers in Mondokiri province were angry at the visitors, who came to tell them they should change their way of life by no longer hunting tigers -- a practice that brings them much-needed money.
But the members of the tiger conservation project, which is part of the Wildlife Protection Office, had something to offer in return. The residents living in the remote area had not had contact with outsiders for years and wanted invormation about modern living, and the conservationists could help.
"Some of these communities have not been visited by any outside organization in 15 years," said David Smith, a member of the tiger conservation project from the University of Minnesota in the US. "One farmer said that he needed advice about birth control and help in the welfare of his animals."
In addition to teaching poachers not to hunt tigers and giving them a steady income as wildlife rangers, the tiger conservation project is also helping whole villagers by setting up the lines of communication to rural development NGOs.
"In the short term, we can help bring in some rural development NGOs to support these local communities in agriculture, animal welfare, and birth control," said Sun hean, Deputy Director at the Wildlife Protection Office.
It hasn't been easy for the conservationists to convince poachers to stop hunting when one tiger can bring in $2000. That's why the project developed a system to give both the poachers and the village as a whole incentives to stop hunting wildlife.
In the three years of its existence, the tiger conservation project has recruited more than 20 poachers who have now been trained as rangers, and has set up three regional tiger conservation offices in Koh Kong, Preah Vihear and Mondolkiri to monitor wildlife and human activity in these remote areas.
"What is important is that [the tiger conservation project] is community based," Smith said. "Previous efforts have been haphazard because the effort has come from outsiders."
The project has enough money to last the next two to five years. (sic)
Exxon Corp and the US Fish and Wildlife Service fund the project, and conservationists say after that money runs out, they will be looking to the government for help.
The long term goal is to develop the project into something economically sustainable, so it won't need outside funding.
"In the long term we would like to establish eco-tourism to sustain the local economy," Sun Hean said.
(Additional reporting by Van Roeun)