About Wild earth allies

Wild Earth Allies joins forces with talented partners to protect wildlife and habitats in culturally appropriate ways.

Our natural world faces unprecedented threats from rapid development and habitat loss, illegal wildlife trade, and a changing climate. We believe conservation challenges are most successfully addressed at the local level, in cooperation with people who depend on natural resources for their own well-being.

We select our initiatives with great care, looking for genuine opportunities to catalyze change and turn the tide of wildlife and habitat loss. Our vision is a world where healthy ecosystems sustain us all.

Cambodia Program

Our Cambodia program is led by Goldman Environmental Prize winner and National Geographic Explorer Tuy Sereivathana (Vathana), who is building on 20+ years of successful community-based Asian elephant conservation. Vathana’s holistic approach combines ecological monitoring and research of key elephant populations; improving habitat management; reducing human-elephant conflicts and improving livelihoods in rural communities who share land with elephants and other important wildlife.

We work in two of Cambodia’s globally significant forests, Prey Lang and the Cardamoms. Prey Lang is home to more than 55 threatened wildlife species, including the endangered Asian elephant, a keystone species essential for ecosystem health. This landscape is also home to Indigenous Kuy communities, whose livelihoods and culture are intimately connected to the forest. The Cardamoms host Cambodia’s largest elephant population, estimated at 250 individuals, and are key to broader regional recovery of this endangered species. Elephants are threatened by unsustainable forest management and human-elephant conflict.

We are implementing targeted actions so that Asian elephants and other threatened wildlife species flourish in healthy forest ecosystems that also sustain traditional livelihoods and regional prosperity. Together with community and government partners, we focus on the following key project components: elephant monitoring, research and protection; forest habitat protection; conservation education; and protected area management.