The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a US non-profit, tax-exempt, private organization established in 1895 and based in New York, that saves wildlife and wild places by understanding critical issues, crafting science-based solutions, and taking conservation actions that benefit nature and humanity. With more than a century of experience, long-term commitments in dozens of landscapes, presence in more than 60 nations, and experience helping to establish over 150 protected areas across the globe, WCS has amassed biological knowledge, cultural understanding and partnerships to ensure that wild places and wildlife thrive alongside local communities. The WCS Country Program in Cambodia, is a relatively large, vibrant program with long-term programs in four major forested and/or wetland landscapes: Eastern Plains (Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary), Northern Plains, Major Rivers, and Tonle Sap.

In partnership with the Ministry of Environment, WCS implements Keo Seima REDD+ Project aiming to reduce carbon emissions by preventing deforestation and promoting sustainable forest management. Our efforts have been instrumental in generating Verified Emission Reductions - or carbon credits – sold to corporations and individuals committed to offsetting their emissions. But REDD+ goes beyond carbon storage. It embodies community-based conservation, focusing on the Indigenous and local communities whose livelihoods are intertwined with the forest. Nearly 25,000 people live on the edge of or inside the protected area, many of them ethnic Bunong. Dropped out schools for Indigenous Students were high at the high education1. One of the key components of the Keo Seima REDD+ project strategy is providing opportunities to students for higher education which contributes to livelihood improvement of local communities and sustainable forest management.