Footage of elephants in Cambodia raises hopes for Asian species in the wild

Rare footage of an elephant herd roaming through Cambodia’s biggest forest sanctuary has signalled the success of a 14-year conservation programme and raised hopes for the endangered species’ survival.

The camera trap footage, taken in the spectacular and remote Cardamom mountains, shows 12 elephants, including young, grazing and lumbering through the forest.

Conservation International released the footage on Friday as it launched a trust fund that aims to secure long-term funding for the scheme in one of south-east Asia’s most biodiverse areas.

“That several young are here indicates that the elephants are reproducing, which we think is a good sign that their environment is stable and they are not under stress,” said David Emmett, CI senior vice president for the Asia-Pacific.

Emmett said the footage, taken a few months ago, was the first time so many elephants had been captured on film in the Cardamoms, which is home to about one third of Cambodia’s endangered and rare species.

“For there to be so many in the area is therefore a great sign that the protected forest programme is working at scale,” he said.

The Cambodian government established a protected forest in the Cardamoms with the support of CI in 2002, covering roughly 400,000 hectares (one million acres) of pristine land in the remote south-west of the country.

While vast areas of forest have since been illegally logged in Cambodia and elsewhere in the region since then, the conservation efforts in the Cardamoms have been regarded as a success.

Forests in the protected area declined by 2% between 2006 and 2012, compared with 15% in areas immediately outside it, according to CI, citing an independent study.

read more: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/15/footage-of-elephants-in-cambodia-raises-hopes-for-asian-species-in-the-wild