Tmat Boey
Organised by the Sam Veasna Centre as part of a larger conservation programme administered by the Wildlife Conservation Society, a project at Tmatboey, a village 45 kilometres north of Preah Vihear City, has helped conserve numerous of Cambodia’s endangered and critically endangered bird species.
Tmat Boey is an isolated village located in Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary in the Northern Plains of Cambodia. It is the site of a unique community ecotourism project established by the Ministry of Environment and the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Cambodia Program. The Tmat Boey Ibis Project aims to directly link bird-watching tourism, bird conservation and community development. The site supports globally important breeding populations of two critically endangered Ibis species: the Giant Ibis and the White-shouldered Ibis.
Tmat Boey eco-lodges for birdwatching
Originally set up to protect two key species, 42 are now implicated in the project, including the Giant Ibis - Cambodia’s national bird - plus the white-shouldered ibis, crested serpent eagles, great-necked storks, rufous winged buzzards, green peafowl, and many more. Thanks to funding raised by bird watching tours and ongoing work with the community with the support of government ministries, the numbers for these birds are rising year on year. In a world that seems hellbent on hurtling headlong into destruction of species and environments, this is comforting news.
Giant Ibis in Tmat Boey
Moreover, the project is increasingly community led, and villagers cooperate with one another to ensure that even those not directly involved in the program benefit to the benefit of the birds. Sometimes this may mean paying a landowner not to cut down a particular tree that is used for nesting, at others people are paid to report on new sightings and new locations of the birds. This helps to keep people involved, aware and to spread ownership of the interest in protecting the birds and the habitat on which they depend. Around the village, rice fields give way to grasslands, open plains and dipterocarp forest that used to cover most of lowland Cambodia.
