Why are we working in Cambodia?

Annette Olsson, one of the founders of Furget-Me-Not, has been working in Cambodia for Conservation International for many years, so it seemed like a sensible place to start!  She was already running the Cambodia Otter Conservation Project, and had discovered a population of Hairy-Nosed Otters was still surviving in Cambodia.

Cambodia is home to a diverse array of wildlife. There are 212 mammal species, 536 bird species, 240 reptile species, 850 freshwater fish species (Tonlé Sap Lake area), and 435 marine fish species.  Its forests are the second largest and most intact in southeast Asia and still hold many surprises and discoveries.

Many of the country's species are recognized by the IUCN or World Conservation Union as threatened, endangered, or critically endangered due to deforestation and habitat destruction, poaching, the illegal wildlife trade, and farming, fishing, and forestry concessions.

Cambodian wildlife is threatened by heavy domestic and international demand for rare species. Poorly enforced hunting laws, rampant deforestation, and millions of deadly land mines left from decades of civil war are also serious dangers.

Cambodia contains four otter species, the highest number of otter species for any country in the world, and is home to the hairy-nosed otter, the world's rarest otter species, recently thought to be extinct. Cambodia's otters were hunted but not protected, and were totally overlooked by the government and conservation community. Now, thanks to Annette's work, they are on the national list of protected species, we are finding out where the different otter species occur in Cambodia, we located the world's largest population of the hairy-nosed otter, and a dedicated team of Cambodian field biologists are conducting field surveys and work with local communities to protect otters in the wild.