Cambodia's natural habitats and wildlife are facing growing pressures as the country strives to recover from many years of conflict. The Kouprey Express mobile environmental education unit complements programs that tackle the illegal trade in wildlife and protect remaining forests and is proving to be effective in raising awareness of wildlife and habitat conservation. This Wildlife Alliance program also helps rural communities to develop more sustainable livelihoods. Zoos Victoria has supported this initiative since 2004.

The Program Focus

This program aims to increase awareness of nature and wildlife, and actively engage rural communities in:
• Wildlife conservation
• Habitat protection
• Pollution prevention
• Sustainable livelihoods in the southern Cardamom Mountains in south-west Cambodia

Working with the government, local communities and rural schools, Wildlife Alliance also aims to increase the capacity of Cambodian society to protect their own wildlife into the future.

The Conservation Issue

Villagers and school children in rural Cambodia live in close proximity to threatened wildlife, biologically diverse habitats, and forests and river ecosystems of global importance. Yet they lack understanding of their natural environment, and even skilled and dedicated teachers lack access to basic educational material and curricula to disseminate messages about living in harmony with nature. In the rural areas of the country, such understanding and awareness is vital to support the habitat and wildlife protection programs being implemented by wildlife agencies.

The Royal Cambodian Government, through its Minister of the Environment, has recognised it is time to build environmental awareness by moving to ‘increased skills and practical application of [environmental] knowledge through positive environmental behaviour’. Wildlife Alliance has been working with the Kouprey Express program since 2005 to achieve this goal, and evaluation has shown a 20% increase in environmental awareness among students and community members following presentations by the Kouprey Express team. 

However, repeated visits to schools and communities have far greater impact on environmental education and subsequent behaviours than one-off or annual presentations. To that end, Wildlife Alliance is refocusing the Kouprey Express program to meet the needs of rural schools and villages in Koh Kong Province in the southern Cardamom Mountains. This is an area around which Wildlife Alliance has established an integrated conservation and community development program, and is adjacent to a region of high biological importance.

Our Conservation Field Partners

Wildlife Alliance’s mission is to protect and preserve wildlife, forests and oceans for future generations. Its field operations, formerly carried out under the name WildAid, train and equip rangers to fight poaching, the illegal wildlife trade and illegal habitat destruction. These actions are complemented by its Community Awareness Program, of which the Kouprey Express is an integral part. Wildlife Alliance has been working in Cambodia since 2000.

Volunteering for International Development from Australia (VIDA)  has facilitated the placement of an Environmental Education & Community Outreach Advisor to the program. This position helps to develop, coordinate and deliver the Kouprey Express program.

Program Plan

One of the challenges in raising environmental awareness in Cambodia is having the resources where they are needed, particularly in rural communities. In 2004, Wildlife Alliance came up with a unique solution – to take the classroom to the community – and an environmental education program with wheels was born.

The Kouprey Express is a 20-seat Hyundai County bus that has been converted into a mobile conservation education unit to deliver educational activities to communities. Its team of Khmer educators visit communities living on the edge of protected areas to raise awareness about their environment and how to protect it, engaging with school students during the day and providing larger ‘Community Night Shows’ in the evening.

To help the Cambodian Government to meet its environmental education objectives, the Kouprey Express will deliver a Direct Action Education Program in Koh Kong Province from 2008–2010. The program’s primary objectives are to:

1. Develop an integrated, action-based environmental curriculum based on the vision of ‘Love Cambodia – Love Nature’. This will be explored in four themes: habitat protection, wildlife protection, pollution prevention and sustainable livelihoods.
2. Deliver the curriculum to 3,000 students at ten schools and make four repeat visits to every school in 2008.
3. Build a School Environment Network between the ten participating schools.
4. Involve post-graduate students from the Royal University of Phnom Penh in long-term monitoring of the program as part of their studies.
5. Actively promote the four curriculum themes through collaboration with government, local communities, rural schools and partner organisations.

Zoos Victoria's Role

In 2004, Zoos Victoria provided one of our educators to train the first group of Khmer educators and worked with them in Cambodia to develop the educational content for the Kouprey Express program. Since then, we have contributed to revisions and evaluation of the education program and provided funds to help with the costs of program delivery. In 2006, we worked with VIDA to provide the Environmental Education & Community Outreach Advisor to strengthen guidance of the program’s development.

Zoos Victoria has also hosted a number of fundraising events at Melbourne Zoo, which have continued to raise funds to support the work of the Kouprey Express.

Key achievements

• In 2006-07, half-day sessions were offered to 3,000 students and the Community Night Shows attracted more than 18,000 community members
• Involvement of the Kouprey Express in celebrations for World Environment Day, International Tiger Day and Clean Up The World Days added significantly to the success of these events
• 10,000 postcards were delivered to the King of Cambodia in February 2006, seeking his support to help stop poaching and the illegal trade in wildlife. Writing the postcards was one of the activities for students in the visits to rural communities

Reports and Publications

		Kouprey Express Progress Report – September 2006 kouprey_rpt06.pdf  ( 1.2 MB )