Mondulkiri Province

Mondulkiri demonstrates indigenous-led conservation as economic strategy—Cambodia's largest province where the Bunong people have partnered with ecotourism projects to protect forests while sustaining their elephant-keeping traditions. The Elephant Valley Project, founded in 2006 by a British archaeologist and a Bunong mahout, now employs 58 people (mostly Bunong) and supports 2,000 local people through employment, healthcare, education, and land titling that secures legal ownership of sacred forests. Eleven elephants roam freely across 1,500 protected hectares.

Of Cambodia's approximately 500 remaining elephants, about 250 wild elephants live in Mondulkiri's forests and roughly 20 of the nation's 65 captive elephants reside here. The Bunong have kept elephants for generations, passing mahout skills across families—animals become family members rather than commodities. Multiple sanctuaries including the Mondulkiri Project and LEAF Cambodia create sustainable livelihoods while preserving Bunong culture that urbanization and logging threaten.

The conservation model shows both success and vulnerability. The EVP's tourism income protected over 1,500 hectares adjacent to Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary. But COVID-19 revealed dependence on tourism income: communities weathered lockdowns poorly, highlighting the need for diversified funding like REDD+ carbon financing. Life remains hard for indigenous families—many continue subsistence farming and local market sales. Mondulkiri's future depends on whether conservation-based development can provide livelihoods competitive with logging, plantation agriculture, and migration to cities.