IBIS RICE
Working together to provide a meaningful opportunity for rural households to earn living incomes while discontinuing activities like logging and poaching.
IBIS RICE PROGRAMME
The IBIS Rice program involves an innovative partnership between Sansom Mlup Prey Organization and our market-facing partner, the IBIS Rice Conservation Company, Ltd. (IRCC). SMP and IRCC started as a project to promote the cultivation of premium-quality, organic rice in remote communities inside the Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary in Cambodia’s northwestern province of Preah Vihear. Currently, the project has expanded in Stung Treng, Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri province. This area is home to a unique savanna ecosystem that is the habitat of the critically-endangered Giant Ibis, Cambodia’s national bird.
Together with IRCC, we work to provide a meaningful opportunity for rural households to earn living incomes, while discontinuing these harmful activities. SMP provides agronomic support to farmers, which includes training and demonstrations on organic and wildlife-friendly standards and practices.
At the center of this arrangement are conservation agreements with individual farmers that stipulate they will not engage in land clearing, logging, or wildlife poaching, nor use harmful agrochemicals on their fields. IRCC then purchases the rice produced according to these standards at premium prices; farmers are paid an average 70% more than standard market prices for their harvest. Below are the main target areas which the IBIS Rice program is implementing:
Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary
Located in Stung Treng province is the last major lowland rain forest on the Southeast Asian mainland. The forest cover approximately 5000 square kilometers and is located west of the Mekong River in the northern part of Cambodia. It is home to 250,000 inhabitants, many from the indigenous Kuy people of Cambodia, plus numerous threatened animal and plant species. Prey Lang is home to a wide range of mammals, birds, bats and reptiles. Several of Prey Lang’s animal species are threatened because their natural habitats are being destroyed. In May 2016 the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen signed a sub-decree turning 4.320,000 square kilometers of Prey Lang into a Wildlife Sanctuary. The sanctuary includes forest areas in Stung Treng, Kampong Thom, Kratie and Preah Vihear. The project is specifically implemented in Stung Treng area. Sansom Mlup Prey launched the IBIS Rice Program in Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary in 2019.
Number of total farmers: 329 household
Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary
Located in far North-Eastern Cambodia, in Stung Treng Province, east of the Mekong River. Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary covers a total of 132,321 ha, and this protected area is managed by the Ministry of Environment and Department of Environment of Stung Treng. This area used to be managed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries but in 2016 the Royal Government of Cambodia transferred the jurisdiction and management to the Ministry of Environment.
Sansom Mlup Prey organization (SMP) has been collaborated with Bird Life International program in Cambodia, started to pilot the Wildlife friendly conservation project of IBIS RICE in 2017 in Khes Svay village, Prek Meas commune, Siem Pang district, Stung Treng province. Since then, the project has been expanding from years to another.
Veun Sai-Siem Pang National Park
Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary
The IBIS rice program has implemented at in two main locations in Ratanakikiri. Lomphat Wildlife Sanctuary kick started the project from October 2020 under the support of Birdlife International Cambodia International and currently supports by USAID Morodok Baitang . The second zone is Veun Sai-Siem Pang National Park which started in March 2021 under the support by Conservation International (CI). The two zone were chosen in the aim to preserve the natural resource in the sanctuary and supporting livelihood in the community.
Veun Sai-Siem Pang National Park is a home to some of the last populations of giant ibis, sun bears and clouded leopards, golden cat, and pygmy loris are also present in the park and surrounding areas. Veun Sai-Siem Pang National Park is also essential to local people, it provides food, fuelwood, medicinal plants and fresh water, and it supports the economy through ecotourism, agriculture and freshwater fishing. Veun Sai-Siem Pang National Park is located in the north of Cambodia and straddles both Stung Treng and Ratanakiri provinces. The national park is also famously home to some of the most stunning natural scenery in the Kingdom, with guests able to explore the forests at their own leisure, as well as swim in waterfalls among other activities only the countryside can offer.
Number of total farmers: 212 household (2022)
Paddy rice made: 88,504 Kg (2021)
Kulen Promtep
Prey Preah Roka and
Chhep Wildlife Sanctuary
The Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the northern plains of Cambodia Preah Vihear, near the border to Thailand. It is the largest protected area in Cambodia and was set aside to protect the critically endangered, possibly extinct Kouprey. With a protected area network spanning more than half a million hectares, the Northern Plains are home to in excess of 260 bird species and large mammals such as Asian Elephant, Banteng and Guar. In this sparsely populated landscape an intricate patchwork of community livelihoods, subsistence farming, cultural sites and conservation areas exist in this, the northernmost, province of Cambodia; a delicate balance of people and wild places. The major conservation areas, Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary, Prey Preah Roka Wildlife Sanctuary, Chhep Wildlife Sanctuary and Phnom Tbeng Natural Heritage Park are under the management of the Ministry of Environment.
To conserve this rich forest environment and associated wildlife, the Sanctuary takes a well-rounded, multi-stakeholder approach, focusing equally on animal rescue, environmental protection, and community empowerment. To protect threatened native species, the Sanctuary is committed to rescuing and rehabilitating local wildlife, returning animals to the wild whenever possible.
Number of total farmers: 521 household (2022)
Paddy rice farmers made: 575.873 Kg (2021)
Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary-Mondulkiri
Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary (previously named Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area from 2002 to 2009, and Seima Protection Forest from 2009 to 2016) covers close to 300,000 hectares in the east of Cambodia. This protected area is home to a rich diversity of wildlife, forest types, landscapes, and indigenous communities. Supported by WCS since before its inception in 2002, it is the site of the Keo Seima REDD+ project, one of Cambodia’s largest and most successful conservation programs. The bird life is also impressive, and the jungle, which is lusher and denser than the dry forest in eastern Mondulkiri, has been relatively well preserved.
SMP brough the IBIS Program into this area in 2019 started with 3 villages including, Pu Char, Ou Chra and Pu Kong in Sre Preah commune, Kaev Seima district. The area belongs to Bunong indigenous community people who are living nearby Kaev Seima Wildlife Sanctuary (KSWS).
Number of total farmers: 148 household (2022)
+855 (0)78 548 800
Sansom Mlup Prey Organization
Sangkat Tuol Tumpung Ti Pir
Khan Chamkarmon
Phnom Penh, Cambodia