Funding helps support our work in Cambodia
WWT has been awarded a grant by the Disney Conservation Fund (DCF) for our work to conserve the globally Vulnerable sarus crane in the Lower Mekong Delta in Cambodia.
DCF has been supporting local efforts around the world aimed at saving wildlife, inspiring action and protecting the planet, with over £70m (nearly $86 million) distributed to nonprofit organizations since 1995.
WWT’s focus in Cambodia is on two areas of the lower Mekong Delta, Anlung Pring and Boeung Prek Lapouv, which are two of the last remaining seasonally-inundated grasslands in the area. They provide vital refuge for a wealth of threatened species, including over half the highly threatened Southeast Asian population of the globally Vulnerable sarus crane, a flagship species of Cambodia's wetlands.
Tomos Avent, Head of Conservation & Development at WWT said:
For more than 70 years WWT has been at the forefront of conserving wetland species around the world. Our work at two sites in the Lower Mekong Delta of Cambodia centres on two of the last remaining refuges of the world’s tallest flying bird, the sarus crane.
“This grant will help us understand the best ways to maintain the crane’s habitat by working with the local villagers to restore 200 hectares of degraded wetland and promote the value of healthy wetlands to local communities through education and awareness event, as well as developing sustainable livelihoods that contribute to biodiversity conservation.
DCF grant recipients are selected based on their efforts to implement comprehensive community wildlife conservation programmes, stabilize and increase populations of at-risk animals, and engage communities in conservation in critical ecosystems around the world.
