BUDDHIST
ACTION
IN CAMBODIA
OVERVIEW
Buddhist monks are leading conservation initiatives across Cambodia, patrolling forests to pick up snares and stop illegal hunting, and spreading messages through their pagodas about the need to protect threatened species including the critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphin.
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'Let him not destroy, or cause to be destroyed, any life at all, or sanction the acts of those who do so. Let him refrain even from hurting any creature, both those that are strong and those that tremble in the world.'
Phrakru Griha Vinaya (Rules for Householders, Dharmika Sutra, Kshudraka Agama)
CAMBODIAN MONKS CONSERVATION NETWORK
The Monks Community for the Environment (MCE) network, supported by WWF and the Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity (ACCB), was established in 2017. The network linked monks across Cambodia engaged in grassroots conservation, for mutual support. It served as a platform to share Buddhist-based conservation experiences, build capacity, identify best practices and learn from each other.
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The Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity (ACCB) is a wildlife conservation centre of the Allwetterzoo Münster, Germany, established in 2003 in collaboration with the Zoological Society for the Conservation of Species and Populations (ZGAP). As part of ACCB’s environmental education and outreach programme in Cambodia, it continues its own initiatives to support the technical capacity building of Buddhist leaders in Cambodia to carry out conservation activities. Visit ACCB’s website for more information.
MONKS CONSERVATION MANUAL
In response to requests from the monks network for capacity building on conservation topics, ACCB and WWF produced a six-module conservation manual for Buddhist monks. ACCB has, with WWF support, led interactive training workshops based on the manual, with groups of Buddhist monks in several provinces in Cambodia.
The modules include: Key Conservation Issues in Cambodia; Buddhist Beliefs and Values in Relations to Human-nature Relationships; Preliminary Care and Handling of Wildlife; Sustainable Prayer Animal Release; Threatened Species Use in Ornaments, Food, Traditional Medicine, and as Pets; and Camera Trap Techniques. The manual can be used and adapted in other Buddhist countries. To see the manual, click below.
One of the largest and most impressive Buddhist conservation projects in Cambodia is the Monks Community Forest. It was in 2002 that a group of Buddhist monks in northwest Cambodia began protecting an 18,261 ha forest from logging, hunting and land clearing. In recognition of their successful efforts, in 2018 the Cambodian government gazetted the area as a 30,000 ha. wildlife sanctuary.
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The Buddhist leader who led this effort was Venerable Bun Saluth, a pioneer of Cambodia's Buddhist-based environmental movement. Before obtaining legal protection of some of the last of Cambodia’s evergreen forest, he and his fellow monks and villagers set up regular forest patrols, using a variety of methods based on Buddhist-based principles of non-violence and respect for all being, for example, tree ordination.
The monks view their protection efforts as honouring the forest where the Buddha was born, enlightened and passed away. Protecting the forests and its wildlife is also an expression of their beliefs and values, including ending suffering – of local people and wildlife – and of the recognition of the interconnectedness of all things.
MONKS COMMUNITY FOREST
DOLPHIN CONSERVATION
Mekong Flooded Forest: WWF Cambodia is working with monks from monasteries situated along the Mekong River, to raise awareness and engage with local fishing communities about the emergency confronting the critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphin. Less than 100 individuals remain, and due to ongoing deaths from entanglement in fishing nets, the Cambodia government has called for emergency action.
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In 2011, The Supreme Patriarch of the Thammayud Sect of Cambodian Buddhism, His Holiness Mohasangharajah Bour Kry, supported by the Association of Buddhists for the Environment (ABE), helped raise awareness among the local community to protect the dolphin, which is a sacred and respected animal to Khmer Buddhists.
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Photographing the Mekong dolphin. WWF Cambodia / Sam Un Eam
PROTECTING PREY LANG FOREST
Citizens Engaged in Environmental Justice for All (CEEJA) is a five-year action to increase the effectiveness of on-the-ground forest protection. CEEJA is implemented by a consortium of Danmission, the Cambodia Centre for Independent Media, Cambodia Youth Network, Peace Bridges Organisation, Ponlok Khmer, and the University of Copenhagen’. CEEJA Monitoring Report No. 2 in English (March 3, 2023). CEEJA works with local communities to strengthen their capacity to peacefully exercise their environmental rights. Amongst their multiple practices are Tree Ordination ceremonies, conducted by Buddhist monks.
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Key guidance documents
Interested in getting a collaboration or a project going with a faith community but not sure where to start? Check out these key guidance documents.
