Cambodia's Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary sells first carbon credits to Disney

Cambodia, through a partnership with Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), has sold to Disney the first carbon credits from a climate change mitigation project in Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary, according to a WCS statement on Friday.

Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary encompasses a total area of 292,690 hectares in eastern Cambodia.

Keo Seima project, under the international approach called REDD+ (Reduced Emissions from avoided Deforestation and Degradation), is projected to avoid the emission of more than 14 million metric tons of CO2 equivalents over the first 10-year period between 2010 and 2019, the statement said.

U.S. entertainment conglomerate Disney will use the carbon credits to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions footprint and to help achieve its target of reducing net emissions 50 percent by 2020, it said.

"This sale demonstrates how carbon financing can provide a sustainable funding source for the conservation of the species-rich tropical forest in eastern Cambodia, a globally-significant protected area," the statement said. "It also directly contributes to the livelihoods of people living in local communities around the project area."

Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary is home to more than 60 species of animal and plants on the global Red List that are threatened with extinction, according to the criteria of IUCN, the World Conservation Union.

The area is of international importance for the conservation of primates including the world's largest known populations of black-shanked douc and southern yellow-cheeked crested gibbons, wild cats, Asian elephants, wild cattle and several species of birds.

It is also home to many communities of the Bunong indigenous ethnic group that have depended on the forest economically, culturally, and spiritually for generations.

According to the statement, some 50 percent of the net revenues from carbon sales will benefit local communities through activities such as community-chosen development projects.

"This first large carbon sale for Cambodia is an important part of our vision for sustainable financing of protected areas in Cambodia," said Cambodian Environment Minister Say Samal.

"The agreement we have signed giving almost all the revenue to forest protection and community development shows our commitment to forests and people in Cambodia."

WCS Chief Conservation Officer John Robinson said WCS congratulated the Cambodian government for this innovative approach to strengthening conservation in Cambodia, as well as Disney for their use of carbon credits from this project as a step toward reaching its greenhouse gas reduction target.

"We hope that many other companies will follow Disney's lead," he said.

The credits being sold are traded on the voluntary carbon market, which enables companies, organizations and individuals to pay for a range of actions that reduce carbon emissions. Enditem