Program Focus 

This program aims to increase awareness of nature and wildlife, and actively engage rural communities in:
• Wildlife conservation
• Habitat protection
• Pollution prevention
• Sustainable livelihoods in the southern Cardamom Mountains in south-west Cambodia

Working with the government, local communities and rural schools, Wildlife Alliance also aims to increase the capacity of Cambodian society to protect their own wildlife into the future.

Program Plan

One of the challenges in raising environmental awareness in Cambodia is having the resources where they are needed, particularly in rural communities. In 2004, Wildlife Alliance came up with a unique solution - to take the classroom to the community - and an environmental education program with wheels was born.

The Kouprey Express is a 20-seat Hyundai County bus that has been converted into a mobile conservation education unit to deliver educational activities to communities. Its team of Khmer educators visit communities living on the edge of protected areas to raise awareness about their environment and how to protect it, engaging with school students during the day and providing larger ‘Community Night Shows' in the evening.

To help the Cambodian Government to meet its environmental education objectives, the Kouprey Express will deliver a Direct Action Education Program in Koh Kong Province from 2008-2010. The program's primary objectives are to:

1. Develop an integrated, action-based environmental curriculum based on the vision of ‘Love Cambodia - Love Nature'. This will be explored in four themes: habitat protection, wildlife protection, pollution prevention and sustainable livelihoods.
2. Deliver the curriculum to 3,000 students at ten schools and make four repeat visits to every school in 2008.
3. Build a School Environment Network between the ten participating schools.
4. Involve post-graduate students from the Royal University of Phnom Penh in long-term monitoring of the program as part of their studies.
5. Actively promote the four curriculum themes through collaboration with government, local communities, rural schools and partner organisations.

Zoos Victoria's Role

In 2004, Zoos Victoria provided one of our educators to train the first group of Khmer educators and worked with them in Cambodia to develop the educational content for the Kouprey Express program. Since then, we have contributed to revisions and evaluation of the education program and provided funds to help with the costs of program delivery. In 2006, we worked with VIDA to provide the Environmental Education & Community Outreach Advisor to strengthen guidance of the program's development.

Zoos Victoria has also hosted a number of fundraising events at Melbourne Zoo, which have continued to raise funds to support the work of the Kouprey Express.

Key Achievements

• In 2006-07, half-day sessions were offered to 3,000 students and the Community Night Shows attracted more than 18,000 community members
• Involvement of the Kouprey Express in celebrations for World Environment Day, International Tiger Day and Clean Up The World Days added significantly to the success of these events
• 10,000 postcards were delivered to the King of Cambodia in February 2006, seeking his support to help stop poaching and the illegal trade in wildlife. Writing the postcards was one of the activities for students in the visits to rural communities