It wasn’t until the mid-2000s, when Wildlife Alliance started to work with locals to create alternative sources of income, that Chi Phat began reversing those trends and establishing a series of community-based ecotourism initiatives.
Farmers were encouraged to adopt more sustainable farming techniques. At the same time, community members were rallied to reclaim lost tracts of forestland by rebuilding the soil and planting indigenous tree species. Since then, some 840,000 trees have been planted.
Moreover, onetime poachers — who had intimate knowledge of the rainforest and its wildlife — were recruited, trained and equipped to become protective rangers. Armed, they now patrol the area on foot, by motorbike, by boat and by air, protecting the environment from poachers and loggers.
Corruption and the financial lure of illegal trades and large-scale business development projects are still a threat. But with an ever-increasing number of locals working alongside the conservationists, saving the forest is no longer a lost cause.