NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Cambodia is highly vulnerable to climate change, experiencing frequent floods, droughts, and storms, particularly in coastal provinces and around Tonle Sap Lake. Rising sea levels and irregular rainfall patterns worsen food insecurity and economic instability, severely impacting fishing, tourism, and agriculture. The most affected are marginalized communities, including women, children, and people with disabilities, who have limited resources to recover from disasters. Climate events like La Niña and El Niño have caused severe flooding and droughts, disrupting traditional livelihoods. Addressing these challenges requires sustainable agricultural practices, social protection programs, and resilience-building efforts to reduce vulnerability and ensure long-term development.
To address those challenges SAMAKY focuses on:
Building partnerships for a sustainable future
Supporting ocean and marine mammal research
Promoting a clean environment in schools
Supporting Capacity building on agricultural techniques for farmers and agricultural inputs to start up their farm
Establishing the Self-help groups
Promoting aquaculture
Supporting fishery communities in purpose of natural resource conservation
Constructing or reconstructing the irrigation infrastructure
Since 2024 SAMAKY Organization has partnered with Khmer Ocean Life, a local NGO in Kampot, Cambodia that works to research and conserve Cambodia's oceans, with a current focus on monitoring marine megafauna and engaging local communities.
As part of this collaboration, the Khmer Ocean Life team conducts weekly research through both land and boat surveys to monitor the abundance and behavior of local marine mammals. Their work primarily focuses on the Irrawaddy dolphin population, as well as the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin, Indo-Pacific finless porpoise, and the dugong.
In addition to fieldwork, Khmer Ocean Life regularly visits SAMAKY schools to deliver lessons on ocean conservation, with a special focus on local marine issues. These lessons cover topics such as marine mammals, turtles, coral reefs, and plastic pollution.
For Khmer Ocean Life (KOL), community collaboration is essential. By training community members as citizen scientists, KOL was able to establish a coast-wide marine mammal stranding network — the Cambodian Marine Mammal Bycatch and Stranding Network. Through close cooperation, both community members and KOL staff collect data, fill knowledge gaps, and strengthen local engagement to monitor bycatch and stranding events, ultimately aiming to influence policy changes that reduce marine mammal mortality.
Together, SAMAKY and Khmer Ocean Life are developing projects that integrate conservation and capacity building, empowering communities and inspiring the next generation of marine conservationists.
