Human Rights Watch has been made aware of a document being published by Wildlife Alliance as a response to research that Human Rights Watch started in 2022. Since September 2022, we have been in regular contact with senior representatives of Wildlife Alliance to seek their comment and to ensure thorough and objective reporting. That process is ongoing.
We welcome the focus that Wildlife Alliance is taking regarding our findings and concerns. However, Wildlife Alliance did not notify us of their publication and we learned about it through third parties.
We anticipate publication of our report in early 2024. In the meantime, Human Rights Watch would like to provide some background while we conclude our research.
Human Rights Watch began investigating allegations of human rights abuses in the context of the Southern Cardamom REDD+ Project in April 2022. Since September 2022, we have corresponded with the Cambodian Ministry of Environment, Wildlife Alliance, Wildlife Works Carbon, SCS Global Services, Aster Global, and Verra. We have also met senior staff of Wildlife Alliance, Wildlife Works Carbon, Everland, SCS Global Services, and Verra.
We have received additional information from the different entities involved in the Southern Cardamom REDD+ Project that is consistent with our findings or concerns about the human rights impact of the project. We have been clear about our perspectives and communicated those to Wildlife Alliance, most recently in a virtual meeting on September 1, 2023, an in-person meeting on September 20, 2023, and in a letter dated November 6, 2023.
We have repeatedly agreed to meet Wildlife Alliance staff in Cambodia in June and again in July 2023. In both cases Wildlife Alliance declined. Since an incident in August 2023, we have not accepted an invitation to visit the Southern Cardamom REDD+ Project together with Wildlife Alliance staff due to heightened security concerns for community members.
We welcome the steps that Wildlife Alliance is planning to take in response to our findings to date. We believe that there are additional measures they should take and will continue to raise those with them directly and in our report. These steps include providing compensation to any victims of forced evictions and arbitrary arrests. We also believe that the Southern Cardamom REDD+ Project should conclude benefit sharing agreements with local communities as none have been signed with Indigenous peoples and local communities impacted by the project.
Human Rights Watch will continue to engage with Wildlife Alliance and others while we finalize our research and to urge them to act to ensure the Southern Cardamom REDD+ Project respects and protects human rights.
