WCS efforts to protect the Asian Elephant in Cambodia have centred on two conservation landscapes, the Eastern Plains of Mondulkiri Province and the Northern Plains of Preah Vihear Province. In each landscape, elephant populations are threatened by habitat loss and degradation, with elephant populations pushed into ever smaller 'islands' of isolated habitat.
Conservation activities focus on law enforcement and community engagement to mitigate the growing number of challenges that elephants now face. These activities are supported by a comprehensive monitoring program that identifies elephant 'hot spots' within the landscape, and measures the long-term effectiveness of conservation interventions in safeguarding elephant populations. This monitoring work included a ground-breaking fecal DNA-based survey in 2006, that provided the first reliable population estimate for elephants within a Cambodian protected area, the Seima Protection Forest.