ABSTRACT
The Seima Protection Forest (SPF) covers 292,690 hectares in eastern Cambodia. It was created by Prime Ministerial Sub-decree in 2009 through an upgrading of the Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area, which operated from 2002 to 2009. It protects large areas of Annamite mountain evergreen/semi-evergreen forest and Eastern Plains deciduous forest and includes many small wetlands. Of 41 Globally Threatened vertebrate species recorded (4 Critically Endangered and 14 Endangered), many occur in globally or regionally outstanding populations, including elephants, primates, wild cattle, several carnivores and a range of large birds. The site is also the ancestral home to a large number of ethnic Bunong people, for whom the forest is a key source of income and central to their spiritual beliefs.
