Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Carbon credits · Cambodia · 2015–2025

Southern Cardamom REDD+ project and the arrest of Pork Nget (Cambodia)

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
What the record lacks: 3 none on record · 2 insufficient · 1 not measured · 3 disputed · 2 unclear See the gaps

A REDD+ carbon project run by Wildlife Alliance with Cambodia's Ministry of Environment received more than 27 million Verra credits. Human Rights Watch reported that Indigenous Chong families were not consulted for 31 months and that some were evicted, detained or beaten; Wildlife Alliance denied the abuses, Verra reinstated the project in September 2024, and a Chong farmer was arrested in his field in June 2024.

27 million+Verra credits received by the project
Covers about 500,000 ha and 29 villages; the research gives no revenue figure.

Status As of March 2025: Verra had reinstated the project with conditions (10 September 2024); Wildlife Alliance denied the abuses; a Chong farmer's suspended five-year sentence stood; credit buyers were not identified.

What?
A REDD+ project that received more than 27 million Verra credits was the subject of HRW findings of evictions, detentions and beatings of Chong villagers, which Wildlife Alliance denied; Verra suspended and then reinstated it. Human Rights Watch
Where?
Cardamom Mountains, south-west Cambodia; Thmar Dounpov commune. REDD-Monitor
When?
Activity began 1 January 2015; Verra suspension June 2023; Human Rights Watch report 28 February 2024; arrest 27 June 2024; reinstatement 10 September 2024. Mongabay
Who?
Gained
  • Wildlife Alliance and the Ministry of Environment, as project partners — The project received more than 27 million credits; how any revenue was shared is not in the record.
Lost
  • Chong families — Access to fields restricted; HRW reported six families evicted. Human Rights Watch
Harmed
  • Chong villagers — Human Rights Watch reported detentions without trial and beatings; one farmer received a suspended five-year sentence, a relative was injured and rice huts were reported demolished (CamboJA News, via REDD-Monitor). Wildlife Alliance denies the abuses. Human Rights Watch
Why?
The project operated as a REDD+ carbon-credit project under three Verra standards.
How?
Patrols that mixed ministry rangers, gendarmes and Wildlife Alliance staff enforced the project boundary, according to Human Rights Watch; Verra approved the project, suspended issuance in June 2023 after a letter from Human Rights Watch and reinstated it after a review by the firms that had approved it earlier. Mongabay
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

The Southern Cardamom REDD+ project in the Cardamom Mountains of south-west Cambodia is run by Wildlife Alliance with Cambodia's Ministry of Environment. It covers about 500,000 hectares and 29 villages. It was approved under three Verra standards, activity began on 1 January 2015, and the project received more than 27 million credits.

On 28 February 2024 Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a 118-page report, “Carbon Offsetting's Casualties”, based on 91 interviews. It reported that the Indigenous Chong were not asked for consent for more than two years (consultation began 31 months after activity started), that six Chong families were evicted, that three people were held for months without trial, and that people were beaten with a gun butt in 2018 and 2021. HRW said patrols mixed ministry rangers, gendarmes and Wildlife Alliance staff. Wildlife Alliance denied the abuses.

Verra suspended issuance of credits to the project in June 2023, after a letter from HRW, and reinstated it on 10 September 2024 with conditions. The review was carried out by SCS Global Services, Aster Global and AENOR, which had approved the project earlier and were retained and paid by the developer. Carbon Market Watch complained to the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM), calling this a clear conflict of interest. Verra said it had not conducted on-the-ground investigation; Mongabay reported that Verra “did not contact any project stakeholders or community members directly”.

On 27 June 2024, while issuance was suspended, Pork Nget, a Chong farmer, and his wife Chey Nov were weeding their field with their children less than three kilometres from their home in Thmar Dounpov commune. According to CamboJA News as carried by REDD-Monitor, Environment Ministry rangers and Wildlife Alliance staff arrived, said the field lay inside the REDD+ project, and arrested him. He was sentenced to five years in prison for encroachment (also rendered in the reporting as an occupation charge); the sentence was suspended but the conviction stands. His family showed land documents issued to villagers under a 2013 decree, and the commune administration recognises the field. In October 2024 his brother broke a kneecap fleeing military police and Wildlife Alliance staff, and police fired a warning shot; the brother's wife said the family's rice huts had been demolished. Nget said he no longer dared to enter his field.

Wildlife Alliance told that report that the communities supported the project overwhelmingly, that it spent about $3 million on livelihoods in 2023–2024, and that it has no law-enforcement authority. It said it had objected to 1,851 hectares measured for inclusion in the commune and had agreed a map with officials in 2015 that left this land outside the commune.

  1. 2013A decree under which, the farmer's family said, villagers received land documents
  2. 2015Project activity begins (1 January); Wildlife Alliance says it agreed a map with officials leaving 1,851 ha outside the commune
  3. 2018Beating with a gun butt reported by HRW (a second in 2021)
  4. 2023Verra suspends issuance of credits (June) after a letter from HRW
  5. 2024HRW report (28 Feb); farmer arrested in Thmar Dounpov (27 Jun); Verra reinstates the project with conditions (10 Sep); warning-shot incident and sign about prison for tree cutting recorded (Oct)
  6. 2025REDD-Monitor publishes CamboJA News report on the arrest and its aftermath (17 Mar)

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

“did not contact any project stakeholders or community members directly”

Mongabay, describing Verra's 2024 reinstatement review · September 2024 · Mongabay

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Did the project proceed without the Chong's consent, and were people abused in enforcing it?
Communities and civil society
Human Rights Watch

No consent from the Chong for more than two years; six Chong families evicted; three people held for months without trial; beatings with a gun butt in 2018 and 2021.

Human Rights Watch
Company or project
Wildlife Alliance

Denied the abuses.

Mongabay
Company or project
Wildlife Alliance

Said communities supported the project overwhelmingly and that it has no law-enforcement authority.

REDD-Monitor
Standard-setters and registries
Verra

Suspended issuance in June 2023 and reinstated the project on 10 September 2024 with conditions.

Mongabay
Did the field at Thmar Dounpov lie inside the project, or did the family hold rights to it?
Government and regulators
Environment Ministry rangers

Told the farmer the field was inside the REDD+ project and arrested him; he was later sentenced to five years (suspended) for encroachment.

REDD-Monitor
Communities and civil society
The farmer's family

Showed land documents issued to villagers under a 2013 decree; the commune administration recognises the field.

REDD-Monitor
Company or project
Wildlife Alliance

Objected to 1,851 hectares measured for inclusion in the commune and agreed a 2015 map with officials that left this land outside the commune.

REDD-Monitor
Was Verra's 2024 review independent?
Communities and civil society
Carbon Market Watch

Complained to ICVCM that the review, done by firms that had approved the project earlier and were paid by the developer, was a clear conflict of interest.

Standard-setters and registries
Verra

Said it had not conducted on-the-ground investigation and was unaware of the farmer's arrest.

REDD-Monitor

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • The project was approved under three Verra standards and received more than 27 million credits.
    Verra registry record, according to secondary reports
  • Communities supported the project overwhelmingly; about $3 million was spent on livelihoods in 2023–2024; Wildlife Alliance has no law-enforcement authority.
    Wildlife Alliance · REDD-Monitor

Recorded

  • HRW (Feb 2024): no consent from the Chong for more than two years; six Chong families evicted; three people held for months without trial; beatings with a gun butt in 2018 and 2021.
    Human Rights Watch
  • Consultation with the Chong began 31 months after activity started on 1 January 2015.
  • Verra suspended issuance in June 2023 and reinstated the project on 10 September 2024 with conditions.
    Mongabay
  • The reinstatement review was done by three firms that had approved the project earlier: SCS Global Services, Aster Global and AENOR.
  • Pork Nget was arrested on 27 June 2024 and sentenced to five years in prison for encroachment; the sentence was suspended but the charge stands.
    REDD-Monitor
  • No project sign was at the field on the day of the arrest; in October 2024 CamboJA News reporters saw a sign warning of up to 10 years in prison for tree cutting and burning.
    REDD-Monitor
  • In October 2024 the arrested farmer's brother broke a kneecap fleeing military police and Wildlife Alliance staff; his wife said the family's rice huts had been demolished; the farmer said he no longer dared to enter his field.
    REDD-Monitor
  • Verra said it was not aware of the arrest and conducts no on-the-ground investigations.
    REDD-Monitor

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

≈ $3m
Wildlife Alliance's own figure. The research found no figure for the revenue from the credits or for who received it.
Wildlife Alliance's reported spending on livelihoods (its own figure)≈ $3m
Not independently verified.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Reached the ground
≈ $3m
Currency: USD · Window: 2023–2024. All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

  • wildlife-alliance (September 2024): Denied the abuses described by Human Rights Watch. · Mongabay
  • wildlife-alliance (reported March 2025): Said communities supported the project overwhelmingly, that it spent about $3 million on livelihoods in 2023–2024, and that it has no law-enforcement authority; said it had objected to 1,851 hectares measured for inclusion in the commune and agreed a 2015 map that left the land outside it. · REDD-Monitor
  • verra (reported March 2025): Said it was unaware of the farmer's arrest and had not conducted on-the-ground investigation. · REDD-Monitor

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

  1. Claimant won
    Prosecution of Pork Nget for encroachment, Thmar Dounpov commune
    Not stated in the record · Criminal · Cambodian authorities (arrest made by Environment Ministry rangers) → Pork Nget

    The farmer was arrested on 27 June 2024 in his field and sentenced to five years in prison for encroachment. The sentence was suspended but the charge stands. His family showed land documents issued under a 2013 decree. REDD-Monitor

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Credits received
27m+
Under three Verra standards, 2015–2024
Area and villages
~500,000 ha / 29
Wildlife Alliance with the Ministry of Environment
Consultation with the Chong
31 months after start
Activity began 1 January 2015 (research record)
Independent ecological evaluation
Not in sources
The sources reviewed concern rights, consent and credit issuance

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Court ruling existsDisplacement reported

Nature

  • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

Figures

  • Insufficient Livelihood spend reported: Wildlife Alliance's own figure for 2023–2024; not independently verified.

Accounts

  • Disputed Did the project proceed without the Chong's consent, and were people abused in enforcing it?
  • Disputed Did the field at Thmar Dounpov lie inside the project, or did the family hold rights to it?
  • Disputed Was Verra's 2024 review independent?

Record

  • None on record Who bought the credits: the research did not identify any buyer.
  • Unclear Whether Verra has issued credits to the project since its reinstatement in September 2024: not found.
  • Unclear Whether the Ministry of Environment has responded to the HRW findings: no statement is in the record.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that warnings about the 31-month consultation gap were already in audit reports submitted to the certifier.
  • None on record The court, date and prosecuting body in the case of Pork Nget are not stated in the record.
  • None on record The charge against Pork Nget is described as encroachment in some of the reporting and as an occupation charge in other reporting; the sources reviewed do not give the court's wording.

Did the harm stop?

Not established. Issuance was suspended in June 2023 and reinstated on 10 September 2024 with conditions; the arrest of Pork Nget took place on 27 June 2024, during the suspension, and in the latest report reviewed (March 2025) he said he no longer dared to enter his field.

Who paid?

According to HRW and the CamboJA News report, Chong villagers bore the costs: evictions, detentions, loss of access to fields and, in one case, a suspended five-year sentence.

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society— Researchers

Press and investigations

Communities and civil society

  1. Carbon Offsetting's Casualties
    Human Rights Watch · 2024-02-28

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Terms used on this page

Carbon and conservation finance

Buffer pool
A reserve of credits held back from sale by a carbon programme to cover future losses, such as forest burned or logged after credits were issued. It works as the programme's own insurance.
Carbon credit
A certificate representing one tonne of carbon dioxide (or equivalent) that a project says it reduced, avoided or removed. Buyers use credits to balance their own emissions in climate claims.
Offset
Using carbon credits to balance emissions released elsewhere, so that a buyer can claim lower or zero net emissions.
REDD+
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation. A UN framework under which forest projects earn carbon credits for deforestation they say they prevented, measured against a projected baseline.
Standard-setter and registry
An organisation that writes the rules for carbon credits, approves projects, and records when credits are issued and retired. Such bodies typically charge fees per credit.
Voluntary carbon market
Trade in carbon credits bought by choice, mostly by companies, outside legally binding emission schemes.

Science and environment

Hectare (ha)
A unit of area equal to 10,000 square metres, about 2.5 acres. 100 hectares make one square kilometre.
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