Furget-Me-Not in Cambodia

Annette Olsson

Annette Olsson received her MSc in zoology/ecology at the University of Copenhagen. From there she went to Tanzania and Madagascar for two years, but jumped at the chance to work for CI in Cambodia, where she now makes her home, along with her husband and two daughters, Olivia and Sofie.

Annette has led species-focussed research and conservation projects in Cambodia for many years.  She has identified species at particular risk, and assembled teams that document the animals' current distribution and relative abundance, identified the areas best suited for immediate and potential conservation actions, launched education programs amongst local people, run press awareness campaigns and established rehabilitation and reintroduction programs for animals confiscated from illegal traders.  She also hopes to increase advocacy for strengthening law enforcement capacity at the border between Cambodia and Vietnam, where most smuggling of wildlife occurs.  The species of particular concern are sun bears, soft-shelled turtles, pangolins and, of course, otters.

Sokrith Heng

Sokrith has been working with Conservation International in Cambodia for the last five years. In the past 2 years, he has been involved in biodiversity research in the Cardamom Mountains, and since 2007, has been responsible for leading the otter project and coordinating all its research activities for CI-Cambodia. He has experience in working with local communities to improve their livelihood and wildlife protection. Recently, he has become responsible for developing strategy for species conservation in Tonle Sap and initiating the tools for improve local livelihoods, and recovery of the ecosystem. krith works on field surveying in and around Tonle Sap lake in Cambodia, and also in the Cardamon Mountains, with Conservation International.

He graduated in forestry science from the Royal University of Agriculture, Phnom Penh, and is now pursuing an MSc in Biodiversity Conservation at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, covering ecology and biodiversity techniques such as research analysis, behavioral ecology, species conservation, research methods, ecological survey techniques, Geography Information Systems (GIS) etc.