Save Cambodia’s wildlife: Atlas of Cambodia. Maps on socio-economic development and environment

Abstract

Most people in Europe and North America certainly think of Angkor Wat, related tourist attractions, and possibly of the Khmer Rouge, when hearing about Cambodia. Yet this fascinating country and its cultures certainly merit more attention. The brand new, revised Atlas of Cambodia, released in 2014, is a wealth of information with exquisite maps and resourceful texts—and without a doubt deserves detailed perusal (Fig. 1). Edited and produced by the dedicated NGO, Save Cambodia’s Wildlife (SCW; http:// www.cambodiaswildlife.org/index.php/scw-projects/fin ished-projects/atlas-of-cambodia), the new release is a completely revised and updated version of its predecessor from 2006 that bore the subtitle National poverty and environment maps. Although this work may be less accessible to many Cambodians since it is written in English, the Atlas certainly closes an unfortunate information gap that is prevalent particularly in the western world, when it comes to countries such as Cambodia and Laos (a similar atlas was published in 2008: http://www. laoatlas.net/Welcome.html). The new edition for Cambodia not only provides a larger size format that improves the map display, but also presents these in a partly much higher resolution and print quality, which can only be described as fully professional and outright enticing. Eighteen chapters deliver much more than a general outline of information on the country and its conditions. Chapter 1 introduces the spatial political structure, relief, and the larger regional setting, including its dependence on the Mekong River (8 pp). Following this short overview of the Cambodian geography, the ensuing four chapters provide quite detailed environmental information, and precede chapters with correspondingly detailed socio-economic facts about the country and its people. It all starts with forests (Chap. 2: 12 pp). The first set of maps, showing a sequence of forest fragmentation indices from 1973 to 2009, delivers a sobering truth—the fast diminishing forest resources. It continues with biomerelated ecological zones and information on community and protected forests in the country. In between the maps, concise texts add further and most useful information, including references for further study and possible verification. The new structure of the Atlas enhances the already magnificent 2006 edition, simply because the photography Fig. 1 Book cover of the 2014 edition of the Atlas of Cambodia published by the NGO, Save Cambodia’s Wildlife