Population growth will cap at 11B and then likely steadily decline. The issue is the rapid and relatively unrestricted spreading of people (so you're kinda right, obviously). Some countries, such as Costa Rica, have done a great job of creating and enforcing the protection of national parks. The issue here is mainly unrestricted (and unsustainable) deforestation due to the local demand for wood+hunting, and subsequent land use/appropriation. I routinely go to the more remote areas of Cambodia and truth be told, there's very little nature left, especially old growth forests. The willingness to create and more importantly, protect nature reserves, or provincial/national parks is the main issue.

I hate to say this, but i reckon there was an overreach in the creation of protected areas when Cambodia was reconstituted in the early 1990's.
These zones are a higher % of the country's land area than almost anywhere else.

That may have sounded a good idea at the time, to all the well meaning outside advisors - but it is obviously beyond the nation's will and ability to protect them.
This may have actually worked against conservation. Not only are resources spread too thin, but the protected stratus has been devalued because of all the transgretions - and the obvious general unworkability.

It would be an invidious job to decide which areas to shrink and better protect tho'. - if somebody did bite that bullet.
Breaking up the continuity of natural areas will inevitably lead to some species disappearing completely. That was the main rationale for all the vast tracts being "protected" in the first place.

Sure, in theory Cambodia's relatively low population density could support all these protected areas, and it could be made to work so that it actually improves the country's productivity. But it would take a ruthless dictator who really cared about nature - like that bloke in Costa Rica - to turn the situation around here.




keep on plugging along anyway. we can't just give up, can we?

World’s Endangered Asiatic Black Bears Found in Cambodia
AKP Phnom Penh, January 21, 2022 --

Asiatic black bear
Endangered Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus) listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list of threatened species have been spotted in Cambodia's forests.

The good news was shared on Jan. 20 by the Ministry of Environment, adding that the Asiatic black bears were founded in the protected areas in Pursat, Battambang, and Koh Kong provinces.

The researchers from the Ministry of Environment have discovered them in Cambodian wildlife sanctuaries through camera traps.

Reportedly, the extinction of the Asiatic black bears was threatened by habitat loss and poaching for illegal trade of their skin, toenails, gallstones, and captivity.


Sun Bear
Besides, Sun Bears (Helarctos malayanus), also listed on IUCN (VU), have been shot by camera traps in Cambodian protected areas.
Sun bears are the smallest and rarest of the world's eight living bear species. They are excellent climbers and spend considerable time in trees where they feed on sweet fruits, small rodents, birds, termites and other insects, and honey.
By Phal Sophanith
AKP

Wow & to think I thought it hard to get laid

Yobbo wrote: ↑Fri Jan 21, 2022 1:17 pm Wow & to think I thought it hard to get laid

Go Bears !