Cardamom Tented Camp earns global accolade for its sustainability story

Car­damom Ten­ted Camp eco­lodge in Cam­bod­ia is one of Green Des­tin­a­tions’ 2021 Top 100 Des­tin­a­tion Sus­tain­ab­il­ity Stories.

The announce­ment was made Octo­ber 5 dur­ing the online annu­al con­fer­ence of Green Des­tin­a­tions, a non-profit organ­isa­tion for sus­tain­able tour­ism based in The Neth­er­lands. The annu­al pro­gramme has been in exist­ence since 2014.

Car­damom Ten­ted Camp was chosen by the judges from among 28 tour­ism exper­i­ences around the world in the Nature and Eco­tour­ism cat­egory. The oth­er 72 win­ners were in the cat­egor­ies of Loc­al­isa­tion and Decar­bon­ising the Loc­al Sup­ply Chain; Com­munit­ies and Cul­ture; Envir­on­ment and Cli­mate; and Tour­ism Reset and Recovery.

“Since Car­damom Ten­ted Camp opened in 2017 we’ve helped pro­tect 18,000 hec­tares of forest by chan­nel­ling income from the camp to sup­port 12 forest rangers who have done a ter­rif­ic job of redu­cing illeg­al log­ging, wild­life hunt­ing and sand­bank dredging,” said Willem Niemeijer, CEO of YAANA Ven­tures, the camp operator. 

“Right from day one our slo­gan has been, ‘Your Stay Keeps the Forest Stand­ing’. The Green Des­tin­a­tion judges saw those details of our work. They recog­nised that our sus­tain­ab­il­ity story as a world-class and inspir­a­tion­al con­ser­va­tion tour­ism pro­ject could be emu­lated in oth­er places,” he said. 

In an earli­er Q&A ses­sion for the online con­fer­ence, Niemeijer told Green Des­tin­a­tion attendees that Car­damom Ten­ted Camp was based on three prin­ciples: a belief in vis­it­or dis­per­sion to off-the-beaten-track places away from over-tour­is­ted hubs; a com­mit­ment to work with experts, such as NGO Wild­life Alli­ance; and a full-hearted belief in the triple bot­tom line of people, plan­et, and profit, which had to be unwaver­ing if the pro­ject was going to be truly sustainable. 

In an offi­cial state­ment announ­cing the Top 100, Green Des­tin­a­tions said: “With the tour­ism sec­tor facing very chal­len­ging times in the past year or so, the resi­li­ence and hard work of these des­tin­a­tions to become more respons­ible should be cel­eb­rated. The 2021 selec­tion was determ­ined by the qual­ity, trans­fer­ab­il­ity, and, more than ever, by the level of innov­a­tion of the stories.” 

Albert Sal­man, the Pres­id­ent of Green Des­tin­a­tions told the audi­ence that the object­ive of the top 100 sus­tain­ab­il­ity stor­ies pro­gramme was to “inspire respons­ible tour­ism lead­er­ship around the world”.

About Cardamom Tented Camp

Car­damom Ten­ted Camp is an eco­lodge loc­ated in the foot­hills of the Car­damom Moun­tains in Cam­bod­ia. Offer­ing nine well-appoin­ted safari-style tents, the lodge aims to min­im­ize the human foot­print on the nat­ur­al world and serve as a role mod­el in pro­mot­ing sus­tain­able eco­tour­ism prac­tices with­in both the nation­al park and Cam­bod­ia as a whole. Loc­ated on an 18,000-hectare (180 km²) con­ces­sion, the lodge and its sur­round­ings are home to pristine low­land and coastal hab­it­ats link­ing wild­life cor­ridors to the Car­damom Moun­tains. Eco-friendly trekking and kayak­ing pack­ages are avail­able for adven­ture enthu­si­asts who are keen to be a part of real con­ser­va­tion work.

Car­damom Ten­ted Camp is a three-way ini­ti­at­ive between Minor Group, YAANA Ven­tures, and Wild­life Alli­ance to ensure the land and its biod­iversity does not fall into the hands of log­gers, poach­ers and sand dredging operations.

Admin­is­trat­ive Office of Car­damom Ten­ted Camp
No. 25D, Street 294, Sangkat Tonle Bas­sac,
Chamkar­morn, Phnom Penh,
Cam­bod­ia
Tel: +855 966 410 783
Email: [email protected]