Written By: In this video, we meet Kae Vert, the first woman to lead a community protected area in her village and a member of the Bunong Indigenous community. Vert shares how her work with the Keo Seima Carbon Offset Project protects the forest, wildlife, and her people’s identity, saying, “We protect the forest and wildlife, and that protects our Bunong identity. If the forest is lost, so is our heritage.”
She explains how the community protected area sustains and safeguards the forest by supporting Indigenous traditions and how it generates funding for community development through carbon credits. Through the Keo Seima project, families run nurseries to restore degraded areas and earn extra income from sapling sales.
Vert’s determination to defend the forest stands firm as she patrols the land, which includes the sacred burial grounds of her ancestors, against outsiders who attempt to illegally log in the protected area.
The Keo Seima project is one of the initiatives in our Climate Impact Portfolio, supported by our carbon offset program.
Video provided by Wildlife Conservation Society.
