The Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary protects approximately 170,000 hectares (420,000 acres) of forested land that is the ancestral home of the Indigenous Bunong people whose unique culture and beliefs are inseparable from the forest. It is also home to more than 950 wild species, including 75 globally threatened species. The project preserves the region’s vulnerable wildlife, including the world’s largest populations of endangered, black-shanked douc and yellow-cheeked crested gibbon, as well as a nationally significant population of Asian elephants.    The project channels private-sector financing to the local community conserving the forest. The investments are made possible through the sale of Verified Emission Reductions that are verified using the globally recognized Verified Carbon Standard. The resulting Verified Carbon Units are then traded on the voluntary carbon market. Proceeds from the VCU sales are used to fund forest conservation, wildlife protection, and community development in one of the most under-resourced communities in the world.  Since 2009, the project has assisted with co-creating impactful local community teams that protect and manage threatened landscapes. These teams also work to co-develop education, skills training, and other initiatives to improve well-being.    Without the project, destructive activities such as illegal land clearing that replaces native tree species with commercial cash crops would continue posing a risk. With the project, over 1.4 million tonnes of CO2 emissions have been avoided each year for a total of 16,378,529 tonnes of CO2 emissions avoided to date.