Cambodia is home to a wealth of natural resources and diverse ecosystems, yet it has one of the worst deforestation rates in the world. Rich, powerful developers are rapidly transforming Cambodia’s forests into plantations and mining operations. This unbridled exploitation of natural resources threatens the economic and social fabric of Cambodia’s forest-dependent communities, especially its Indigenous minorities. Recognizing that community-based initiatives represent one of the greatest hopes for change in Cambodia, USAID provided EWMI’s Program for Rights and Justice in Cambodia (PRAJ) with funding to create a unique biodiversity protection program. This program was built on the grassroots human rights initiatives PRAJ supported in the past and proceeded from the premise that the people most able and most motivated to protect and manage these precious forest resources are the people whose livelihoods and cultural survival depend upon them. The biodiversity protection program sought to improve the natural resource management of some of Cambodia’s most threatened ecosystems through a three-pronged approach: grassroots advocacy support, national network building, and legal advocacy support.