Donal Yeang
ASEAS - Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies, 5(2), 263-274
Tenure
rights over land, forest, and carbon have become a contentious issue
within REDD implementation across the tropics because local communities
could be excluded from REDD benefits if land tenure or use and access
rights are not clear. This study aims to understand and assess tenure
arrangements under the fi rst REDD demonstration project in Cambodia,
the Oddar Meanchey Community Forestry REDD Project. In particular, the
study explores the following questions: (1) How are tenure rights
arranged in the Oddar Meanchey REDD Project? (2) Does the tenure regime
recognise the rights of local communities to their land and its
associated resources? (3) What kind of institutions are put in place to
support tenure rights of local communities in the project? The author
conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and
complemented the analysis by participant observation and a review of
policy documents and secondary literature. The major finding of this
study is that the local communities in the project are still given
rights to use and access forest resources, although carbon rights belong
to the government. While the government retains ownership over carbon
credits, it agreed that at least 50 percent of the net revenue from the
sale of carbon credits will flow to participating communities.
Download Full Paper: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2194259
