National REDD+ Strategy (NRS) of Cambodia

The National REDD+ Strategy (NRS) 2017 – 2021 was officially endorsed by the Prime Minister on 08 December 2017. The Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries were the lead institutions in formulating the strategy with support from relevant line ministries and institutions to forest sector. More than 1000 stakeholders ranging from national government institutions, international partners and non-governmental organizations to sub-national institutions, local communities and indigenous groups were consulted on the development stage and inputs on the drafts of the National Strategy. The Royal Government of Cambodia considered the strategy as an integral mechanism to support Cambodia in combating climate change through improving the management of national resources and forest lands. The NRS aims to reduce annual deforestation by half compared to the rate during Forest Reference Level period of 2006-2014, which was approximately 1.5% per year. The strategy identifies key drivers of deforestation and forest degradation and outline three inter-connected strategic objectives and nineteen strategies to address those issues and to improve effective forest management. Download the National REDD+ Strategy click here and Khmer version.

Virgin Atlantic buys credits from the Oddar Meanchey REDD project in Cambodia

Source: Unearned Credits: http://www.fern.org/unearnedcredit

Virgin Atlantic offers passengers the option to offset their flight emissions with carbon offsets bought from the Oddar Meanchey REDD+ project in Cambodia.  Passengers can offset the emissions associated with their journeys and Virgin Atlantic , in partnership Natural Capital Partners to run this scheme. The Virgin Group includes several airline companies, which are responsible for millions of tonnes of greenhouse gases every year. In 2007, he launched Virgin America, and in 2012, Virgin Australia. 

Lost in translation? How project actors shape REDD+ policy and outcomes in Cambodia

1. Maya Pasgaard

Forest protection policies to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) are currently being implemented by international donors, governments and conservation agencies across the developing world aiming for reduction of greenhouse gases while ensuring fair distribution of benefits. This paper draws on a case study in northern Cambodia to analyse how conservation practitioners and the local forest management committees engaged in implementing REDD+ actively translate and influence the policy and its implementation in accordance with their respective interests through particular communication strategies. When assessing project progress and outcomes, the conservation practitioners involved in implementing projects show an interest in emphasising positive project assessments by downplaying potential project complications, and by primarily communicating with pro-REDD+ members of the local communities. Powerful actors in the local forest management committees adopt the conservation rhetoric of these practitioners; at the same time, they can interpret and control local access to resources to their own advantage. By doing so, they can ensure continued support, while not necessarily representing all community members or sharing benefits equally. The processes and consequences of this policy translation in a REDD+ arena are discussed and compared with existing dominant trends in environment and development policies.

Source: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi?DOI=10.1111/apv.12082 

Effectiveness of Community Forestry in Prey Long Forest, Cambodia

FRANCES H. LAMBRICK, NICK D. BROWN, ANNA LAWRENCE, AND DANIEL P. BEBBER

 Conservation Biology

Cambodia has 57% forest cover, the second highest in the Greater Mekong region, and a high deforestation rate (1.2%/year, 2005–2010). Community forestry (CF) has been proposed as a way to reduce deforestation and support livelihoods through local management of forests. CF is expanding rapidly in Cambodia. The National Forests Program aims to designate one million hectares of forest to CF by 2030. However, the effectiveness of CF in conservation is not clear due to a global lack of controlled comparisons, multiple meanings of CF, and the context-specific nature of CF implementation. We assessed the effectiveness of CF by comparing 9 CF sites with paired controls in state production forest in the area of Prey Long forest, Cambodia. We assessed forest condition in 18–20 randomly placed variable-radius plots and fixed-area regeneration plots. We surveyed 10% of households in each of the 9 CF villages to determine the proportion that used forest products, as a measure of household dependence on the forest. CF sites had fewer signs of anthropogenic damage (cut stems, stumps, and burned trees), higher aboveground biomass, more regenerating stems, and reduced canopy openness than control areas. Abundance of economically valuable species, however, was higher in control sites. We used survey results and geographic parameters to model factors affecting CF outcomes. Interaction between management type, CF or control, and forest dependence indicated that CF was more effective in cases where the community relied on forest products for subsistence use and income.

 Source: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.12217/abstract 

Gender and REDD+: An Assessment in the Oddar Meanchey Community Forestry REDD+ Site, Cambodia

 Amanda Bradley, Abidah B. Setyowati, Jeannette Gurung, Donal Yeang, Channa Net, Samnang Khiev and Julien Brewster

 Pact Cambodia and Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (WOCAN)

There are numerous reasons for turning this situation around and making concerted efforts to address gender concerns in REDD+ including adherence to an internationally recognized human rights approach, arguments of increased efficiency, efficacy and sustainability, as well as simple good business sense. A number of barriers and challenges exist including a male-dominated forestry sector, high labor burden for women, and poor understanding of relationships and nuanced power dynamics within communities.Within this context, the Forestry Administration, the international development NGO Pact, and several other partners have been developing the Oddar Meanchey Community Forestry REDD+ project in an effort to access sustainable financing for forest protection through the international voluntary carbon market. Using the Harvard Analytical Framework as a conceptual methodology, Pact initiated a gender assessment of the project in order to identify ways in which gender could be effectively mainstreamed during the project’s implementation phase. In order to collect data, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted in four of the 13 community forestry sites in the project area in April, 2012. The assessment team discovered a number of interesting findings related to participation; decision making and leadership; knowledge, skills and capacity; equitable benefit sharing; and resource access, use, and control. With regards to participation, men are taking a primary role in community forestry and REDD+ activities, while women are “partly involved” in almost all activities. Women participate less actively in meetings, trainings, forest patrolling, and forest assessment work due to a number of constraints such as lower membership on elected committees, lack of confidence in speaking, lower literacy levels, childcare and household duties, security issues, and a perceived lower level of knowledge.

 

Download Full Report: http://www.pactcambodia.org/Programs/FPCC/Gender%20Assessment%20Oddar%20Meanchey.pdf

Factors Affecting Forest Area Changes in Cambodia: An Econometric Approach

Tetsuya Michinaka, Motoe Miyamoto, Yasuhiro Yokota, Heng Sokh, Sethaphal Lao, Vuthy Ma

Journal of Sustainable Development, Vol 6, No 5 (2013)

Clarifying factors affecting forest area changes is critical to implementing REDD+ scheme properly. We analyzed some socio-economic factors and clarified their relationships with deforestation in Cambodia for the period of 2002 to 2010. A panel data analysis was conducted for 18 provinces, while six other provinces were deleted from the list because only a small amount of their land was forested. Time effects, cross-sectional dependence, serial correlation in idiosyncratic errors, and heteroskedasticity were tested, and robust variance matrix estimations were obtained to solve the problems of heteroskedasticity and serial correlation. The model estimation results showed that population, gross agricultural production and large-scale plantation development have negative impacts on forest area changes. On the other hand, the impacts of rice cultivation, gross industrial production, household income and house floor area by household were found not to be significant. Overall, however, the results indicated that forests in Cambodia still face pressure from the increases in population, agriculture production, and the enlargement of land development. As the increase in productivity of agriculture gives a better use of current agricultural land and lessens the pressure on forest, intensifying agriculture is important. It is also important to develop industry and other economic ventures to grow national economy while not imposing pressure on forest. This research reminds decision makers to use discretion when developing large-scale plantations.

Download Full Paper: http://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article/viewFile/26492/16190

What are PES? A review of definitions and an extension

Sandra Derissen and Uwe Latacz-Lohmann

 Ecosystem Services (Available online 13 March 2013)

The term PES is often used to denote market incentives for the provision of public goods within the field of environmental and resource issues. In this context, PES translates into either ‘payments for environmental services’ or ‘payments for ecosystem services’—the terms that are not consistently defined in the literature and sometimes used as synonyms. Given the lack of coherent definitions, this note reviews current definitions of payments for ecosystem services and payments for environmental services entertained in the literature, discusses alternative meanings of environmental and ecosystem services in the PES context, and finally proposes a consistent definition. We argue that current definitions of PES found in the literature are insufficient to adequately describe the man-made nature of many environmental goods and services: that nature is ’produced’ through human intervention. Building upon the FAO's definition of environmental services, we propose a definition that regards environmental services as services provided through countryside management in a broader sense whilst produced either unintentionally or intentionally.

Credit: http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/mother-nature-s-sum-4226/

Paper Source: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212041613000119 

Cambodia's forest under threat

Phnom Penh Post, 17th January 2011

The Forestry Administration has warned that the government will not meet its goal of achieving 60 percent forest cover nationwide if it continues parcelling out the Kingdom’s territory in economic land concessions.

According to the Forestry Administration’s 2010 annual report, released last week and obtained today, more than 1.3 million hectares worth of economic land concessions have been granted to date.

This figure represents roughly 7 percent of Cambodia’s total territory, an area larger than Kampong Speu and Kampot provinces combined.

Citing data obtained via satellite imagery, the Forestry Administration said 56.94 percent of Cambodia is now forested, a decrease of 2.15 percent from 2006.

“This result is a sign to warn the Forestry Administration as well as the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries that the government’s Millennium Development Goal of 60 percent forest cover may not be met because of the trend of loss due to economic land concessions,” the administration said, noting that a number of additional concessions are under consideration.

“A review is much-needed in order to evaluate concession land, and land that has not been used according to the concession contract should be seized for conservation purposes.”

Rights groups have alleged that much of the territory granted in economic land concessions is cleared and left to lie fallow without a clear purpose.

In a statement issued last May, the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee called on the government to place a moratorium on economic land concessions until a proper monitoring system was put in place.

The new figures on land concession area represent an increase of roughly 300,000 hectares from 2006.

David Emmett, the regional director for Conservation International, said the legal framework surrounding economic concessions needed to be strengthened in order for Cambodia to preserve its forest cover and take advantage of conservation programmes.

Under the most prominent of such schemes, the United Nations’ Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation programme, or REDD, countries can “offset” their own carbon emissions by paying other countries to conserve their forests.

“There’s a lot of donors and governments wanting to invest in Cambodia … [but] they don’t know if they can be sure that the area that is designated, for example, as a REDD-filed demonstration site, will not suddenly have a new, 10,000-hectare economic land concession,” Emmett said.

The Forestry Administration’s forest cover figure of 56.94 percent “sounds about right”, Emmett said, adding that Cambodia’s forestry loss has not been occurring as quickly as in other countries in the region.

He noted, however, that areas of degraded forest or partially cleared land are sometimes tallied as forested.

“It doesn’t necessarily fully represent the quality of the forest as well as the quantity of the forest,” he said.

“You can look at something and say it’s still forest, but actually 30 percent of the trees are gone.”

The FA reported that at least 7,977 hectares worth of trees were cleared illegally last year, though it said forestry officials “paid attention and played an active role in combating forestry crimes”.

Prime Minister Hun Sen announced a crackdown on illegal logging last year, sacking former Forestry Administration head Ty Sokun in April for his alleged failure to stamp out the practice. Approximately 10,000 cubic metres of illegally wood were ultimately seized in 2010, and 82 Cambodians are now awaiting trial in connection with logging offences, the FA report said.

Human Rights Party spokesman Yem Ponharith said, however, that high-level officials involved in the illegal logging trade were seldom prosecuted and continued to profit from it.

“There have been a number of raids against illegal loggers, but the smuggling of luxury wood continues because of bribes paid to government officials,” he said.

The HRP, he added, has been consistently ignored in its calls to conserve forests and reduce land concessions.

Last May, neighbouring Indonesia declared a moratorium on land concessions in forested areas in a bid to increase its forest cover and preserve territory for use in potential REDD projects, though this move was delayed earlier this month.

Chan Sarun, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, could not be reached for comment today, while Forestry Administration director Chheng Kim Sun declined to comment.

Carbon trade: Cambodia forests for EU scheme

Source: Phnom Penh Post, 05 January 2011

CAYMAN Islands-registered Green Glory Ltd is in the process of obtaining management rights to establish a carbon credit scheme using Cambodia’s forests, according to a company statement.

The firm is seeking rights to 450,000 hectares of the Kingdom’s woodlands for supply-side carbon credits. It is also planning to list on the London Alternative Investment Market exchange via the acquisition of AIM-listed Tricor Plc.

The agreement between Green Glory and Tricor is subject to conditions – including the granting of the forest management rights by the Kingdom, according to a statement released late last week.

Many developed nations have signed to the Kyoto Protocol, creating demand for carbon credits, according to the firm.

Tricor requested a trading halt on December 31 as the deal was being finalised.

Carbon permits rose in Europe last year after two consecutive years of decline.

Allowances for a December 2011 delivery in the world’s biggest cap-and-trade program gained 8.3 percent in 2010 after falling 23 percent in 2009 and 29 percent in 2008. They traded at €14.24 (US$19.024) per tonne on December 31 on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange.

ADB to Invest in Greater Mekong Subregion, Clean Energy Fund

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will invest $15 million to support clean energy projects in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) and South Asia through the Mekong Brahmaputra Clean Development Fund.

The fund will invest in companies engaged in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and water conservation and waste recycling projects. It expects to invest in at least 10 clean energy and environment projects by 2014.

Many people in the GMS and South Asia have no access to modern forms of energy. In 2008, 83% of households in Cambodia, 80% in the Lao People's Democratic Republic, and over 50% in Viet Nam still used wood for fuel so it is critical to increase sustainable energy investments. The situation is often worse in South Asia.

At the same time, strong economic growth throughout Asia has already put substantial pressure on the region's resources and is straining the environment. Further development of carbon-based power generation capacity, such as coal and oil, needs to be carefully evaluated to ensure that access to energy does not come at the price of steadily increasing greenhouse gases, contributing to global climate change.

Experts have stressed the havoc that rising greenhouse gas emissions could wreak on livelihoods in Asia and the Pacific if left unchecked, and urged governments in this region and the rest of the world to find ways to halt or reverse climate change.

"Further economic development in the Greater Mekong Subregion and South Asia requires greater access to energy. We must help meet this demand for energy in a way that is sustainable and doesn't further damage the environment," said Philip Erquiaga, Director General of the Private Sector Operations Department at ADB.

The fund has a target size of $100 million and will be managed by Dragon Capital Clean Development Investments Ltd., a subsidiary of the Dragon Capital Group, which has longstanding experience in asset management in Viet Nam. Other investors in the fund include the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries, the Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation, and the Netherlands Development Finance Company.

"Private investors and financiers can play an extremely important role in the development of alternative sources of energy in Asia. We hope that ADB's participation in the fund will encourage other private-sector players to invest in clean energy projects that will generate both attractive rates of return and a cleaner, more environmentally sustainable future," said Mr. Erquiaga.

Source: http://www.adb.org (9 July 2010)

Snake prices and crocodile appetites: Aquatic wildlife supply and demand on Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia

By Sharon E. Brooks, Edward H. Allison, Jennifer A. Gill and John D. Reynolds. Biological Conservation (2010)

Commercial trade is a major driver of over-exploitation of wild species, but the pattern of demand and how it responds to changes in supply is poorly understood. Here we explore the markets for snakes from Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia to evaluate future exploitation scenarios, identify entry points for conservation and, more generally, to illustrate the value of multi-scale analysis of markets to traded wildlife conservation. In Cambodia, the largest driver of snake exploitation is the domestic trade in snakes as crocodile food. We estimate that farmed crocodiles consume between 2.7 and 12.2 million snakes per year. The market price for crocodiles has been in decline since 2003, which, combined with rising prices for their food, has led to a reduced frequency of feeding and closure of small farms. The large farms that generate a disproportionate amount of the demand for snakes continue to operate in anticipation of future market opportunities, and preferences for snakes could help maintain demand if market prices for crocodiles rise to pre 2003 levels. In the absence of a sustained demand from crocodile farms, it is also possible that alternative markets will develop, such as one for human snack food. The demand for snakes, however, also depends on the availability of substitute resources, principally fish. The substitutability and low price elasticity of demand offers a relatively sustainable form of consumerism. Given the nature of these market drivers, addressing consumer preferences and limiting the protection of snakes to their breeding season are likely to be the most effective tools for conservation. This study highlights the importance of understanding the structure of markets and the behaviour of consumer demand prior to implementing regulations on wildlife hunting and trade.

Forestry changes planned for Siem Reap province, Cambodia

(Photo: Forestry Administration Building in Phnom Penh, Cambodia)

Forestry officials plan to carve out three new administrative zones in the northwest in a bid to ramp up efforts against illegal logging, the director of the Forestry Administration said Sunday.

Chheng Kim Son said he has asked the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for permission to split the existing Siem Reap cantonment into three separate jurisdictions covering Siem Reap, Banteay Meanchey and Oddar Meanchey provinces. Currently, oversight in the three areas falls under the same umbrella, leaving officials struggling to cover one of the administration’s largest cantonments, Chheng Kim Son said.

“We will change it from one large jurisdiction into three smaller ones,” he said. “[Officials] can move and monitor their jurisdictions faster and more effectively with a smaller area.”

He added that the potential change was part of a broader strategy to implement an ongoing crackdown on illegal logging.

“We will reform our work in order to govern well and make it easier to control illegal logging activities, because in the past, it was very difficult for us to govern” such a large area, he said.

Chheng Kim Son said he was unsure when the change would be enacted, and that he had not received a response to a proposal sent to the ministry. Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun could not be reached for comment Sunday.

If approved, the move would increase the number of forestry cantonments – subdivisions falling under the administration’s four broad
inspectorates – to 17.

Under the spotlight

Chheng Kim Son was thrust to the forefront of the government’s public campaign against illegal logging in April, after Prime Minister Hun Sen sacked his predecessor, Ty Sokun, over concerns that insufficient steps had been taken to eradicate the practice. Since then, it has been unclear what specific changes Chheng Kim Son planned to implement in the role.

On Sunday, some observers working in the affected areas said the decision to split the Siem Reap cantonment into more manageable jurisdictions was a good move.

“[Forestry officials] will be closer to the ground, and they can communicate faster with each other,” said Srey Naren, the coordinator in Oddar Meanchey for local rights group Adhoc.

“When their main office is in Siem Reap province, officials have to spend more money and more time to get from one place to another. When they stay in one smaller jurisdiction, their effectiveness will be better.”

Srey Naren went on to say that several much-publicised crackdowns on illegal logging across the country appear to be having some effect. “Logging is still continuing, but it is less than before along the border” with Thailand, he said.

However, he warned that some local government officials are among those profiting from corrupt logging practices. “Local authorities are deforesting a huge portion of the forest area,” he said.

“We are concerned about this. It is reported in meetings, but so far there has been no action to punish these officials.”

Few prosecutions

Court officials in other parts of the country say they are making efforts to prosecute those implicated in illegal logging.

In Ratanakkiri, the provincial court director said Sunday that he had summoned various forestry officials for questioning with regard to roughly 45 illegal logging cases. Lu Susambath said he plans to ask the officials why no arrests have been made in connection with any of the cases.

“We have only seen wood taken as evidence sent to the courthouses, while no wood vendors or businessmen have been arrested,” said Lu Susambath, who declined to name the officials he had called for questioning.

In Preah Vihear province, court officials reported last week that authorities had enacted 20 illegal logging raids so far this year, but that none of the cases had led to prosecutions.

Court officials in Koh Kong last week said they plan to question two forestry officials who are suspected of involvement in an illegal logging operation.

Observers such as Bunra Seng, the country director of the NGO Conservation International, say the crackdowns still appear to be having some effect, even if few prosecutions have resulted from them.

But he also said that authorities need to focus on addressing the fact that a robust consumer demand for illegal timber is helping to drive the covert industry.

“The government has to find a way to reduce or stop market demand” for illegal timber, he said.

“In this case, people find many ways in order to transport the timber because the price is very high.”

Source: Phnom Penh Post (14 June 2010)

Forests and climate change after Copenhagen: An Asia-Pacific perspective

The report, titled "Forests and climate change after Copenhagen - An Asia-Pacific perspective," outlines 12 questions addressed by a meeting of the REDD (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries) Learning Network, which took place on 3 February 2010, in Bali, Indonesia. The meeting's questions included, inter alia: progress on REDD given a lack of binding emission reductions targets from COP 15; funding mechanisms for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries, conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of carbon stocks (REDD+), including the voluntary market; approaches to ensure engagement of local stakeholders; REDD+ and the potential for forest governance reform; operationalization of REDD+ and REDD+ readiness; and ways for local stakeholders to benefit from carbon markets.

A Case Study of Slender and Slow Lorises (Loris and Nycticebus) in South and Southeast Asia

By K.A.I. NEKARIS, C.R. SHEPHERD, C.R. STARR, AND V. NIJMAN. (2010). Exploring Cultural Drivers for Wildlife Trade via an Ethnoprimatological Approach: A Case Study of Slender and Slow Lorises (Loris and Nycticebus) in South and Southeast Asia. American Journal of Primatology 71:1–10.

Illegal and unsustainable trade in wildlife is a major conservation challenge. For Asian primates, economic and cultural traditions, and increased forest access mean that trade may have become detrimental for certain species. Slow and slender lorises (Nycticebus and Loris) are primates particularly prevalent in trade, determined until now by focused counts of lorises in regional markets. Here, we use international trade statistics and a participant–observer approach to assess culturally specific drivers for trade in lorises in South and Southeast Asia, to provide a broader context to help mitigate this practice. Analysis of international records for the last 30 years revealed that live animal trade was more prevalent than trade in body parts (slow lorises, 86.4%; slender lorises, 91.4%), with Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand the largest exporters. We then examine drivers of international and domestic trade based on long-term data from 1994–2009 in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Indonesia. We show that slender lorises are important in Sri Lankan folklore, but their use as pets and for traditional medicine is rare. Trade in Bengal slow and pygmy lorises in Cambodia for use in traditional medicines, a practice with deeply historical roots, is widespread. Despite its own set of myths about the magical and curative properties of lorises, trade in Javan, Bornean, and greater slow lorises in Indonesia is largely for pets. Conservation practices in Asia are often generalized and linked with the region’s major religions and economies. We show here that, in the case of wildlife trade, culturally specific patterns are evident among different ethnic groups, even within a country. Revealing such patterns is the foundation for developing conservation management plans for each species. We suggest some participatory methods for each country that may aid in this process.

(Photo Source: BBC News)

One man's mission to save Cambodia's elephants

Since winning the prestigious 2010 Goldman Environmental Prize in Asia, Tuy Sereivathana has visited the US and Britain, even shaking hands with US President Barack Obama, yet in his home country of Cambodia he remains simply 'Uncle Elephant'. A lifelong advocate for elephants in the Southeast Asian country, Sereivathana's work has allowed villagers and elephants to live side-by-side. Working with Fauna and Flora International (FFI) he has successfully brought elephant-killing in Cambodia to an end. As if this were not enough, Sereivathana has helped curb the destruction of forests in his native country and built four schools for children who didn't previously have formal education opportunities.

Read the full story from mongabay.com click here.

2010 Goldman Prize for Asia: Tuy Sereivathana

Tuy Sereivathana's speech

Getting REDD to work locally: lessons learned from integrated conservation and development projects

By Benjamin Blom, Terry Sunderland and Daniel Murdiyarso. (2010). Environmental Science and Policy. Volume 13, Issue 2

Integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs) have been a pervasive, although widely criticized, approach to tropical conservation for more than 20 years. More recently, international conservation discourse has shifted away from project-based approaches and towards reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). While REDD is based upon experience with payment for environmental services (PES) initiatives and forest-related discussions in the United Nations (UN), REDD implementation will still require sub-national projects. Issues of equity will likely pit these sub-national projects against some of the same challenges that have dogged ICDPs. This suggests that REDD project developers stand to learn a great deal from the lessons generated by experience with ICDPs. This paper provides a list of best practices for ICDPs and applies their lessons as principles to guide the development and implementation of sub-national REDD projects. The intent of this approach is to encourage the design and implementation of sub-national REDD projects in a way that avoids the past pitfalls and mistakes, while building upon some successes, of the ICDP conservation approach. By doing so, REDD will be more likely to be implemented in a way that is effective, efficient and equitable.

REDD-plus, forest people’s rights and nested climate governance

By Sikor, T., Global Environ. Change.(2010), doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2010.04.007 ( Download Full Article Click Here)

At Copenhagen, the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA) was ready to endorse REDD-plus and to make explicit reference to the ‘‘rights of indigenous peoples and members of local communities’’ (UNFCCC, 2009). The reference is important because it acknowledges the historical background from which REDD-plus is developing: the historical dispossession, political exclusion and cultural marginalization of indigenous peoples and members of local communities (hereafter referred to as ‘‘forest people’’). Recent experience with the recognition of forest people’s rights suggests three broad principles for operationalizing rights under REDD-plus: participation in political decision-making, equitable distribution of forest benefits, and recognition of forest people’s particular identities. In addition, the emphasis on rights requires the development of decisionmaking processes at multiple scales and related across scales. Global-scale institutions will be important but not sufficient in themselves. Effective and equitable REDD-plus requires nested forest and climate governance.

(Source: UN-REDD Programme)

Barriers and opportunities in management and conservation of protected areas in Cambodia

Protected area has long history in natural reserve in Cambodia and its idea is not new to this nation. It has been introduced for not only management and conservation of ecosystem but also protection of cultural value and landscape. In 1925, 10,800 hectares of forests surrounding Angkor temple was declared as the first national park in Southeast Asia. To respond to the loss of biodiversity in the nation, conservation and management effort has been made continuously. In 1957, one third of country has been allocated into 173 forest reserves and six wildlife reserves and most of those sites currently declared as the protected areas which offer recreation services to the society along with nature conservation. The long delay of civil war caused the management of protected areas to collapse and over the past decade effort was made to restore the protected area systems into practical sense. In 1993, the King Norodom Shihanouk issued the decree on a new national protected area system. Ministry of Environment is responsible for the management and development an area of 3,327,200 ha in cooperation with Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery.The Royal Decree 126 on “The Creation and Designation of Protection Area” designates 23 protected areas which constitute to 19 percent of the country. In addition, four management categories was defined, namely (1) national parks, (2) wildlife sanctuaries, (3) protected landscapes, and (4) multiple-use management areas. Until February 2008, law on protected areas was approved and it defined the clear roles, obligations and authority of different stakeholders. The increase of number of fish sanctuaries and protected forest areas set up through Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery bring the national protected area up to 21 percent of the nation. Even though protected area systems have been put in place, the implementations are still in process and face many challenges. In contrast, there are also some opportunities for protected areas in Cambodia.

Cambodia’s forests and climate change: Mitigating drivers of deforestation

By Mark Poffenberger, Natural Resources Forum 33 ( 7 December 2009)

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is exploring a mechanism to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) to address global warming. This represents a major expansion of earlier forest-oriented initiatives under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) that focused on afforestation and reforestation activities. While the scope of REDD projects is still being defined, potential categories include conservation, stock enhancement, and sustainable management, creating a range of new opportunities for forest-related climate projects. The core concept behind REDD is that deforestation trends can be slowed, halted, or even reversed conserving billions of tons of carbon that would otherwise be emitted. To succeed, REDD projects will need to control powerful drivers of deforestation and forest degradation operating at multiple levels and carried-out by a variety of actors, from rural people to political and economic elites. This case study of a REDD pilot project in northwest Cambodia explores how drivers might be contained under a project scenario and how the future international articulation of project design parameters could enable or constrain a global REDD strategy. The paper concludes that to be successful REDD projects will require a hybrid approach in which local drivers are controlled by communities and national drivers are mitigated through policy actions necessitating strong partnerships between diverse institutions.

To download open access paper: Please click here

Forest and Nature Conservation Policies in Europe: Spain, France, Germany and The Netherlands

Management and sustainable use of natural resource are the main issues on policy agenda in Europe.Nature conservation practice in Central Europe is importantly concerned on protection of nature and preservation of particular species. As a result, the European Commission has passed a common legal framework for nature conservation which based on the Bird and Habitats directive. In 1997, the Natura 2000 initiative was created on the basis of the bird and habitats directive of European Commission. Additionally, the establishment of Natura 2000 areas cannot be accomplished without mentioning the contribution of European forest sector. Even though there was not any common comprehensive forest and nature conservation policies at European level, these policies are integrated with other common legal frameworks and policies such as environmental policy and the bird and habitats directive which have an effect on national forest policy of member states. In 1997, the European Commission issued the “European Union Forestry Strategy” in order to promote cooperation among the member state on forest sector. Multi-functional forestry is the main focus of the strategy because it has integrated the important functions such as ecological, economic, protective and social. In this paper, Spain, France, Germany and the Netherlands will be selected as the examples in order to highlight and understand more about the forest and nature conservation policies in Europe. Furthermore, the primary data which based on personal communication with professors, government official, forest owners and other relevant stakeholders were also used to support the literature. Based on the analysis, the forest and nature conservation policies adopted by the four states have showed different integration to other related policies. In practice, the forest and nature conservation policy would not work smoothly without combination with other policies like agriculture, land use, tourism, and environment. The future trend of forest and nature conservation policy seems to regulate according to the ecological, economical and social perspectives of these countries.