Deforestation in Cambodia

data indicates that Cambodia was one of the top ten countries for primary tropical forest loss in 2021. In Cambodia forest cover is around 46% of the total land area, equivalent to 8,068,370 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, down from 11,004,790 hectares (ha) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 7,464,400 hectares (ha) and planted forest covered 603,970 hectares (ha). Of the naturally regenerating forest 4% was reported to be primary forest (consisting of native tree species with no clearly visible indications of human activity). For the year 2015, 100% of the forest area was reported to be under public ownership. Open Development Cambodia, an NGO in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, used US satellite data to show a significant loss of forest cover from 72.1% in 1973 to 46.3% in 2014. Most of the loss occurred after 2000. Since 2001, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) has suspended all the forest concession activities and prepared a sustainable forest management plan according to international standards. In an effort to conserve forest cover, a limited amount of forest is allowed to be cut annually though a bidding process in order to supply the domestic timber demand. A harvest limit of 0.8m3 per hectare has been established with a 13-year cutting cycle, according to the National Forest Programme 2010–2029. Tree cover loss Global Forest Watch publishes annual estimates of tree cover loss and 2000 tree cover extent derived from time-series analysis of Landsat satellite imagery in the Global Forest Change dataset. In this framework, tree cover refers to vegetation taller than 5 m (including natural forests and tree plantations), and tree cover loss is defined as the complete removal of tree cover canopy for a given year, regardless of cause. For Cambodia, the dashboard reports that from 2001 to 2024 the country lost about of tree cover (about 33% of its 2000 tree cover area). For tree cover density greater than 30%, country statistics report a 2000 tree cover extent of . The charts and table below display this data; in simple terms, the annual loss number is the area where tree cover disappeared in that year, and the extent number shows what remains of the 2000 tree cover baseline after subtracting cumulative loss (forest regrowth is not included in the dataset). == Causes ==

Government resource management for development The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) sees great potential in Cambodia's forests to further the country's development. The government can use timber exports to acquire foreign currencies and create necessary revenue to support reconstruction and development. The World Bank considered the forest to be “one of the few important resources for development in Cambodia.” Starting in 1992, the RGC used revenue generated from the sale of forest products to finance various development projects. This revenue decrease and visible mismanagement of the forest sector spurred the IMF, World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization, and the United Nations Development Program in 1994 and 1995 to review Cambodia's forest policies. Some forest policies have been reformed however the causes of deforestation cannot be fixed solely through policy. However, during this time, the RGC privately participated in forest concessions with foreign companies. One point of contention is that these forest concessions required the approval of only three government officials: the two Prime Ministers and the Minister of Agriculture. Global Witness argues that the fate of Cambodia's forests and therefore livelihoods of many Cambodians rested in a few hands of those with opposing interests. This report also named Cambodian timber magnate Try Pheap at the center of a large illegal logging enterprise driving Cambodia's rarest tree species to the brink of extinction. The report concludes that the operation of the illegal logging is being done with the collusion of government and military officials with virtually all of the illegally cut and transported wood going to China. Commercial logging The last decade has seen central forest management placing a priority on commercial timber interests which often coincide with large scale deforestation. By 1999, over 4.7 million hectares were granted to 25 private companies for commercial logging. The wood production in 1997 is this country was 3.4 million cubic meters which 5 times over the sustainable forest yield. The contract often includes sustainable forestry guidelines but they are rarely enforced. As of 2015, economic land concessions (15,300 square kilometers in 18 provinces) were granted to 267 companies, including 3,800 square kilometers of protected area, according to the NGO Forum on Cambodia. Another source from LICADO, shows that the total size of ELC was 18,300 square kilometers granted to 228 companies, of which 96 are locally owned 128 are foreign owned, and the remaining 4 are unknown. The biggest criticism of land concessions for economic purposes is the lack of transparency. Often, distribution of the land concessions and the use of the land is unknown outside of the government and those granted land concessions. Often land concessions have been cleared but not cultivated. This raises questions to whether the land concessions were for productive development or land grabbing. As of 2019, the total population increased to 15.29 million people, according to provisional results from Cambodia's 2019 census. The 2019 census shows that the provinces with high forest cover rate have a high annual growth rate: Preah Vihear province (3.5%), followed by Mondul Kiri (3.4%), Stung Treng (3.2%), Otdar Meanchey (3.1%) and Ratanak Kiri (2.8%). Cambodians living near or in forests depend on forests resources for a variety of products and services. Forest-dependent people almost exclusively extract non-timber forest products, rather than timber extraction. Non-timber forest products are used for both subsistence and commercial purposes. Non-Timber forest products include food, medicine, agricultural inputs, and fuel. A study conducted by the Cambodia Development Resource Institute found that poor households in the survey gained 42 percent of their livelihood value from forests, equal to $200/household annually. Medium households obtained an average of 30 percent of their livelihood value from forests, equal to $345/household annually. The forests contribute greatly to the livelihoods of rural households living near forests. Deforestation negatively affects these communities by threatening their livelihoods. The poor, who have restricted access to various resources and means of income are more dependent on forest resources. Forest management should be integrated with Environmental rural development and poverty reduction strategies. == Impacts ==

Environmental s in Cambodia in February 2020.|300x300px Cambodia's forests are important on a national and global scale. Forests provide positive impacts on their surroundings such as watershed protection, carbon storage, recreation, and biodiversity conservation. This has negative impacts on many Cambodians. Around 90% of Cambodia's population is concentrated on the riparian provinces of the Mekong River, the Great Lake, and the Tonle Sap River. Cambodians, especially poor rural rice farmers, rely on the freshwater bodies for subsistence fishing. Freshwater fish is the basic and most prevalent food of Cambodia after rice, it makes up 70% of animal protein in Cambodian diets. Deforestation has decreased fishing capabilities by reducing the area available for productive ecological activities such as breeding in addition to restricting access for fishermen. Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary is home to 50 threatened species and 21 species prioritized for genetic conservation. The decline [MD1] of wildlife species in Cambodia is driven by the depletion of habitat. Deforestation from commercial and illegal logging and land use conversion are the leading causes of the decline or depletion of habitat. Indigenous people Approximately 200,000 indigenous people always are identified in 24 groups scattered over 15 southwestern and northeastern provinces of Cambodia. They live in remote and isolated areas surrounded by forest[2]. Their livelihoods and culture depend on forests. Their main income, food, clothing, and medicine are based on the collection of non-timber forest products. == Preventive measures ==

Community forestry The concept of community forestry started in India in the 1970s. It acknowledges that local communities in forest regions have knowledge and skills to use forests in a sustainable manner. Their knowledge is rooted in the ecological, cultural, and social characteristics of the community. In community forests, local residents are given certain rights and become the main actors of forest management. The goal of community forests is not to make profits or directly support the current residents by itself, but rather to promote sustainable and effective use of environmental resources and their fair distribution for the present and future generations. in Cambodia, aims to ensure locals rights to forest resources. This program allows for locals to directly participate in the protection, conservation, and development of forest resources. Some challenges that have arisen are conflicting interests with how to manage forests within communities, the government's reluctance to transfer resource management power to communities, powerful special interests overshadowing local interests, the costs of management, and lack of needed assistance. This law recognized the rights of indigenous communities and the general public to participate in decision making on managing and conserving biodiversity in a sustainable approach. Community protected areas (CPA) is a mechanism to engage the local community including indigenous people, who are the primary natural resource users, in planning, monitoring and decision making on protected area management. As of 2018, the number of community protected areas has increased to 153 communities within 51 protected areas. Governance and legal framework Although the law on protected areas gave a legal foundation to the Ministry of Environment (MOE) to govern protected areas, some areas such as conservation area and protected forest are under the governance of the Forestry Administration, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). The economic land concession, which is a state land lease to the private sector for agroindustry development, is governed by MOE and MAFF. In April 2016, the RGC decided to transfer 18 conservation forests over 2.6 million hectares from MAFF to MOE while 73 ELC were transferred to the authority of MAFF. In 2017, the RGC has created a 1.4 million-hectare biodiversity conservation corridor which is the bridge connecting protected areas across the whole country. An environmental code has been drafted since 2015 with public consultation from community, NGO and development partners. This code strengthens the effectiveness of environmental protection, conservation management, and restored natural resources and biodiversity. This law guarantees open access to environmental information and includes guidelines for sustainable resource management and environmental impact assessment for development projects, according to the eleventh draft of the environmental code. The law is in draft 11th as of April 2018. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) Program RGC adopted the National REDD+ Strategy (NRS) 2017 – 2021. This policy established an inter-ministry platform for combating climate change effects through the improvement of natural resources and forest area. REDD+ is a program that allows private companies to purchase and protect carbon stocks from developing countries as a part of cooperate social responsibility (CSR) or climate commitments. These projects provide funding for protected area management, and provide alternative, sustainable land use options compared to other uses like economic land concessions. In 2016, the Walt Disney Corporation purchased carbon credits worth US$2.6 million from Cambodia. Since 2016, Cambodia has received over US$11 million from carbon credits. Cambodia has submitted national forest reference levels (FRLs) under the UNFCCC REDD+ framework through the UNFCCC REDD+ Web Platform. These reference levels provide benchmarks for assessing REDD+ performance in the context of results-based payments, and each proposed FRL is subject to a UNFCCC technical assessment. Cambodia’s first assessed national FRL (technical assessment published in 2018) used a historical reference period of 2006–2014 and covered three REDD+ activities: reducing emissions from deforestation, reducing emissions from forest degradation, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks. Following the facilitative technical assessment process, the FRL was revised from 79,245,653 to an assessed value of 78,953,951 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (t CO2 eq) per year, expressed as an annual average of net CO2 emissions/removals. The assessment described activity data derived from Landsat-based land-use/cover maps (2006, 2010 and 2014) and noted that, at the time, emission factors were compiled from available studies and existing forest inventory surveys (rather than a single national forest inventory). The technical assessment noted that the earlier assessed FRL for 2006–2014 was higher than the 2011–2018 FRL, and attributed the differences mainly to changes in the reference period and methodological updates (including the exclusion of enhancement of forest carbon stocks from the modified 2021 submission), meaning the headline FRL values are not a simple like-for-like indicator of deforestation trend changes. The UNFCCC REDD+ Web Platform hosts Cambodia’s NFMS documentation alongside its REDD+ submissions and technical assessment materials. Afforestation According to the Forestry Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Cambodian government started afforestation projects in 1985. The reforesting plan was 500-800 hectares per year, towards a goal of 100,000 hectares (1000 km2. 7,500 hectares (7.5 km2) had been forested by 1997; limited funds prohibited more ambitious coverage. The annual Arbor Day holiday on 9 July, early in the rainy season, is when Cambodians are encouraged to plant trees. Educational programmes on seeds and soil are offered in schools and temples, and afforestation measures are advertised through TV and radio. == See also ==