REPORT ON IDENTIFICATION OF SEED SOURCES OF PRIORITY SPECIES IN NATURAL FORESTS RESULTED IN THE LIST OF SEED SOURCES, TREE SPECIES AND SEED SUPPLIERS KOY RA, PhD JUNE 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABRIVIATION ............................................................................................................................................... 3 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 4 2. OBJECTIVE ............................................................................................................................................... 5 3. CRITERIA FOR SEED SOURCE IDENTIFICATION ........................................................................................ 5 3.1 Identification of species .................................................................................................................... 5 3.2 Identification of areas ................................................................................................................. 7 3.3 Seed trees/mother trees ................................................................................................................... 7 4. SEED SOURCE INFORMATION SHEET ...................................................................................................... 8 6. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ................................................................................................. 8 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................ 9 Annex 1: Summary of tree species prioritized for tree planting programme in Cambodia ....................... 10 ABRIVIATION CSO : Clonal Seed Orchard CTSP : Cambodian Tree Seed Project FA : Forestry Administration MoE : Ministry of Environment NTFP : Non-Timber Forest Product RGC : Royal Government of Cambodia SSO : Seedling Seed Orchard 1. INTRODUCTION Hundreds of millions of poor people live within or adjacent to forest areas. There is evidence that forest products are harvested in significant quantities by a large number of households across virtually all forest types in developing countries (Scoones et al. 1992; Pérez & Arnold 1996; Neumann & Hirsch 2000; Cunningham 2001). Like many other countries in the world, Cambodian forests play a very important role in providing forest goods such as non-timber forest products (NTFPs), construction material, traditional medicine, and services such as reduction of soil erosion, regulating hydrological cycle, and atmospheric regulation. Depending on different forest types and location, the contribution of local livelihood ranging from 21 to 34 percent. The forests of Cambodia has been classified into different forest types, including evergreen, semi-evergreen, deciduous, and other forest (regrowth, stunted forests, mangrove forests, inundated forests, forest plantations bamboo, rubber and Palm oil plantation). However, the same with many other developing countries, forest in Cambodia has been decreased from 11.1 million hectares or 61 percent in 2002 to 10.1 million hectares or 57 percent in 2010 (FA, 2011). This remaining forest consisted of 25 percent deciduous forest, 19 percent evergreen forest, 7 percent semi-evergreen forest, and 6 percent other forests. Deforestation in Cambodia involves with different drivers including migrant encroachment, conversion of forest land to crop land or other plantations, conversion to settlement, forest fire, and illegal logging. Furthermore, it is observed that many remaining forest areas have been degraded in which capacity in providing good quality of goods and services have been decreased. Boung and Phoeun (2005) reported that up to 6 million ha of the forests are considered as degraded in 2003 and need rehabilitation. The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) has stated in the national forest programme to maintain forest cover up to 60 percent of the total land area (RGC, 2010). To meet this target objective, different mechanisms have been put in place, including forest restoration and tree planting programme. Up to date forest restoration activities have been carried out within a small area using different methods such as assisted natural regeneration and enrichment planting while tree planting activities have been active during the last few years in which, from 2009 to 2013, more than 86,668 ha was planted by all stakeholder using different tree species while more than 40,000,000 seedling was produced and distributed to local people for tree planting programme (Sam Ol, 2015). Even trees have been planted, most of seedlings used in tree planting programme came from unclassified seed source, thus, growth performance is relatively low with poor stem form which is low in economic value while survival rate is also low. To address these challenges, Forestry Administration (FA) has allocated many forest areas as seed production area for seedling production and tree improvement purposes. Up to 2003, Forestry Administration (FA) through Cambodia Tree Seed Project (CTSP) established 11 seed production areas/seed sources in natural forests with 17 indigenous tree species. These species were classified as rare and endangered and need to be conserved either in-situ or ex-situ (Boung & Phoeun, 2005). Seed source has at least three characteristics, i) seed source produces plants with better genetic qualities than seed from unselected seed source in terms of adaptability, vigor, stem and crown characteristics and pest resistance, ii) geographic location of parent trees are known, and information is available to the grower about the soil and climate of the parent stand and iii) selected seed provides a reliable source of well-adapted plants at modest cost (John et at., 2007). Furthermore, seed production area would provide direct benefit in term of monetary term to the forest owner such as local community as incentive for their forest protection and management. The project on “Promotion of forest rehabilitation in Cambodia and Vietnam through demonstration models and improvement of seed supply system” aims at promoting reforestation programme and rehabilitation of degraded forests in Cambodia through demonstration of good practice of forest restoration and improvement of tree seed supply system was launched in December 2014. In order to achieve this goal, a series of interventions were identified which include identification of seed sources of priority species in natural forest resulted in the list of seed source, tree species and seed suppliers. The identification of seed sources and seed suppliers aims at establishing the seed supplied chain which resulted in the ease of access to tree seeds, and wider participation of stakeholders in reforestation programmes. 2. OBJECTIVE The objective of this consultancy is to prepare technical procedure for identification of seed sources in natural forest and potential seed collectors/suppliers. This assignment also includes updating the “’Seed Source Information Sheet, where possible, developed by CTSP to fit with the current development and compiling/reviewing a list of priority tree species suitable for planting. 3. CRITERIA FOR SEED SOURCE IDENTIFICATION Establishment of seed source areas can be made in natural forests (identified seed source) which constitutes in-situ establishment. It can also be established in plantations of open pollinated progenies of selected trees species which represents ex-situ establishment (Sheikh, 2007). There are two main criteria, species and area identification, of considerations when selecting a seed source in natural forests or plantations. 3.1 Identification of species There are thousands of tree species in Cambodia. However, only a very small number of species has been used in tree planting. Identification of priority species for promotion in reforestation is a pre-requisite for the tree seed program. It layouts the boundaries within which the tree seed program has to concentrate on. Selection of priority species for planting and gene conservation was made in the early 2000s by the Cambodia Tree Seed Project (CTSP and DFW, 2000; CTSP and FA, 2003). It has been 15 years since the first list of priority species of Cambodia was identified, and the list has never been updated even though the forestry sector, particularly the reforestation program, has undergone through significant development. The current report reviews the published and unpublished reports on tree species used in reforestation programme in Cambodia with considerations of the following criteria: Species of high-value timber (construction and industry): This group of species is mainly planted for economic benefits. Species have been selected to fulfill the demands of local and international markets for timbers. Trees with good stem form and high wood quality are selected for planting. This group of species is selected from the families Dipterocarpaceae and Leguminosae. For pulp industry, desirable wood cellulose quality is preferred and some exotic species are widely planted. Species produce NTFP: In this group, timber is not the main purpose of tree planting, but other products and services, such as fire wood, edible fruits, vegetables, resin, fodders, shading and beautification, animal shelters, soil improvement and watershed protection. Local communities usually prefer this group of species. Some fast growing species, such as Acacia, Eucalyptus, Cassia siamea, and Leucaena leucocephala,