Kingdom of Cambodia

Forests & Water/REF/12 KINGDOM OF CAMBODIA Nation Religion King I I I I I I Country Report on Forest and Watershed Management Prepared by Teang Sokhom Deputy Chief of GIS/RS and Watershed Management Unit Department of Forestry and Wildlife Contact Address: # 40, Norodom Blvd. Phnom Penh CAMBODIA TEL/FAX: 855-23-214614 Mobil phone: 855-12-840725 Email: [email protected] 1 CONTENT Page I. Background 2 II. Deforestation 2 III. Forest Management 3 3.1 Forest Land allocation 4 3.2 Forest Concession Management 4 3.2.1 Concession level forest inventory (long term, 25-30 years) 5 3.2.2 Compartment level forest inventory (medium term, 5 years) 5 3.2.3 Coupe harvesting plan (Annual term, 1 year) 6 3.3 National Protected Areas 6 3.4 Protected Forest 6 3.5 Forest Plantation 7 3.6 Forest Community 8 IV. Watershed Management 8 4.1 Data for Watershed Management 9 4.1.1 Data available 9 4.1.2 Data not yet available 9 4.2 Watershed's Issues 10 4.3 Watershed Management Activities 10 4.4 Future Plan 10 4.5 Constrain Faced 10 4.6 Proposal 11 Annex 12 2 I. Background The multiple demands on the land, natural and water resources of the Cambodia increasingly strain its watershed. The integrity of watersheds is, however, vital to sustainable natural resources management. Of particular interest in this regard are water regime and water quality of the river system which depend to a large extent on the conditions of the landscape in the head waters. It is only with careful integrated watershed management that these conditions can be sustained or improved for the sake of the people living in the upper and lower reaches of the river. As in other regions of the world, the natural vegetation cover of Cambodia is being destroyed or altered to an alarming extent through human activities such as forest land conversion to agricultural land or new settlement, over exploitation of forest product, shifting agriculture, mining, etc. The consequences are widespread erosion, soil and water degradation, landslide, siltation of watercourses and reservoirs, flash floods in Cambodia, and salt-water intrusion in the Mekong Delta, etc. On the other hand, it also affects people more vulnerable to poverty in the whole catchments of Cambodia. The forest cover is a significant renewable natural resource if the management has been carried out in a sustainable way. These forests not only play an important role in protecting the environment, sustaining water resource and water quality, mitigating flood hazard and soil erosion, but they are quite important to the socio-economic development of the country. The management of forest resources in a sustainable way can provide current, as well as future requirements of the Cambodian people which is an important objective of the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC). In order to achieve this goal, the government is paying very high attention on forest management practices and the elimination of illegal logging or unsustainable management activities. A component of the RGC forest policy reform shows the involvement of rural people in natural resource management through promotion of community forestry. II. Deforestation Deforestation is a serious problem in Cambodia. Forested area has decreased from 13227100 ha or 73 % of total land area during 1970 to 10,671,939 ha or 58.79 % in 1997 with an average decline of 0.52% per year (forest cover 1996/97). The above figure shows that between 1970 and 1997, forest was removed more than 2 million hectares and the deforestation and forest encroachment activities are still going on in a considerable rate. The deforestation in Cambodia during the two decades are mainly caused by the following factors: 1. Civil war 2. Commercial over-exploitation 3. Illegal logging 4. Shifting agriculture 5. Conversion from forestland to agricultural land 6. Illegal mining Forest products are quite important as a source not only for earning foreign currency but for meeting the daily needs of rural people who exclusively depend on the natural resource of fuel wood, non wood product, food, wildlife, etc. Deforestation can, therefore, seriously affect the water regime and water quality and as well as the livelihood of the people in the catchments. Analysis of changes in land use data from 1992/93 to 1996/97 reveals that deforestation has been occurring at an accelerating rate. According to report of MRC/GTZ and GIS & RS Unit of Department of Forestry and 3 Wildlife (DFW) shown that Cambodian land use has accelerated in the last twenty years. Land use data is summarized in table. Table: Forest Land Cover Change in ha Between 1969-1997 Land use 1970 1992/93 1996/97 Change Annual (from 93 to 97) change, % (from 93 to 97) Forest Areas Dry Land Forest 12,449,900 10,464,774 10,263,797 -200,977 -0.48 Edaphic Forest 777,200 427,145 408,142 -19,003 -1.11 Sub-Total Forest 13,227,100 10,891,919 10,671,939 -219,980 -0.50 73% 60% 58.79% Total Non-Forest 7,261,066 7,481,046 -219,980 0.50 Total Area 18,103,500 18,152,985 18,152,985 Source: GIS & RS Unit, DFW III. Forest Management Prior to 1970, the forests of Cambodia were managed in a very conservative manner with little impact on forest eco-systems. Forest areas were classified into a system of forest reserves that were managed for meeting specific objectives, with emphases on sustainable production and protection, resulting in establishment of production forests, wildlife sanctuaries, research forests, and preservation forests. In the period between 1970 and 1979, Cambodia was embroiled in civil war. During that period, all forest management activities were suspended because forested areas had been used as military bases and the access to forest areas were limited. The 1979-1992 periods witnessed dramatic changes in forestry administration, during which the DFW lost effective control over the management of forest resources, as a result of the replacement of the regional forestry administrative structure by provincial authorities that controlled forest resources utilization. The consequence of planned economy policy of the government and the relative inaccessibility of forest areas, however, most forests continued to remain intact, with the annual harvest well below the annual allowable cut, which was variously estimated to be between 500000 and 1000000 cubic meters per year. In early 1990, under the National Program to Rehabilitate and Develop Cambodia and the First Socio-economic Development Plan, a transition in land allocation to private companies and groups emerged. Emphasis was laid on commercially based development by leasing large land areas to investors. Land use allocation was done in a manner of a centrally planned economy of the RGC. Between 1990 and 1997, the RGC granted more than 30 commercial forest concessions encompassing an area of 7 million hectares or 65%of Cambodia forests. By introducing a forest concession system, the RGC sought to delegate responsibility for forest management to private sector companies and raise much needed revenue for national development. From the end of 1998 up to date, the RGC has been implementing the forest reform program by establishing the normalcy and order in the sector. As the result of this reform, all illegal logging activities have been eliminated, and 22 forest concessions covering area 3001470 hectares had been 4 terminated from 15 companies, and the cancelled concessions set-aside as proposed protected forests and forest estate. Currently there are 14 concessionaires with valid forest agreements, covering a total area of 3526741 hectares. 3.1 Forest Land allocation Since 1990, under the National Program to Rehabilitate and Develop Cambodia and the First Socio- economic Development Plan, a large numbers of forest land have been allocated to private companies for variety of purposes. The agreements have been signed for a specific of time between the government and private investors. During 1990-98, 7 million hectares or 65% of forestland were officially allocated to forest concessions. There were other types of land concessions granted by government such as: agriculture concessions for private sector development of rubber, cashew and oil palm. Currently, the RGC has cancelled 22 forest concessions with an area of 3001470 hectares from 15 companies. Now remain only 14 forest concessions with valid forest agreements, covering a total area of 3526741 hectares or 19.5% of total area. National Protected Areas were established in 1993 by the Royal Degree on "The Protection of National Areas". These protected areas cover a total area of 3,327,200 hectares or 18.37% of Cambodia's total area. The National Protected Areas are under the management of Ministry of Environment (MoE). The cancelled forest concessions have been allocated to protected forests by Sub-degree with the total area of 1040828. These protected forest are managed by Department of Forestry and Wildlife (see map 1). 3.2 Forest Concession Management The Royal Government of Cambodia promoted foreign investment in the forestry sector over the past 7 years, including the log processing sector. Log production from Cambodian forests has increased dramatically since 1993 when the new government was elected. Since 1996, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) had banned to export logs and encourage to have log processing in the country instead in order to regulate forest sector development. The investors were required to enter into agreements (Investment and Timber License) with the RGC and invest agreed level capital into establishing veneer, saw milling and furniture manufacturing plan in Cambodia, transferring new technology and knowledge and employing agreed numbers of employees. In return the RGC gave them exclusive rights to logging concessions, at agreed royalty and tax rates.

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