Drivers of Forest Change in the Greater Mekong Subregion Cambodia Country Report USAID Lowering Emissions in Asia’s Forests (USAID LEAF) Drivers of Deforestation in the Greater Mekong Subregion Cambodia Country Report Chhun Delux September 2015 i The USAID Lowering Emissions in Asia’s Forests (USAID LEAF) Program is a five-year regional project (2011-2016) focused on achieving meaningful and sustainable reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the forest-land use sector across six target countries: Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. ii Contents 1 OVERVIEW OF TRENDS IN FOREST AND LAND USE SECTOR .................................... 1 1.1 HISTORICAL DRIVERS OF DEFORESTATION AND FOREST DEGRADATION IN CAMBODIA ........................ 1 1.2 CAMBODIA LAND USE AND FORESTRY .................................................................................................. 1 1.3 FORESTLAND MANAGEMENT, AND INSTITUTION .................................................................................... 2 2 DRIVERS OF DEFORESTATION AND DEGRADATION ................................................... 3 2.1 CONVERSION FOREST TO LARGE SCALE AGRO-CROPPING AND MINING ................................................... 3 2.1.1 Large scale economic land concession (ELC under 10,000 ha) ....................................................... 3 2.1.2 Economic land concession (ELC under 1,000 ha) ............................................................................ 4 2.1.3 Mining concession ............................................................................................................................ 4 2.2 CONVERSION FOREST TO SETTLEMENT AND FARMLAND ........................................................................ 5 2.2.1 Social Land Concession (SLC) ......................................................................................................... 5 2.2.2 Conversion forest to settlement and farmland through Government Directive 001 policy ............... 6 2.2.3 Illegal forestland conversion/illegal forestland speculation at household scale .............................. 7 2.3 CONVERSION OF FOREST TO LARGE SCALE INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT ........................................ 7 2.3.1 Hydropower dam construction and electricity consumption ............................................................ 7 2.3.2 Road construction ............................................................................................................................. 8 2.4 DRIVERS OF FOREST DEGRADATION ...................................................................................................... 8 2.4.1 Forest Concession and local coup/annul coup ................................................................................. 8 2.4.2 Illegal Logging .................................................................................................................................. 9 2.4.3 Fuel wood harvesting........................................................................................................................ 9 2.4.4 Forest fire ....................................................................................................................................... 10 3 DRIVERS OF SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT, FOREST CONSERVATION, AFFORESTATION AND REFORESTATION ............................................................................... 10 3.1 REFORESTATION AND AFFORESTATION ............................................................................................... 10 3.1.1 Promote participatory forest management ..................................................................................... 11 3.1.2 Certificate forestry and trade.......................................................................................................... 12 3.1.3 Increase forest values through REDD+ implementation ................................................................ 12 3.2 UNDERLYING CAUSES OF DEFORESTATION, FOREST DEGRADATION, SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT, FOREST CONSERVATION, AFFORESTATION AND REFORESTATION .............................................. 13 3.2.1 Limited governance in forest sector and land use sector ................................................................ 13 3.2.2 Rural Poverty .................................................................................................................................. 13 3.2.3 Regional and Global demand for Timber ....................................................................................... 13 3.2.4 Improper farming and migration .................................................................................................... 14 3.2.5 Lack of long term finance to support forest sector ......................................................................... 15 3.2.6 Lack of human resource in forestry sector...................................................................................... 15 3.3 ACTORS INFLUENCING DRIVERS OF DEFORESTATION, FOREST DEGRADATION, SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT AND FOREST CONSERVATION, AFFORESTATION, AND REFORESTATION ...................................... 16 3.3.1 Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fishery (MAFF) .................................................................. 16 3.3.2 Ministry of Environment (MoE) ...................................................................................................... 16 3.3.3 Ministry of Commerce (MoC) ......................................................................................................... 16 3.3.4 Ministry of Land Management Urban Planning and Construction (MLMUPC) ............................ 17 3.3.5 Ministry of Mining and Energy (MME) .......................................................................................... 17 3.3.6 Anti-corruption unit ........................................................................................................................ 17 4 POLICIES AND MEASURES TO ADDRESS DEFORESTATION AND FOREST DEGRADATION AND EXIST SFM AND REHABILITATION .................................................. 17 4.1 NATIONAL FOREST PROGRAM/FORESTRY LAW (2002) ........................................................................ 18 iii 4.1.1 Protection Forest ............................................................................................................................ 18 4.1.2 Community Forestry Program ........................................................................................................ 18 4.1.3 National PA strategic management plan ........................................................................................ 19 4.1.4 Land Law (2000) ............................................................................................................................. 19 4.1.5 Fishery strategic management plan ................................................................................................ 19 4.1.6 Cambodia REDD+ Roadmap ......................................................................................................... 19 4.1.7 Other government policy ................................................................................................................ 19 5 ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................................. 20 5.1 TRENDS DRIVING DEFORESTATION AND FOREST DEGRADATION ........................................................... 20 5.2 TREND DRIVING SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT, REFORESTATION, AND AFFORESTATION .......... 21 5.3 GAP ANALYSIS OF EXISTING DATA ON DRIVERS OF DEFORESTATION, FOREST DEGRADATION, SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT, REFORESTATION, AND AFFORESTATION ................................................. 21 5.4 PROPOSED NEW PAMS TO ADDRESS DEFORESTATION AND FOREST DEGRADATION ............................. 22 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................... 24 ANNEX 1: PROTECTED FORESTS, CONSERVATION SITES AND FOREST RESEARCH STATIONS .......................................................................................................................................... 25 ANNEX 2: ELCS GRANTED INSIDE PROTECTED AREA (PA) .............................................. 27 iv 1 Overview of trends in forest and land use sector 1.1 Historical Drivers of Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Cambodia Cambodian has many high value forest areas and contains the largest remaining forest habitat, with 80% of the most of the most valuable and endangered indigenous tree species in the region. However the country also has experience significant forest and biodiversity loss in recent years.1 Before the 1970s, Cambodia’s forest area remained relatively constant. Since the 1970s, forest area began to decline due to effects of the Vietnam War, as Cambodia suffered from the unstable political situations and unstable logging in the area (Tetsuya et al, 2013). Starting in the 1990s, as a result of rapid economic growth and fragile environmental regulations, 60% of the country was leased to private timber industry, which led to widespread deforestation and forest degradation.2 Land speculation driven by high prices has also contributed to accelerated forest clearing in recent years.3 In particular, economic land concessions for production of rubber, sugar cane, cassava and more recently biofuel crops have led to substantial