While Cambodia’s forest
resource base is estimated to cover over half of Cambodia’s land area, much of
it has been significantly degraded over the last ten to fifteen years.
As is widely known, substantial areas were allocated to forest
concessions, other areas were logged by non-concessionaires, and both a growing
population and increasing consumption of forest resources for timber, fuel wood,
and a range of non-timber forest products is placing the remaining resources
under significant pressure. More
than ever before, forest cover is being lost permanently as it is converted to
agricultural land, often in the form of large plantations owned by a few wealthy
businessmen.
An additional threat are the
road building programs of forest concessionaires, together with those financed
through bilateral and multilateral aid, which have made forest areas in many
parts of Cambodia easily accessible. This is facilitating a significant in-migration of settlers
into forest areas, many of whom subsequently seek to clear forestland and gain
title to newly cleared areas. There are a number of implications of these
developments for Cambodia’s forests, their future commercial potential, and
for those groups that have traditionally resided in and around forest areas.
While the forest resource
base is under pressure, significant potential exists for the prevention of
poverty through the development of social forestry, and joint forest management
systems that build upon the traditional integration of forests and fisheries
within the agricultural systems of Khmers and minority groups.
In addition, efforts by local communities to stop illegal logging are
currently receiving significant support from local government officials in many
areas.
Illegal
logging and independent monitoring: High levels of logging are
occurring throughout Cambodia. Logging,
although often represented as the work of villagers, is usually organized by the
military or police with the collusion of other government officials.
Timber is harvested, processed, transported and sold through a
well-established network of intermediaries, with only sporadic interdiction by
responsible authorities. Large-scale logging is also occurring under the guise of land
concessions and rubber plantations. Plantation
developments have often targeted the most valuable forest areas rather than
non-forest areas or scrublands that would be more appropriate for conversion to
agriculture.
Compounding the problems of
illegal logging, the practice of independent monitoring in Cambodia has been
discontinued since the removal of Global Witness earlier in the year.
Donors have also sought to de-link their foreign assistance from
requiring that the Cambodian government manage Cambodia’s forest resources for
maximum public benefit. This was
the original reason for independent monitoring as the Forest Crime Monitoring
Project document noted in 1999.[1]
Large
or small-scale forestry, agriculture, and plantation development: A key focus of the government’s poverty reduction strategy is
the promotion of agro-industry through the development of plantations and links
to the processing of cash crops (such as cashews, oil palm, rubber, soy beans)
subsequently produced. Current government practice indicates that a decision has
been taken to promote large-scale plantation development. This decision is having a significant impact on rural
communities as it has involved the reallocation of substantial forest areas for
agricultural development. If these
decisions are implemented conversion of forest areas will accelerate, a few
families and companies will become the de facto owners of the bulk of
Cambodia’s converted forestland, and inequality in the distribution of income
is likely to continue to worsen.
The
cutting of resin trees:
Cutting of resin trees continues
despite provisions in the forest law prohibiting their cutting[2],
and increased knowledge of the high levels of income villagers generate through
the tapping of resin trees.[3]
Much of the current cutting is occurring under the guise of land
concession and plantation developments, and indications are that approved forest
concessions intend to cut the resin trees of villagers in concession areas.
Inventory data used to justify the approval of forest concession
management plans does not acknowledge that much of the proposed annual allowable
cut is made up of resin trees. Consultants
working on the World Bank’s Learning and Innovation Loan on Forest Concession
Management have indicated that the issue of resin trees has not been factored
into consideration as to whether forest concessions are commercially viable and
that companies can negotiate with villagers over the selling of resin trees to
enable them to be cut.
Rubber
or resin:
Both the Cambodian government
and some members of the donor community have been trumpeting the potential of
rural Cambodia for agro-industry, and in particular, for the production of
rubber.[4]
This bullish appraisal of Cambodia’s potential for rubber production
seems to have ignored the long-term downward trend in the international market
price for rubber, and natural rubber’s substitutability with synthetic rubber.[5]
In contrast the international price for dipterocarp oleoresin has risen
considerably since the 1970s due to the large scale deforestation that has
occurred over the past few decades in Insular Southeast Asia.[6]
In addition, resin tapping implies the preservation of Cambodia’s dipterocarp
forests and would as such have a number of significant environmental benefits.
Poverty
reduction or poverty creation:
The constant refrain of both
government and donors is that the policy reforms planned and implemented are
aimed at the reduction of poverty. Almost
every government statement and donor plan of action is now justified with
reference to its impact in reducing poverty. However government practice, often
financed and legitimated by the donor community is placing Cambodia on the
trajectory of increasing inequality and possibly pushing a significant portion
of rural dwellers towards deeper poverty. This
applies particularly to forest dependent communities who have had their access
to forest resources curtailed, the products on which they most depend for their
income usurped by others or taxed at almost their full market value[7],
and now their forest taken away from them through the promotion of poorly
conceived development schemes such as the Tum Ring rubber plantation.
For many in rural areas, the future remains bleak.
Cambodia
is at a crossroads. Cambodia faces
the significant risk of becoming the Haiti of the Asia-Pacific, with continued
impoverishment of the majority, the loss of almost all forest cover, and ongoing
threats of social instability. Basing forest management on forest concessions, annual
coupes, and large-scale land concessions will likely lead Cambodia toward this
scenario.
Alternatively,
Cambodian policy makers could choose to replicate the more equitable development
model of countries that have managed to preserve forest resources in a manner
that provides for the livelihood needs of rural communities, and ensures the
maintenance of key ecological and hydrological systems.
This will entail implementing an alternative forest management strategy
that recognizes that Cambodia will only retain its forests if communities become
central to their management, and are granted rights to protect, manage, and
benefit from forest areas.
To
move towards the sustainable and equitable management of Cambodia’s forests,
the following urgent steps are recommended. It is imperative that all these steps be undertaken prior to
the government’s approval of new commercial ventures, or renegotiation of
existing concession contracts (such as forest concessions, land concessions, and
plantation developments). These
steps are:
·
Commission an independent and comprehensive forest cover assessment as
the basis for the delineation of a permanent forest estate.
·
Delineate a permanent forest estate.
·
Prepare and pass a law on state property (which includes the permanent
forest estate) that would ensure transparency in relation to its demarcation,
utilization, and management.
·
Make an unambiguous commitment, in unison with the World Bank Learning
and Innovation Loan on Forest Concession Management, that the legal provisions
prohibiting the cutting of all resin trees will be upheld and this ban will be
factored into the assessment of whether concessions are viable.
·
Remove responsibility for forest crime monitoring from the Ministry of
Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries and assign this responsibility to an
institution not linked to the approval and management of forest concessions.
· Establish an independent monitoring mechanism that will investigate both forest crimes, and the legality of government decision-making in relation to the use and management of forest resources.
[1] The Forest Crime Monitoring and Reporting project document stated: “To further encourage RGC in the pursuit of effective forest law enforcement, the IMF has specified establishment of an [sic] permanent forest monitoring system as a requirement for resumption of its macroeconomic support programme.” & “As a third dimension, Government proposes to engage an independent advisory group that will make public its assessments of Government’s efforts in forestry. This independent assessment is intended to provide assurance to the international donor community on both the meaningfulness of RGCs own reporting estimates and on Government’s basic commitment to sustainable forestry.” Royal Government of Cambodia, Forest Crime Monitoring and Reporting, project document, July 1999. P. 4.
[2]
Article 29A.3 Forest law states: “it shall be prohibited to harvest the
following anywhere within the Permanent Forest Reserve....
Trees within a species that local communities have tapped to extract
resin for customary use”.
[3]
See Tom D. Evans, et al, A study of resin-tapping and livelihoods in Southern Mondulkiri,
Cambodia, with implications for conservation and forest management,
Wildlife Conservation Society, Phnom Penh, January 2003; Ian G. Baird, “Dipterocarpus
Wood Resin Tenure, Management and Trade: Practices of the Brao in Northeast
Cambodia”, Master of Arts Thesis, Department of Geography, University of
Victoria, 2003; McAndrew,
John P., Mam Sambath, Hong Kimly, and Ly Bunthai. "Indigenous
Adaptation to a Decline in Natural Resources: The Experience of Two Phnong
Communes in Northeast Cambodia." Phnom Penh: CIDSE, draft, 2003.
[4]
For instance, the World Bank’s recent concept paper on the sources of
growth noted: “Rubber is potentially Cambodia’s most valuable natural
resource after timber. Rubber
was once Cambodia’s prime earner of foreign exchange but now the
plantations are in decline; the trees are old, equipment is obsolete and in
poor condition and the quality of the rubber is very low.”
See: World Bank, “Cambodia: Sources of Growth and Poverty Reduction
Study”, World Bank, Phnom Penh, September 2003, pg. 5.
[5]
See “Rubber barons?”, The
Economist, 29 May, 2003; “Snapped”, The
Economist, 16 December, 1999.
[6]
See Renée Ankarfjärd & Miran Kegl, “Tapping oleoresin from Dipterocarpus
alatus (Dipterocarpaceae) in a Lao Village”, Economic Botany, Vol. 52, No. 1, 1998, pp. 7-14; Rosemary
Gianno, “The exploitation of resinous products in a lowland Malayan
forest”, Wallaceana, Vol. 43,
1986, pp. 3-6.
For more information and the issues raised in this paper, please contact: The NGO Forum Forestry Project, Phone: 023 986 269 Email: andrewcock@bigpond.com; sokhom@ngoforum.org.kh