The Forestry Administration (FA) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) are implementing, with several other local partners, a work plan on forest and landscape restoration (FLR) in Cambodia since September 2016.

This work plan will have four main outputs:

1. Create an environment to focus on the institutional arrangement, inter-sectoral coordination and integrated landscape governance, including developing a FLR assessment.
2. Mobilize resources to help Cambodian institutions, accessing both public and private investments, and supporting innovative partnerships and initiatives on sustaining financing for FLR.
3. Pilot innovative restoration actions that could be replicated in other regions of Cambodia.
4. Build capacities on FLR issues by raising awareness and sharing knowledge.  

Under the first output, in collaboration with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a consultative workshop on promoting forest and landscape restoration in Kampong Thom, Preah Vihear and Siem Reap was held from 24 to 26 April 2017 in Siem Reap province. The workshop served as a platform for introducing and enhancing an understanding of the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation for national and sub-national stakeholders from different government institutions such as MAFF, the Ministry of Environment (MoE), the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction as well as the civil society organizations with, in particular, representatives of local communities from the three provinces. It also introduced the concept of FLR and presented the Restoration Opportunity Assessment Methodology (ROAM), developed by IUCN and supported by FAO. The workshop began a consultative process on existing restoration maps, drafted by IUCN, including sessions on evaluating costs and benefits of selected restoration options of the several identified landscapes. This process allows an update on collecting data and verifying inputs for the restoration maps as well as validating restoration opportunities in the three provinces by the end of 2017. A validation workshop of the ROAM process in the three targeted provinces should be organized in Cambodia to present the results in November 2017. 

Under output 2, a capacity-building workshop on sustainable financing for FLRM was held from 26 to 28 April 2017 in Siem Reap. The aim was for the participants from MAFF, MoE and the National Bank of Cambodia to discuss good practices to establish an efficient national forest fund and to provide relevant packages of incentives for environmental services (IES) as well as the payment for ecosystem services (PES). Several sessions of the workshop focused on the design, establishment, capitalization and governance issues for building efficient national forest funds. The use of IES, PES and REDD+ options, adapted from the sustainable forest management’s needs and incentives, highlighted the need for strong coordination between public and private finance mechanisms. The workshop included a field visit to the Phnom Kulen National Park, which is identified as a potential site for further resource mobilization work especially through a PES scheme. During this field trip, participants interacted with park rangers and local communities. A road map has been developed to ensure that the next steps for developing such innovative sustainable financing mechanisms in Cambodia will be implemented efficiently. FAO will continue to work with development partners and other stakeholders to realize this plan together with the MAFF and the MoE. 

For more information please contact the FLRM team at: [email protected].

Ann Chansopheak and Chhun Delux

(FAO)