NGOs cooperate to improve the accountability of Cambodia’s concession system and implementation of a supportive national policy framework related to land and natural resources, thereby improving tenure security for forest-dependent communities.

Forests, a central feature of Cambodia’s rural landscape, are being rapidly degraded be-cause laws and policies supportive of forest-dependent communities are only selectively implemented and government officials are not adequately held accountable. This is con-tributing to the process of deforestation and growing rural inequality. The Cambodian Forest Law (2002) provides a legal basis for rural communities to participate in forest management through community forestry and since the early 1990s, NGOs and interna-tional organizations have initiated the development of these models and their success have convinced some Government and Donor policy-makers of the value of decentral-ised forest management options. However, the rate of forest degradation and allocation of agro-industrial plantations in forested areas risks closing off this option unless there is a greater impetus for the implementation of laws and policies supportive of forest-dependent communities.

The Forest Livelihoods and Plantations (FL&P) Project works to organize and streng-then the ability of NGOs and CBOs to work on forest livelihood and plantation issues and has been operational since 2002. The FL&P Project works primarily through the Forest Livelihoods and Plantations (FL&P) Network which is comprised of local and international NGOs who support communities living in and near forest concession and plantation areas inside some of Cambodia’s most valuable forests.

In January 2005, the capacity building and networking functions of the Forest Livelihoods Project (Component A) were transferred to Oxfam GB. However, NGO Forum still continues to coordinate national level advocacy on forestry livelihood issues. In particular, in 2005, the Forest Livelihoods Project successfully requested a World Bank inspection of the World Bank-funded Forest Concession Project and provided comments on an independent review of forest concession management plans.

Initially, the project focused on increasing the ability of local communities to protect their rights and interests with respect to the use and management of forests and land. Activities undertaken by a network of NGOs included village-level legal education; fa-cilitating stakeholder discussions on forestry issues; and enabling public consultation on relevant draft legislation. In 2005, the capacity building and networking functions were transferred to Oxfam GB, whilst the FL&P Project continued to coordinate national-level advocacy. Between 2006 and 2008, the project, in coordination with members of the FL&P Network expanded its mandate to also address the impact of plantations and Economic Land Concessions (ELCs) on local livelihoods and access to natural re-sources. The project provided a forum for the concerns of affected communities to be brought to the attention of Government officials, donors and the general public (for ex-ample ensuring that livelihood issues are considered in the process of reviewing strategic level forest concession management plans and raising the profile of forest livelihoods issues shifting the focus of the forest policy reform agenda towards viewing forestry as a human rights issue). It also brought to light illegal logging activities of concessions; supported specific advocacy cases and activities of affected communities at local, national and regional levels; conducted investigation and research into specific sensitive issues; and raised public awareness of the importance of sustainable natural resource management. Additionally, the project successfully requested a World Bank inspection of the World-Bank funded Forest Concession Project and provided comments on an independent review of Forest Concession Management Plans.

During the Action Plan 2010-2011, the FL&P Project aims to raise the level of aware-ness and understanding about forest rights of communities by government officials, civil society actors and foreign aid providers. Forest-dependent communities, and NGOs supporting them, will become more aware of their land and forest rights and be better able to advocate for them. The livelihood imperatives of forest-dependent communities will become both more visible and better understood by policy makers at the provincial and national level. Ultimately, the legal framework for forest resources management will be further refined and enforced to support rural livelihoods and to provide opportunities for rural communities in forest management and conservation.

Access to land and natural resources continues to be one of the most critical issues in Cambodia, and encapsulates the problems found between balancing sustainable liveli-hoods for the rural poor and the significant wealth generated by exploitation of the country’s natural assets. Despite recent annual economic growth of between 10-12%, nearly 80% of the population live in rural areas and continue to be dependent on agricul-ture and non-timber forest products for their livelihoods. However, Cambodian Gov-ernment has long since viewed its forests as a source of national income. Much of the forest estate allocated to more than 30 large-scale concession companies during the 1990s has now been converted to land development schemes such as ELCs. Officially, approximately one million hectares of land has been formally granted under this model by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), however Government-private sector transparency and accountability for these commercial arrangements is poor and it is believed that the actual land area under operation is significantly larger. 2007 and 2008 saw an increase in the number of ELCs allocated for the production of agro-fuels. At the same time these trends of investment which lacks transparency or ac-countability are beginning to be repeated within the mining sector, with a multitude of mining concessions granted to domestic and foreign business entities without due con-sideration for the likely environmental and social impact. The growing role of foreign investors from developed countries (such as Australia and the USA) increases the poten-tial for engagement with Corporate Social Responsibility safeguards. However, experi-ence shows that unless mandated, these companies frequently adopt the host countries lower standards, and additionally, the majority of foreign investors in Cambodia origi-nate from countries in the region which do not require safeguards.

A number of interconnected issues are working to undermine the rights of forest-dependent communities and limiting their livelihood options. The current legal frame-work is not implemented or enforced sufficiently at local and national level. Influential people, including ELC concessionaires, unlawfully assume control of land and natural resources, which leads to poor and marginalized people increasingly loosing their access to land and natural resources thereby affecting their sustainable livelihood options. For-est-dependent communities and indigenous groups lack knowledge about their rights to land and natural resources and have a relatively low capacity to ensure that these rights are upheld by relevant duty bearers. Many forestry officials do not believe that commu-nities have the capacity to protect, manage or rehabilitate forests, which further under-mines official support for Community Based Forest Management and restricts the access of communities to forest resources.

During the 2010-2011 Action Plan, the FL&P Project will focus on addressing the fol-lowing three key problem areas.

a) Monitoring the implementation of ELCs at the local level, including: in-formation sharing through the FL&P Network activities; updating the ELC Database which is managed by the Land Information Centre, within the L&LP of NGO Forum; and conducting in-depth research.
b) Supporting NGOs and affected communities to advocate in relation to specific cases for intervention at the national and international levels.
c) Engaging stakeholders in policy-dialogue in relation to pro-poor reform of ELCs through national institutions and mechanisms such as the National Forest Programme –Task Force and the CDCF / GDCC Meetings

Although, the project does not have the capacity to work directly on Mining Conces-sions, information gathering and monitoring activities will be undertaken as appropriate. Additionally, the project will work with the “Impacts of Extractive Industries” civil so-ciety Working Group being established, such as raising specific mining cases for advo-cacy, based on the requests from the FL&P Network members. On cases involving in-digenous peoples, the project shall work in partnership with the Indigenous Minority Rights Project.

Illegal forest activities such as logging and hunting of wildlife continue to have negative impacts on the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities. Work to address this by the project and FL&P Network members will focus on local level investigation and monitoring, advocating for intervention by the Government on specific cases at the na-tional and international levels, increasing coverage of illegal forestry issues through the media, and facilitating intervention by Forestry Administration (FA) officials to resolve conflicts at the local level.

Although the Forestry Law (2002) provides a legal basis for rural communities to par-ticipate in forest management through development of community forestry, only 10 CF sites have gained legal recognition. The project and FL&P Network members will work with other national and provincial networks and agencies working with CF to lobby for national policy dialogue on: a) reforming the CF sub-decree and procedures in order for communities to more easily meet the registration requirements; b) strengthening the rights of community-based forest management outside of CF sites; and c) speeding up the process of legal recognition for the existing CF areas.