Oddar Meanchey, Cambodia REDD+
The project is situated in Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey Province and protects 13 discrete parcels
of tropical forest scattered across the central section of this remote, northwest province. By reinforcing
community land ownership and protection, and developing sustainable use of forest resources, the
pioneering project mobilises communities to halt rapid deforestation in a region intensely affected by
agricultural expansion and forest fires.
This project, totalling 56,000 hectares, as well as the surrounding community area, is critical to a region of
Cambodia that is home to 26 mammal species and many more species classified as endangered or threatened by
the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). For example, the endangered tiger population is expected
to become extinct in northwest Cambodia without the project and the critical habitat areas it protects.
The project will be one of the first to use “avoiding unplanned mosaic deforestation and degradation”
(AUMDD) REDD methodology (developed by the technical partners) and be approved under the Verified
Carbon Standard (VCS) combined with gold level from the Climate Community and Biodiversity
(CCB) standard.
Deforestation
In the 1970s, during the height of the Khmer Rouge, Oddar Meanchey
was one of the most remote and heavily forested regions of
Cambodia. The province’s forests have since come under constant
and intense pressure from commercial and illegal logging, forest fires,
land concessions and agricultural expansion. These issues, coupled
with rapid economic growth, population expansion, migration, weak
governance, erratic development planning as well as the decline of
natural forest resources in Thailand and Vietnam, have accelerated
deforestation throughout the province. More recently, since 2002,
Oddar Meanchey has lost 2.5% of its forests annually as migrant
farmers and concessionaires cleared land by felling and burning
tree cover.
The areas being protected by this REDD+ project are especially
vulnerable as most sites are accessible to human populations: the
average distance from any point in the forest project sites to a road
or a track is only 1.29km. Proximity to transportation is often a
key factor in high, near term deforestation rates as it creates easy
access for outside participants to encroach on the land for logging or
agricultural activities.
Community Forestry (CF) areas in the country to conserve
remaining forest lands. However, these grass roots initiatives
lack the support, capacity and knowedge to effectively halt
deforestation and forest degradation in the areas. Through the
sale of carbon credits, the Oddar Meanchey project enhances
the viability of forest protection efforts and delivers significant
additional benefits beyond the greenhouse gas savings.
The primary focus of the project is to reinforce land tenure for
the community forestry groups while protecting against further
outside threats and enhancing the sustainability of their
livelihoods. Activities include the introduction of a consultative
approach to land-use planning to improve sustainability and
productivity across the area, creating a forest protection network
that coordinates communications and activities throughout the
project area, assisting with natural regeneration of degraded
forest areas and implementing fire prevention techniques.
The project
The project protects 13 tropical forest sites across Oddar Meanchey,
ranging in size from 383 hectares to 17,848 hectares and
cumulatively representing nearly 10% of the land area of the province
and approximately 15% of its remaining evergreen forest. This forest
type has a projected loss of 25% in 10 years without the project.
Local communities in Oddar Meanchey have organised forest
protection groups and established some of the largest
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In addition, to help communities use forest resources more
efficiently and therefore further reduce the pressures of
deforestation, the project will aid community-based water
resource development, provide education to improve agricultural
yields, distribute mosquito protection for livestock, disseminate
8,000 fuel efficient stoves, and facilitate the development of
non-timber forest products (NTFP).
The project activities were designed after extensive stakeholder
consultation and will be implemented incrementally over a thirty
year plan to maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of each
activity.
expected to provide an estimated 20 person days of employment
each year per household during the agricultural off-season.
Leaders and members of the community forest management
groups will receive training in forest management, as well as in
resource planning, forest restoration, microfinance, and small
enterprises. Monitoring and habitat restoration skills will be
improved within the communities, which will result in better
controls over hunting, poaching, and damage to critical habitat.
To tackle water shortages, funds will be used for the construction
of new ponds and de-silting of existing ponds to harvest rain
water during the rainy season.
The success of the project will partly be defined by the community
benefitting from no escalation in current problems, such as
conflict with migrants, military and concessionaires, loss of control
over forest lands, growing poverty and social marginalisation and
a loss of environmental services.
The project will also continue to develop further community
programmes, such as education programmes or construction
of a health clinic, in close consultation with the partners and
community groups as carbon revenues are received and increase
into the future. These special activities funded by the project
will reflect community priorities including healthcare, education,
micro-financing and water security.
Community development
A considerable portion of the carbon finance revenue will be
used to improve the quality of the forests, largely through
supporting community protection and restoration efforts.
Conserving and improving the forests will enhance environmental
services including water availability, microclimate stability, and
non-timber forest productivity. The project will also create
greater awareness among local communities regarding the value
of ecosystem services. For example, the enrichment of plant
species, including cashew (Anacardium occidentale), jack fruit
(Artocarpus heterophyllus), mango (Mangifera indica), and other
fruit bearing species, will provide alternative revenue streams to
increase the efficiency yields of the land and therefore reduce
the threat of agricultural expansion and further deforestation.
The communities will also be educated in techniques to improve
agricultural yields such as the use of organic fertilisers and
vermiculture (the use of worms to improve the quality of the earth).
Central to its capacity for sustainable forest protection is the
project’s ability to generate employment and income for local
communities. There will be a projected 260 patrollers to protect
all 13 community sites, creating an estimated 65 full-time
roles for local people. Grants for water resource development,
NTFP development and agricultural productivity projects will
generate employment for around 30 people. Funds for the
afforestation and reforestation activities will also be directed to project
communities, primarily for labour and materials. The labour is
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Biodiversity and ecosystem services
In the absence of Oddar Meanchey REDD+ it is likely that
deforestation of deciduous, semi-evergreen and evergreen
forests in the region will continue at the current annual rate of
1.5-2%. The project areas represent some of the last ranges of
these forest types in the Mekong region. Maintaining the integrity
of the deciduous, semi-evergreen and evergreen forests is critical
for ecosystem services such as watershed protection, soil erosion
control and forest fire control.
Furthermore, the area has a rich biodiversity. A survey by
Birdlife International recorded a total of 174 bird species within the
project sites visited, as well as 26 mammals. This project will directly
affect IUCN endangered, threatened and vulnerable wildlife that
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use the project area including tiger (Panthera tigris), sun bear
(Ursus malayanus), and pileated gibbon (Hylobates pileatus). The
project will also directly help IUCN endangered indigenous tropical
hardwoods Afzelia xylocarpa, Hopea helferi, Diospyros crumenata
by planting the species within the project area.
Water security is also a major issue for local communities and
project activities will help to manage water resources and
infrastructure. By maintaining forest cover and the current
ecosystem in the project area, the forest will continue to provide
its major environmental services including water purification and
climate regulation.
The region experiences an extended dry season and an often
torrential wet season and its mosaic of open dry deciduous
forest, combined with lowland evergreen or semi-evergreen,
transitions to extensive wetlands and swampy areas during
the annual monsoon. Forest loss exacerbates these drought
conditions by creating a hotter microclimate and accelerates
water run-off rates causing soil erosion, decreased fertility of soils
and water shortages for local communities.
Carbon finance and REDD
REDD projects are essential in the international effort to combat
climate change as deforestation and forest degradation account
for approximately 18% of global carbon emissions, more than the
transport and aviation sectors combined.
There are a number of different causes of deforestation but
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) states that the most common direct cause of
deforestation is agriculture, with subsistence farming possibly
responsible for almost 50% of the total. Cambodia has small but
rapidly growing GHG emissions, and land use change, forestry
and agriculture contribute to 80% of its total emissions.
Project partners
Oddar Meanchey REDD+ is particularly innovative because
of the collaboration between a network of public and private
organisations to facilitate the protection of the project’s
community forests.
The project developer is Cambodia’s national Forestry
Administration. The Forestry Administration will be assisted in
implementation of the project primarily by Pact, a US development
NGO working throughout the world (www.pactworld.org/cs/
asia/cambodia) and Children’s Development Association in
Cambodia. In addition, several local civil society organisations
will participate including the Monks Community Forest. This
provincial network of monks working to conserve biodiversity
for poverty reduction has won the UNDP’s Equator Initiative for
conservation. The project also has several technical partners
including Terra Global Capital and William J. Clinton Foundation’s
Clinton Climate Initiative. Lastly, critical to the development was
donor support and funding that covered start-up costs from a
range of partners and foundations.
Oddar Meanchey is a very significant and exciting project for
Cambodia nationally. It has received high-level endorsement
from the prime minister and will also provide a proof of concept
regarding the viability of financing
community forestry
management systems for a projected 2 million hectares of state
forest lands.
THAILAND
These emissions are expected to continue to rise steeply
which means that combating deforestation and degradation
caused in a region such as this is crucial to making a significant
difference to global greenhouse gas emissions, while also
having the added benefits of biodiversity protection and
community development.
VIETNAM
GULF OF THAILAND
Location:
Located in the northwestern corner of Cambodia in Oddar Meanchey province.
The distribution of the project’s Community Forests through Oddar
Meanchey province
The CarbonNeutral Company - a world-leading provider of carbon reduction solutions
London T: +44 20 7833 6000 E: [email protected]
New York T: 1-646-367-5800 E: [email protected]
www.carbonneutral.com