Situational Analysis:

Currently, the natural resources are being declined rapidly and are under constant threat from illegal practices in term of logging and fishing, forestland encroachment, economic land and mining concessions, as well as development programs such as construction of hydropower dams and roadways. The boom in urban and semi-urban construction requires large amounts of natural resources such as soil for landfilling, sand, gravel and timber. To date these resources could be accessed in relative proximity to the capital but as these become depleted, construction companies and suppliers of these raw materials have to look further afield and many of the materials required are located in designated protected areas. Weak implementation of the NRM laws means that communities managing these protected areas have little power to prevent encroachment and loss of forest cover cleared to extract the raw materials, especially when those extracting have written permission to do so.  This applies also to the exploration for, and extraction of, mineral deposits which is of significant concern to DPA target communities as many of the potential mines are located in these communities.

Equitable access to natural resources is especially important for our target indigenous communities in order to help build their resilience in the face of poverty, food insecurity and natural disasters. The protected natural resources provide a range of benefits: sustaining the livelihoods and increasing the productivity of agricultural activities and incomes of the target indigenous communities; and, conserving the environment and biodiversity and IP’s identity and culture. In addition, the governance of natural resources contributes more substantially to economic growth and an increase in public revenues.

DPA will focus on this thematic area over the next five years in order to ensure that Cambodia’s natural resources, especially in DPA target areas, are managed, protected and used equitably and sustainably including mitigating social and environmental impacts of mining operations.