Forest Protection

Managing Park Protected Areas

Wildlife Alliance works with government departments to help design Rapid Intervention Teams in the field. When creating ranger teams in the field, it is essential that the teams receive maximum support from central government because their task is very difficult. They need strong backing and a clear, official mandate from the top. Wildlife Alliance will help deliver the following outputs.

• Proposing strategic locations for ranger patrol stations, based on identifying the main threats.
• Identifying candidates to form high performing forest ranger teams.
• Organizing ground patrol systems to cover high threat areas.
• Conducting close monitoring of forest canopy
• Identify forest fires, land grabbing, illegal logging, charcoal kilning and dispatch ranger teams for rapid intervention.
• Building capacity of teams in enforcement of forestry laws, patrol techniques, crime scene approach, information gathering, GIS positioning, patrol mapping, wildlife rescue, and station management.
• Establishing direct lines of communication with central government to request for urgent intervention when necessary, if cases are complicated and ranger action is not sufficient.
• Documenting forest crimes and writing reports to government, with maps and photographs of deforestation sites, legal action taken, problems encountered and progress achieved.

This activity aims at halting further expansion of logging operations and in-migration of farmers and other users, in violation of Cambodian forestry law.

Land use planning is conducted in parallel with efforts to identify alternative livelihoods that do not depend on logging or slash-and-burn. Conducting zoning and demarcation of protected areas and community lands, and developing livelihoods at the same time, is critical because community livelihoods help shape the ultimate fates of community lands and protected forests.

In partnership with forest rangers and aerial surveys, teams conduct zoning and demarcation of community land to clearly delineate land allocated to communities and municipalities from protected State forest. This process is facilitated by the relevant central government agency, and supported by Wildlife Alliance experts. The work is usually conducted by a working group of provincial departments and district and commune authorities.

This intervention includes developing land use regulations for each designated zone. Community land boundaries can integrate forest zones that have already been cleared, with some reforestation zones if logging has devastated large areas outside the community. After demarcation posts have been installed, ranger patrolling must be conducted systematically to monitor that boundaries are respected and law enforcement must be strictly applied.

Government and community planning to develop alternative economic schemes for municipalities, wherever possible. This is a participatory effort that includes Participatory Rural Appraisals (PRAs) with villagers and local government authorities, and extensive consultation with the government’s economic development and rural development departments. The goal is to achieve a win-win result … villagers, businesses and local authorities respect the law by no longer encroaching into the rainforest, while at the same time benefiting from jobs that allow the community to earn revenues.