f7a70a2a-583e-516d-a45f-39e61ce7f75e

"Forests cover 59 per cent of Cambodia’s total land area corresponding to approximately 10.7 million hectares. The net annual rate of deforestation was estimated as 0.5 per cent during the period 2002-2005/06 representing a significant decrease compared to earlier estimates. The Cambodian Millennium Goals aim to maintain forest cover at 60% by 2015. Currently, insecure title over forested land and unclear rights to use de facto open access forest resources mitigate efforts to maintain the forest cover, to secure livelihoods or to contribute to rural economic growth in Cambodia. This situation reflects a lack of coherence in rural land management policies, weak capacities of sub-national sector line agency departments, poor service delivery mechanisms and the limited involvement of rural land and resource users in formalized natural resource management procedures. The key challenges in the sector are the need to ensure sustainable management and equitable use of forests, to improve rural livelihoods, and to promote a balanced socio-economic development in Cambodia. Past forest management systems have not contributed sufficiently to these broad policy objectives."