REDD and poverty in Cambodia

Notwithstanding progress both nationally and locally, there is not yet evidence of sufficient support either internationally or nationally for REDD to effectively neutralise either the top-down or the bottom-up drivers of deforestation in Cambodia. This report reviews official documents and research reports over the 2009-2012 period, supplemented by field visits in 2010 and 2011, in order to summarise lessons learned from Cambodia’s early engagement with REDD from the viewpoint of poverty reduction. The report covers the background and the forest in Cambodia, REDD in Cambodia, pro-poor REDD, relationship between REDD and poor people livelihood, the impact on REDD on tenure security of the poor and rights and power of forest people within and beyond REDD.