Cambodia

Virachey National Park (VNP) is Cambodia’s largest National Park, covering 337,723 ha in parts of Stung Treng and Ratanakiri Provinces. It is internationally significant because of its size, and because it is contiguous with Chu Mon Ray National Park in Viet Nam, and near, although not connected, with Dong Ampham National Biodiversity Conservation Area in Southern Laos. The elevation of the park ranges from approximately 100m in the lowlands near the Se San River to over 1,000m above sea level on the high mountain ranges that extend along the Lao-Cambodian border.

From 200-2006 VNP was the pilot site for the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management Project (BPAMP), being implemented by the Ministry of Environment (MoE), to improve capacity to plan, implement and monitor an effective National Protected Area System. This initiative was being funded by the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Cambodian government. As part of these activities 5 community protected areas were approved, including a 10,000 ha area for Kok Lak Commune where the CMLN is working.

The People of VNP

The Brao Mon Khmer ethnic group and one of its sub-groups, the Kavet, have traditionally inhabited what is now Virachey National Park. These people now live south of the park and carry out swidden agriculture (close to or inside park boundaries) and some wetland rice farming.

The People of Kok Lak Commune, Veun Say District - CMLN pilot site
The people of Kok Lak Commune are of Kavet ethnicity and in the past there were around 3,000 people in the Commune, in at least 14 villages. These small dispersed villages of 15-20 families were situated along main rivers and tributaries all the way to the Lao border within what is now VNP. At present, there are less than 2,000 people in four villages, all situated adjacent to one another on both sides of the lower Lalay stream. Many Kok Lak people fled to Laos before, during and after the Khmer Rouge period.

There have been several movements of people between upland and lowland areas in the recent past. Since the 1960s and more recently Government officials have been telling Brao and Kavet people that they should come down and live near the main river to access government services and take up lowland rice growing.

Since 1996 Kok Lak communities have been involved in an experiment of “settlement” and “development”, reminiscent of the Sihanouk era in the 1960s. People were encouraged by Government development programmes (supported by the UNDP) to come down from the uplands and take up lowland rice farming. Due to serious food shortages after 2-3 years, the majority of families went back to swidden farming in the hills in 2001. From 2002 many families moved back down to the paddy areas, people said because of pressure exerted on them by government and park officials. The food security situation in the lowlands remains precarious, not only in terms of rice, but also the availability of fish, small animals, wild vegetables and other forest foods.

In 2007 people again have moved back en masse to cut swidden fields close to and perhaps inside VNP. People said this is because nearly every family in the commune is severely short of rice this year. They say they do not have enough lowland rice land and they have also found that it is not possible to farm both upland and lowland rice fields effectively. Previously they thought they could do this but they have found that only families with a lot of labour can do this.

Key CM Problems/Opportunities

In all three main districts bordering the park there is a tension between outside Lao and Khmer and local Brao and Kavet over which groups have the rights to manage and control activities. The Brao and the Kavet see the park as their former home. The approval by the MoE of 5 community protected areas inside the park is a good base on which to implement CM pilot activities. In 2004 a large scale logging operation was uncovered inside the park in a remote area near the Lao and Vietnamese border. This led to the replacement of the VNP Director and the Ratanakiri Provincial Governor.

The local people believe that they can help to control illegal hunting and NTFP exploitation, in their community management areas. There is a real opportunity for the VNP to support a knowledgeable population to actively participate in Park management and protection for the benefit of both the people and the park.