https://cambodia.wcs.org RSS feeds for WCS Cambodia 60 https://cambodia.wcs.org/about-us/latest-features/id/15943/community-based-production-forestry-a-model-for-forest-management.aspx#Comments 0 https://cambodia.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=8535&ModuleID=46005&ArticleID=15943 https://cambodia.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=15943&PortalID=133&TabID=8535 https://cambodia.wcs.org/about-us/latest-features/id/15943/community-based-production-forestry-a-model-for-forest-management.aspx The Community-based Production Forestry (CPF) pilot project seeks to demonstrate that a community-based enterprise is a realistic model for future forest management in Cambodia. Its aim is to provide timber for the market, satisfy government stakeholders, and address community concerns at the same time. The CPF model addresses the crucial social issues of the emerging community forestry sector (such as decentralized/local decision-making, customary use and local tenure), yet also takes into account the commercial aspects required to conduct a responsible business including sufficient attention to scale and volume, market preferences, and the conditions which enable investment in technology, management planning and equipment.This model takes its primary direction from forest enterprise models around the world, particularly those of Mexico where over 80% of the country's 63 million ha forest estate are managed through government supported Community Forest Enterprises (CFE). As seen in the agricultural sector, small and medium scale enterprise represents one of the most effective ways to trigger broad-based job creation and rural development. The CPF model was designed with the underlying belief that Cambodia is best served by developing medium-sized forestry businesses that are able to operate legally, with social and ecological integrity, and meet the standards required by responsible buyers in the international or domestic markets.Outputs of the pilot project are strategic for Cambodia's forest sector reform process. Information and feedback generated by the project will enable the Forest Administration to:Develop experience of how new arrangements for legal forest based businesses, benefit sharing and decentralized decision-making can reduce social conflict, improve governance, and encourage sound long-term management of highly contentious and sought after forest resources.Explore mechanisms which can support the government goals of poverty reduction, enterprise development and employment by linking forest management and community livelihoods to responsible forest management in a reinforcing manner. This can inform policy directions.Identify the silviculture and product/species mix which Cambodia's forests can sustain.Participate in the trade (primarily domestic but possibly international) of timber products with the highest of social, environmental and ecological production standards.Determine the actual costs and benefits associated with low impact, environmentally and socially responsible commercial forest management in the context of Cambodia. Such information is vital for establishing an appropriate and commercially viable royalty rate on timber products (a key to sector reform and national planning)Establish realistic harvesting standards (e.g. examples of low impact practices on the ground) and silvicultural systems to restore natural forest values through attention to regeneration and planting of native species. Mon, 04 Jan 2010 06:30:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:15943 https://cambodia.wcs.org/about-us/latest-features/id/15941/policies-for-sustainable-harvesting-of-watersnakes.aspx#Comments 0 https://cambodia.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=8535&ModuleID=46005&ArticleID=15941 https://cambodia.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=15941&PortalID=133&TabID=8535 https://cambodia.wcs.org/about-us/latest-features/id/15941/policies-for-sustainable-harvesting-of-watersnakes.aspx WCS is working with the Cambodian Fisheries Administration (FiA) to develop a strategy for the sustainable harvesting of watersnakes in the Tonle Sap Lake. This comes after research indicated that the emergent snake 'fishery' occurring on Tonle Sap Lake resulted in an estimated 6.9 million snakes (mostly homalopsids) being removed annually, representing the world's largest exploitation of a single snake assemblage. Interviews with hunters suggest that snake catches could have declined by as much as 80% between 2000 and 2005, raising strong concerns about the sustainability of this hunting operation.A workshop was held in late 2008 to discuss the threat of snake hunting and trade on Tonle Sap, and to examine future management options for the sustainable use of snakes. As a result a series of recommendations to prevent the continuing decline of this resource was produced.The workshop focused on the results of a long-running study on the hunting and trade of water snakes from Tonle Sap Lake. This study has important implications for the management of natural resources within the Tonle Sap Basin. The study took place over a period of four years, from 2004 to 2008, and was conducted in collaboration with both FiA and MoE. Monitoring programs set up during this study are now being conducted by WCS and continue to provide catch and trade statistics. This study uses variables such as the life history traits of water snakes and the timing of the hunting season to make predictions concerning the sustainability of the exploitation. Mon, 04 Jan 2010 06:20:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:15941