Strengthening national biodiversity and forest carbon stock conservation through landscape-based collaborative management of Cambodia’s Protected Area System as demonstrated in the Eastern Plains Landscape (CAMPAS project)
At the national level, CAMPAS aims to build on GEF’s significant completed and current investments in biodiversity conservation in Cambodia. There will be a strong emphasis on mainstreaming biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management into economic development planning at subnational level, with planned coordination and co-financing inputs from several donors and ongoing projects, should they still be under implementation at the onset of CAMPAS.
UNDP/GEF (ID #1043) Establishing Protected areas Landscape Management (CALM) in the Northern Plains (in progress). Approaches developed for CALM and lessons learned have been used to inform design of the landscape demonstration component as well as other initiatives being conducted by the NGO Alliance and other Government and civil society agencies.
UNDP/GEF (ID #3635) Strengthening Sustainable Forest Management and Development of Bio-energy Markets to Promote Environmental Sustainability and to Reduce GHG Emissions in Cambodia (started May 2011). The project focuses on southern-forested catchment areas of the Tonle Sap Watershed. CAMPAS has a different focus centered on protected area management and related forest protection and rehabilitation in the wider landscape of Eastern Plains. Advice would be sought from that project during the design and implementation of the landscape conservation demonstration component of CAMPAS.
UNEP/GEF (ID #3890) Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Program for Climate Change in the Coastal Zone of Cambodia considering livelihood improvement and ecosystems has been approved for LDCF funding, and coordination with the project implementation unit will be established to avoid overlaps and ensure collaboration on any coastal issues. ADB’s planned GEF project on watershed management and ecosystem services in the Cardamom Mountains uplands of Prek Thnot River does not overlap with CAMPAS’ Eastern Plains Landscape demonstration area, although its aim to restore and maintain forest cover and watershed stability while providing for sustainable livelihoods development, biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation and ecosystem services, will provide opportunities for exchanging experience in forest and watershed rehabilitation pilots, community involvement and forest rehabilitation monitoring.
The UN-REDD+ Program - a National REDD+ Task Force has been established led by MoE and FA, and significant funds have been made available for REDD+ activities under an initial two-year program. On the advice of MoE and FA, CAMPAS will not invest directly in REDD pilot projects or REDD+ readiness activities as these are already supported from other sources. The main relationship will be in assessment of sustainable financing approaches for the protected areas including REDD+ based on the experiences of these other initiatives, and expanding successful experience from REDD+ pilot projects on community-based forest management across the demonstration landscape.
The UNEP Adaptation Fund project ‘Enhancing Climate Change Resilience of Rural Communities Living in Protected Areas of Cambodia (USD 4.9M) will be executed by MoE. The design of the present proposal has been coordinated with the adaptation fund proposal, and collaborative work with a co-financing value of about USD 1.0M has been identified. Synergies include apply approaches from that project into the Eastern Pains Landscape site, up-scaling and publicizing lessons from the adaptation fund project, and identifying climate change related vulnerabilities for biodiversity not covered by it. Specific areas of collaboration include activities related to Community Protected Areas and Community Forests in the Eastern Plains Landscape, working and learning together on supporting local governance and empowerment of community groups, and training local communities in forest and habitat rehabilitation (tree nurseries, etc), protection and patrolling systems, demarcation of boundaries, and project impact monitoring and evaluation. CAMPAS’ activities on multiple protected areas, including various existing and proposed Community Protected Areas (CPAs), national scale activities involving protected area law enforcement monitoring (LEM), and sustainable finance models, could benefit the UNEP Adaptation Fund project reciprocally.
Specific linkages will be developed relating to Eastern Plains Landscape demonstration. Relevant civil society organization-supported projects include:
WWF GMS Program, which includes programs in the Mondulkiri Conservation Landscape (ongoing since 2003, multiple donors, multiple initiatives including SMART Law enforcement integration (use in protected area, and community forest patrolling); Trans-boundary law enforcement between Mondulkiri Protected Forest and the Yok Don National Park (Vietnam) as part of the Eastern Plains Landscape; Endangered and critically endangered species monitoring (including supporting habitats); Tiger reintroduction linked to the Cambodian Tiger Action Plan; Management plan development and implementation (MPF and PPWS); Community Protected Areas, Community Conservation Forest, and Community Fisheries development, integrated with NTFP cottage industry and ecotourism development. The WWF GMS Program also includes a freshwater and aquatic resource conservation component (since 2005) and sustainable rattan harvest and production (since 2009); WCS Mondulkiri landscape conservation (eight programs with multiple donors, covering species conservation, community-based natural resources management, registering communal lands, and law enforcement support, REDD+ and CBNRM in Seima Protected Forest; WCS Northern Plains and Tonle Sap conservation programs; WCS initiatives supporting LEM including MIST capacity building and SMART development; Birdlife International’s support for GEF and other agencies, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund investments in Indochina (Indo Burma hotspot), conservation of large landscapes in the Lower Mekong, Cambodia dry forest vulnerability and adaptation project, integrated conservation support and tiger conservation in Lomphat Wildlife Sanctuary, and Strengthening and Expanding the Ramsar sites Network in Cambodia; FFI CI and Wildlife Alliance on capacity building, LEM and CBNRM in the Cardamom Mountains.
CAMPAS has been designed and driven by national priorities under strong national ownership and with a consortium of relevant non-government organizations. However, in line with Greater Mekong Sub-region Working Group on Environment consultations, it will also contribute significantly to regional programmatic outcomes through coordination with ADB’s Greater Mekong Sub-region Core Environment Program (GSM-CEP) and Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Initiative Phase II (GMS BCI), the GMS Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Project – GSM-BCC (2010) investment of USD 19M in Cambodia (Mondulkiri and Koh Kong provinces), ADB’s Core Environmental Program Forest and Biodiversity Program, ADB/GEF Program ID #4649 Greater Mekong Sub-region Forests and Biodiversity Program (GMS-FBP), and the related Forests and Biodiversity Regional Support Project under the GMS-FBP.
CAMPAS offers a high degree of synergy with the ADB initiatives. It is envisioned that the project and ADB GMS program will collaborate at three levels: On the ground level for the Eastern Plains Landscape with, for example WCS and WWF involvement; at the national level with the ADB Project Management Unit (PMU), and at GMS level with the ADB Environmental Operations Center (EOC). From the outset, CAMPAS has been designed to achieve broad compatibility and harmonization with the ADB/GEF GMS Forests and Biodiversity Program (FBP), which aims to increase commitment toward protecting, conserving and restoring the integrity of high biodiversity value ‘conservation landscapes’ within the GMS focusing on issues that can be addressed through regional cooperation.
CAMPAS is consistent with all four components of the GMS forest biodiversity program regional support project (e.g. concerning trans-boundary landscape management, wildlife and forest law enforcement monitoring, biodiversity monitoring and information management, METT for Protected areas), which aims to facilitate enhanced regional cooperation and coordinated national actions for the sustainable management and climate resilience of a network of priority conservation landscapes in the GMS, and achieve effective and efficient program management for the GMS Forest Biodiversity Program.
CAMPAS focuses on the dry forests of the Eastern Plains Landscape taking into account its location within one of the ADB Biodiversity Conservation Corridors. Identified synergies under co-funding partnership totaling an estimated USD 5.15M with the ADB BCC project covering all four biodiversity conservation corridor outputs. Synergies with Output 1- Institutions and communities strengthened for biodiversity corridor management include about USD 0.784M over initial years on CAMPAS Outcome 1.1 on protected area system governance, connectivity; Outcome 2.1 on harmonizing regional development plans with biodiversity and forest conservation, and CAMPAS Outcomes 2.2 and 2.3 on community development, protected area management and forest rehabilitation. Synergies with Output 2 - Biodiversity corridors restored, protected, and maintained include USD 2.75M over five years with CAMPAS Outcomes 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3 on community based forest protection and rehabilitation for 1500 hectares (USD 0.424M). Synergies with Output 3: Livelihoods improved and small-scale infrastructure support provided include USD 1.2M over five years with CAMPAS Outcomes 2.2, 2.3 (USD 0.727M) on establishing alternative income base and capacity of communities – linked to forest rehabilitation and biodiversity conservation.
Similarly, synergies with the CEP BCC totaling USD 0.75M include: Component 1: Environmental planning systems, methods and safeguards improved about USD 0.3M co-funding partnership with CAMPAS involving LEM; Sustainable Development Plan, impact monitoring and evaluation); Component 2: Management of trans-boundary biodiversity conservation landscapes and local livelihoods improved (about USD 0.3M, involving landscape conservation promotion, Mondulkiri landscape plan, forest rehabilitation, LEM and impact monitoring); Component 3: Climate resilient investments and low carbon strategies developed (about USD 75,000 involving forest management and rehabilitation); and Component 4: Institutions and financing for sustainable environmental management strengthened (estimated USD 0.17M involving LEM, impact monitoring and evaluation, and sustainable financing).
At the global level, the Global Tiger Recovery Program (GTRP), endorsed by the St Petersburg summit in November 2010, and the Global Tiger Initiative (supported by IBRD/GEF ID #3691 on Tiger Futures: Mainstreaming Conservation in Large Landscapes (approved May 2008) are relevant to CAMPAS through the joint coordinated management of these trans-boundary landscapes and cooperation to combat poaching and illegal trade in tigers, tiger parts and other species found in tiger habitat.
The project will coordinate with the regional UNEP-GEF project ID #3957 Removing Barriers to Invasive Species Management in Production and Protection Forests in Southeast Asia specifically on species selection for reforestation activities, and management effectiveness of protected areas in demonstration sites. The carbon measurement models and tools developed under the UNEP-GEF ‘Sustainable forest Management Carbon Benefits Project (CBP): Modeling, Measurement and Monitoring (ID #3449) will be of particular use to the project in Cambodia, which is gearing up and receiving increased investments in REDD+. Potential synergies exist with the GEF supported project Institutionalizing Payments for Ecosystem Services ID # 2589, which aims at providing information tools at a global scale and at establishing regional networks for payment-based schemes. The proposed Cambodia project is complementary as it aims to mainstream ecosystem service concerns into subnational planning and investments to the benefit of protected area systems, achieving sustainable forest management, as well as enhancing the income base of local communities.
