TITLE:
Assessment of Drivers of Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Phnom Tbeng Forest Based on Socio-Economic Surveys
AUTHORS:
Somanta Chan, Nophea Sasaki
KEYWORDS:
Deforestation, Forest Degradation, Fuelwood Collection, Poverty, REDD+
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.5 No.17,
December
15,
2014
ABSTRACT: Carbon
emission reductions through reducing deforestation and forest degradation or
REDD+ scheme of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change could
not be achieved without understanding the drivers of deforestation and forest
degradation. Until recently, only a handful of study has focused on such
drivers. Cambodia experienced rapid deforestation and forest degradation
despite growing international interests in protecting forests for carbon
revenue generation. This paper was designed to assess livelihood of
forest-dependent community and drivers of deforestation and forest degradation
in Cambodia. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to collect
socio-economic data from 42 households living in Phnom Tbeng forest, where
annual deforestation rate was about 2.4% between 2004 and 2009. Our results
suggest that local people depend on forests for income generation, subsistence
use and social identity. About 90% of the respondents believed that
deforestation was resulted from illegal logging, slush and burn agricultural
practices, land clearing for large plantation, land encroachment, firewood
extraction, charcoal production and forest fire. As the population has increased
rapidly and almost 100% of local people depend on fuelwood for cooking,
fuelwood collection will continue to cause deforestation and forest degradation
unless alternative sources of affordable energy are provided. Appropriate
policy interventions should be proposed to reduce the drivers obtained in this
study because if drivers cannot be reduced, it is not possible to reduce
deforestation and forest degradation, and related carbon emissions.