CAMBODIA'S NEW LAW ON PROTECTED AREAS: NGOS APPLAUD

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PHNOM PENH 000113 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP, OES/PCI--SALZBERG AND COVINGTON BANGKOK FOR REO-WALLER, AND USAID/RDMA-PASCH STATE PLEASE PASS TO USAID/ANE/TS--MELNYK AND EGAT/NRM/W--DEELY E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV EAGR EMIN ECON CB SUBJECT: CAMBODIA'S NEW LAW ON PROTECTED AREAS: NGOS APPLAUD THEORY, WORRY ABOUT PRACTICE ¶1. (SBU) Summary: On December 27, 2007, the Cambodian National Assembly passed the Law on Protected Areas, which, for the first time, regulates commercial activities within the country's 23 protected natural areas. The law aims to promote economic development and reduce poverty while protecting and conserving biodiversity in protected areas. Several NGOs complain that they were not consulted when the law was finalized and worry about effective use and enforcement. If, as it appears, the new law opens the door to more environmental exploitation, the big economic losers could be low-income families dependent on fisheries and forests for their livelihoods--the very people most in need of economic development. End Summary. Protected Areas Divided into Four Zones, Economic Development Permitted in Two -------------- -------------- ¶2. (U) The Cambodian National Assembly passed the Law on Protected Areas on December 27, 2007. Once approved by the Senate and signed by the King, typically one to three months after National Assembly passage, the law will come into force. The new law supplements the 1993 Royal Decree on the Creation and Designation of Protected Areas, which demarcated the boundaries of the protected areas but did not set guidelines for their protection, and the 1996 Law on Environmental Protection and Natural Resource Management, which created the Ministry of Environment and gave it jurisdiction over the protected areas, but again failed to define what activities were permitted or prohibited in the areas. ¶3. (U) The new law divides the protected areas into four zones: the core zone, the conservation zone, the sustainable use zone, and the community zone. The core zone is an area for conserving endangered and threatened flora and fauna species and which has a vulnerable ecosystem. The conservation zone is near the core zone and meant to be beneficial in conserving natural resources, ecosystems, watershed, and aesthetic beauty. The sustainable use zone is a managed area significant for national socio-economic development; the community zone is an area managed for existing social and economic development activities of the local and indigenous people. Environmentalists expressed concern that these definitions are unclear and subject to substantial interpretation. The government will issue an implementing sub-decree in the future which will delineate the new zoning within the protected areas. ¶4. (U) The proposed law bans any economic development in the core and conservation zones, although research in the interest of security and national defense is allowed. The government can permit investment and development projects in the sustainable use and community zones at the request of the Ministry of Environment following consultations with relevant ministries, local authorities and communities. However, prior to any economic development project, the law requires that an environmental impact assessment (EIA) be completed. MPs Call for Robust Environmental Impact Assessments -------------- -------------- ¶5. (U) During the debate in the National Assembly, SRP parliamentarian Son Chhay and FUNCINPEC MP Monh Siphan urged the Minister of Environment to ensure that credible EIAs were conducted properly before permitting any economic development in protected areas. (Comment: Currently, EIAs are conducted by the concessionaires, and are generally not considered to be credible. End Comment.) Son Chhay added that the EIA must be conducted with the participation from the relevant ministries, communities and civil society in order to avoid conflict, as past experience showed countless disputes between the local villages and concessionaires. Environment Minister Announces Exploration Rights Awarded -------------- -------------- ¶6. (U) In response to press inquiries immediately following National Assembly passage of the law, Environment Minister Mok Mareth said the government had granted several private companies the right to explore many protected areas, including the Cardamom Mountains, Phnom Aural, and Virachey National Park. He noted that the law is a tool that the government can use to effectively implement programs in the 23 protected areas to make sure that Cambodia can conserve those areas for the current and future generations. NGOs Applaud Legal Concept, Worry about Implementation -------------- -------------- ¶7. (U) Environmental NGOs commended the effort to finally define PHNOM PENH 00000113 002 OF 002 what activities are permitted in protected areas. However, they expressed frustration at not being involved in drafting the law, saying that they had not seen the law after the first draft and were not invited to provide comments. They also expressed strong doubts about whether the law could be effectively implemented, and worried that legal provisions allowing the government to change zone boundaries based on policy and strategy concerns will give the government carte blanche to allow environmentally harmful activities in sensitive areas. Comment: Economic Development at What Cost? -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Comment: While Cambodia's efforts to finally provide a legal framework for regulating protected areas are to be lauded, like so much else here, the gap between theory and practice threatens to outweigh the potential benefits of legal clarity. Environment Minister Mok Mareth's eagerness to announce that private companies had been awarded exploration rights in protected areas--even before the law allowing such activities comes into force--suggests that economic development is the government's overriding motive in passing the legislation. Cambodia's environmentally sensitive areas--protected or not--already play a big economic role in the lives of its most vulnerable people. Cambodia's fisheries--among the most productive in the world--produce an annual fish catch valued at USD 500 million in 2005, which millions rely on for protein. And reports by a local research institute indicate that low-income Cambodian families generate 42% of their income from non-timber forest products. If the new law allows the government to grant economic concessions or permit large-scale economic activities in protected areas, the government's purported efforts to assist economic development may end up undermining the livelihoods of the Cambodians who need help the most. End Comment. MUSSOMELI