page_title: Deforestation in Cambodia
section_title: Commercial logging
hierarchical_section_title: Deforestation in Cambodia / Causes / Commercial logging
caption_attribution_description: English: Protected Area and Economic Land Concessions
context_page_description: Cambodia is one of the world's most forest endowed countries that has not yet been drastically deforested. However, massive deforestation for economic development threatens its forests and ecosystems. As of 2015, the country has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world.
  Deforestation has directly resulted from poorly managed commercial logging, fuel wood collection, agricultural invasion, and infrastructure and urban development. Indirect pressures include rapid population growth, inequalities in land tenure, lack of agriculture technology, and limited employment opportunities.
  The Cambodian government has played a large role in shaping the use of the country's forests. An unusually large area of Cambodia has been designated as protected areas and biodiversity corridors, over 38% of the total land mass, but many protections have subsequently been overruled by concessions sold to both national and foreign companies for agroindustrial plantations and mining developments, even in national parks. The government has been broadly criticized domestically and internationally for these contradicting policies, and a general lack of enforcement of environmental laws.
context_section_description: The last decade has seen central forest management placing a priority on commercial timber interests which often coincide with large scale deforestation. By 1999, over 4.7 million hectares were granted to 25 private companies for commercial logging. The wood production in 1997 is this country was 3.4 million cubic meters which 5 times over the sustainable forest yield. Environmental and social aspects of sustainable forest management were largely ignored. This has led to over-logging, conflicts with local communities over rights, and limited contribution to national development and poverty alleviation.
  Foreign enterprises began to take part in commercial logging after the Paris Peace Agreement in 1991. The period of 1994–96 saw an increase of forest concessions to private companies which reflected the RGC's move toward liberalizing its economy. In 1996, the World Band, United Nations Development Program, and Food and Agriculture Organization advocated for market-oriented policy reform regarding the management of Cambodia's forests in order to increase forest revenue and avoid overexploitation.
  There are two kinds of agreements concerning commercial logging: investment agreement and forest timber license. Investment agreements are concessions are given to those who have invested in facilities for logging and wood processing. Forest timber licenses are contracts signed between an enterprise and senior government officials. The details of the contract are not open to the public. The details of the contract have limited public transparency, but 84 concession agreements are accessible through the open data portal of Open Development Cambodia. The contract often includes sustainable forestry guidelines but they are rarely enforced.
  The international price for forests are $74/cubic meter compared to $14/cubic meter in Cambodia. The undervaluing of Cambodian forests has contributed to foreign acquisition and loss of profit for Cambodia.
  Cambodia has implemented economic land concessions (ELCs) for agro-industrial development and forest land concessions, in effort to liberalize their economy. Supporters of the policy argue that ELCs to encourage investment from abroad, new technology for agriculture, linking of trade markets, and create new jobs. On the other hand, critics of the policy argue that ELCs will disposes local communities of their land rights, threaten their livelihood, and create social problems. The granted concessions often overlap with occupied community lands. In 2014, around one third of the land conflict occurred in Cambodia was caused by economic land concessions (97 out of 308 land conflict cases). As of 2015, economic land concessions (15,300 square kilometers in 18 provinces) were granted to 267 companies, including 3,800 square kilometers of protected area, according to the NGO Forum on Cambodia. Another source from LICADO, shows that the total size of ELC was 18,300 square kilometers granted to 228 companies, of which 96 are locally owned 128 are foreign owned, and the remaining 4 are unknown. The biggest criticism of land concessions for economic purposes is the lack of transparency. Often, distribution of the land concessions and the use of the land is unknown outside of the government and those granted land concessions. Often land concessions have been cleared but not cultivated. This raises questions to whether the land concessions were for productive development or land grabbing.
caption: This map shows the overlap area between protected area and economic land concession.
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