LocationsBy Chhunmuoy ATH, Communications Analyst
“I used to go to the forests with my parents. They were so beautiful with a lot of trees. But now, it is different. Some people came here and cut the trees,” Bun Sophai, a woman from the Por Indigenous community in Phnom Rei village, Battambang province, sharing her childhood memory.
The Indigenous communities in Cambodia face significant challenges in protecting their forests due to illegal logging, deforestation for agriculture, and land concessions. For these communities, forests are their source of life and livelihoods.
“Before, we could go to pick vegetables and mushrooms everywhere. But now there are not so many,” lamented Ms. Sophai.
For Sophai’s community, the lack of a communal land title is a key obstacle to safeguard their forests. The process of obtaining the communal land title is lengthy and complex, requiring extensive documentation, legal procedures and community consensus.
A leader of the community, Mr. Niev Naek, explained that the land title will protect the forests because the community members can then stop outsiders from illegally exploiting the forests. It will also create local livelihoods, reduce migration, and contribute to climate change adaptation. He stated, “If we don’t register the land title, our community will fall apart.”
Mr. Naek has been tirelessly working with his community to register their land title since 2008, but it is still pending. Since 2023, through the Small Grants Program, UNDP, in collaboration with, the North-Eastern Cottage Organization, helped the community resume their land registration process. The community successfully submitted a request in late 2024 for 900 hectares of land to be titled as a communal property. The request has been approved, and the community is awaiting the official land title by mid-2025.
Ms. Sophai sees the future, “... with more trees in the next 10 years that will allow the community to live in harmony with nature in a healthy environment”.
