Community Forests

In the rural areas of Cambodia one forest may be used by many villages. In the past people didn’t need maps. They just knew where to go and where to find things in the forest.

They knew that they needed to protect the tall trees that produced the rain for their fields.

The robbers don’t take the whole tree – just the heart wood which is the most valuable part. But now trees are being cut down illegally.

The illegal logging occurs in the very early morning. Villagers patrol the forest at night to try to stop it.

A community forest patrol team is made up of five or six people. This team is the Teun Village Community Forestry Committee

Yoey Say is one of the women in the group. She collects fruit and plants that can be used for medicine while they are on patrol.

Charin Tamong carries a crossbow to scare off illegal loggers. However, sometimes the loggers have guns so this wouldn’t be such a great weapon.

Some village patrol teams have built observation huts to help them look after their forests.

Another way that people are protecting their land is by marking their boundaries with land title posts.

Staff from Caritas’ partner organisation, DPA, are holding meetings with villagers to discuss their land rights.

They write down information about the land their families have owned for more than a thousand years.

If they have better maps of their land the government can give them land title and this gives them more protection.

Photo Credits: Murray Shearer and Crispin Anderlini (Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand)