Mondulkiri sanctuary shares 5-year plan to axe forest crimes
THE Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary in Mondulkiri province is still under threat from poaching, trapping and logging, so it remains important to educate people and raise their awareness of the 20202024 five-year plans designed to protect it, said provincial Department of Environment director Keo Sopheak.
Sopheak said that on March 30, the department held a workshop to disseminate the five-year plan – in the presence of Yem Chantong Heng, deputy governor of the province and Mey Phalla, head of the Conservation Area, as well as the armed forces, local authorities and park rangers.
The workshop aimed to share the plans to increase cooperation in the preservation of the sanctuary’s rich resources which were facing destruction, he added.
“The plan for the sanctuary has six main points. The first is about the management of natural resource conservation and law enforcement; the second relates to monitoring biodiversity; while third focuses on the capabilities of institutions and governance,” he said.
The fourth, he said, was community development, while the fifth and the sixth were the development of ecotourism and the sustainability of financing, respectively.
Kreung Tola, adviser to the Bunong indigenous communities in Mondulkiri, said the park rangers in the sanctuary were very active, but there were still loopholes due to collusion which meant deforestation was still happening.
“When it comes to logging the forests, there are not so many residents who do this, but there are businessmen behind these crimes. The loss of forests is not due to the residents, but mostly due to traders and tycoons and people like that,” he said.
He added that trapping and hunting were traditionally practiced by indigenous peoples, but that such cases were now down by more than 80 per cent thanks to education.
Sopheak said logging cases were small in number for much the same reason.
“Logging by the residents only takes place on a small scale – they use timber to build houses and make fences. They only tend to clear land around their houses or for small plantations,” he said.
Sopheak said Mondulkiri recently registered the wild honey of the province as a geographical indication (GI), which serves the livelihoods of the local people and is useful for the protection of forests and wildlife.
“When the people are prosperous, forest crime statistics also go down. Community members only enter the forests to collect honey,” he added.