Written by Mekong Institute

The study was conducted to understand the current status of Prek Thnot CPA. The study used qualitative data such as community transect, time line, seasonal calendar, FGD, and questionnaire. About 90 households were selected for interviews on the livelihood activities, awareness of the members, the level of participation as well as benefits of participating as members in Prek Thnot CPA.

Prek Thnot CPA was established in 2002 with the total member of 864 households supported by the Ministry of Environment and Borkor national park with the total area of 2006 ha, with 216 ha given to the Administration of Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture Forestry, and Fisheries for managing and conservation in 2006. The community was divided into 3 subactivities such as rattan, traditional medicine, and eco-tourism groups which were supported by the Save Cambodia Wildlife (SCW), UNDP, WWF, ADB, Traffic, IUCN organizations, and the Ministry of Tourism.  

The result showed that most of the respondents participated in committee election in Prek Thnot CPA and about half of the respondents were aware of the management process of the community. For the level of participation, most of the respondents participated in low level. The limitation of participation in the meeting was caused by livelihood activities condition. In decision making and planning process, most of the respondents did not participate because these processes were only done among the committees, village chiefs, commune councils, and stakeholders. Moreover, their lack of knowledge made them just follows what the committees offered. In management and conservation process, about half of the respondents participated on a low level and about one fourth of the respondents participated in the implementation project. The level of how members participated in the implementation process depended on the community activities. When asked about the benefits of participation in capacity building and skills, about 44% of the respondents attended the training, which two thirds of them perceived benefits from the training. In this case, 50% of the respondents got job opportunities and more than 50% had increased income after participating as members.

The level of participation was relatively low caused by the lack of communication between community and members; and limited knowledge on the tasks and roles of managing the community goal of Prek Thnot CPA.