This statement addresses the Mongabay articles from July 22 and July 24.
Rural Cambodia is undergoing a rapid transition, resulting in increased demand for land, competing claims, and significant deforestation—all exacerbated by weak governance. This reality is widespread across Cambodia, not just in the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary. Despite these challenging conditions, the Keo Seima REDD+ project, which launched in 2010, has made meaningful progress and continues to do so. Significant strides in land security, community well-being, and conservation would have been impossible without the intervention of the REDD+ project.
The Keo Seima REDD+ project has consistently championed the recognition of customary rights and strengthened the legal tenure of Indigenous ancestral territories. The protection status of Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary is vital for ensuring these rights and directly benefits the Bunong people. It has maintained transparency and good faith in its reporting and actively supports conflict and grievance resolution. Independent audits have confirmed the project's operational integrity and positive impact compared to its baseline.
For over a decade, the project has supported Indigenous communities' legal applications to secure land rights, funded Indigenous-led law firms for community representation, mediated land disputes, and advocated for fair land use policies. It has provided significant resources to human rights and Indigenous-led organizations to resolve ongoing legal cases and actively advocated at the national level for clearer protections of Indigenous land rights. The project's community initiatives have had a substantial positive impact by focusing on granting communities ownership and access to land rather than imposing additional restrictions. These efforts include supporting the creation of seven Indigenous Communal Land Titles (ICLTs) and establishing community zones around settlements.
One significant way the project benefits communities is through the groundbreaking Cash for Communities program, which has provided over USD 2 million in funding. This benefit-sharing mechanism has improved livelihoods for nearly 12,000 individuals, enhanced educational access for hundreds of children, and improved water quality for over 2,000 people. Such livelihood interventions promote skill development, community cohesion, food security, and environmental stewardship.
The project's activities will continue to evolve and scale in response to ongoing challenges and best practices. This includes strengthening the grievance mechanism so no conflict goes unheard, expanding resources to ensure uniform support for all affected community members, and continuing our vigorous advocacy to secure all pending ICLT claims.
Navy Koeung, an Indigenous Bunong woman from a Keo Seima REDD+ village, said about the project: “The financial support we receive [from REDD+] is vital in fighting threats to our forests…Without carbon finance, our forests and way of life could be at risk… [The] project helped us secure our first communal land title that formally recognizes our land as ours to preserve and defend for future generations.”
To learn more about Keo Seima REDD+, please visit https://cambodia.wcs.org/Keo-Seima-REDD/Impact.aspx.
To learn more about WCS’s work with Indigenous Peoples in this landscape, please visit https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/indigenous-land-rights-are-key-to-conservation-in-cambodia-commentary/amp/.
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