Deforestation in Cambodia

Cambodia is one of the world’s most forest endowed country that has not yet been drastically deforested. However, massive deforestation for economic development threatens Cambodia’s forests and ecosystems. Cambodia has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world, third only to Nigeria and Vietnam, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The Cambodian government has played a large role in shaping the use of the country's forests. An unusually large area of Cambodia has been designated as protected areas, about 20% of the total land mass, but many protections have subsequently been overruled by concessions sold to both national and foreign companies for agricultural and industrial developments, even in national parks. The government has been broadly criticized domestically and internationally for these contradicting policies, a general lack of enforcement of environmental laws and have faced pressures to practice a more sustainable forestry overall. The fate of Cambodia’s forests will largely affect local communities that rely on the forests for their livelihood.

Deforestation has directly resulted from poorly managed commercial logging, fuel wood collection, agricultural invasion, and infrastructure and urban development. Indirect pressures include rapid population growth, inequalities in land tenure, lack of agriculture technology, and limited employment opportunities.

Cambodia's primary forest cover fell dramatically from over 70% in 1970 at the end of the Vietnam War to just 3.1% in 2007. Deforestation is proceeding at an alarming rate, with a total forest loss at nearly 75% since the end of the 1990s. In total, Cambodia lost 25,000 square kilometres of forest between 1990 and 2005, 3,340 square kilometres of which was primary forest. As of 2007, less than 3,220 square kilometres of primary forest remain, with the result that the future sustainability of Cambodia's forest reserves is under severe threat.

Open Development Cambodia, an NGO in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, used US satellite data to show a significant loss of forest cover from 72.1% in 1973 to 46.3% in 2014. Most forest cover loss occurred after 2000. In an effort to conserve forest cover, a harvest limit of 10m³ per hectare has been established. This number was chosen in consideration of a forest growth of 0.3m3/ha/yr and a 35 year cutting cycle. The RGC has set a Cambodia Millennium Development Goal to maintain national cover of 60% of total land area by 2015. This would require 532,615 hectares of non-forest land to be converted to tree plantation.

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