Land Degradation Land Degradation Assessment in Cambodia Sovuthy - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Land Degradation Land Degradation Assessment in Cambodia Sovuthy Pheav, PhD (Agric. Sci.) Di Director, Department of Agricultural Land t D t t f A i lt l L d Resources Management

Outlines Outlines • Biophysical conditions of Cambodia Biophysical conditions of Cambodia • Land degradation situation analysis • Land degradation in Cambodia: case L d d d ti i C b di studies

Biophysical conditions Biophysical conditions • Cambodia is a tropical country located on the peninsula of mainland peninsula of mainland Southeast Asia with a land area of 181,035 km2. • It is adjacent to the gulf of • It is adjacent to the gulf of Thailand and has a coastline around 440 km. Its land border of 2,438 km runs , along Thailand to the west, Vietnam to the east and Laos PDR to the north. • Cambodia is divided into 23 provinces, 1 municipality, 159 Districts, 08 Khans, 1 417 Communes 204 1,417 Communes, 204 Sangkats and 14073 Villages (NSDP, 2009-13).

Biophysical conditions (Con’t) Biophysical conditions (Con t) • Cambodia’s population is 14,073,461 (MoP/NIS, 2008), about 90 % are living in the central lowlands region along b t 90 % li i i th t l l l d i l the Mekong River and around Tonle Sap Lake which is characterized with fertile soils and abundant water resources (MAFF/SAW May 2009) resources. (MAFF/SAW, May 2009). • The population growth rate is estimated at 1.54 percent per annum. Gender proportion is 50 percent of the total population (MoP/NIS 2008) population (MoP/NIS 2008). • The Cambodia’s climate is governed by monsoons and is characterized by two distinct seasons of rainy (May to October) and dry (November to April) seasons October) and dry (November to April) seasons. • In general, climate in Cambodia is varies based on latitude, and classified into 4 four regions.

Biophysical conditions (Con’t) Biophysical conditions (Con t) Rainfall, and minimum and maximum temperature, 2005-2009 No Region Average minimum Average maximum 1 Coastal region Level of rainfall (mm) 1777 2453 Temperature ( o C) 24.1 31,8 2 Northern of Tonle Level of rainfall (mm) 1391 1757 Sap region Sap region Temperature ( o C) 23.4 32.9 3 Southern of Tonle Level of rainfall (mm) 1207 1886 Sap region Sap region Temperature ( o C) 22.2 35 4 Eastern of Mekong Level of rainfall (mm) 1389 1777 region g Temperature ( o C) 23.6 39.9

Socio-economic Conditions influencing land degradation l d d d ti • The Agriculture sector is the main economic driver, accounting for 34.4% of GDP in 2009; it also accounts for ti f 34 4% f GDP i 2009 it l t f more than 60% of the total employment in the country. • The government's rectangular strategy seeks to improve agricultural productivity and diversification through land i lt l d ti it d di ifi ti th h l d reform, fishery and forestry reforms. • The most important issue confronting is land use reforming, and clearance of land mines and UXOs etc and clearance of land mines and UXOs etc., are still not yet are still not yet reach its maximum potential. • A tension is the rapid growth rate of population is also tended to put more strains on natural resources and tended to put more strains on natural resources and demanding on new settlement land. • At present, agricultural cropland has been under threat in terms of competitive demand for use between other non- terms of competitive demand for use between other non- agricultural development sectors, and the expansion of agricultural land is also threatening forestland.

Overall Land Degradation Situation Overall Land Degradation Situation • Land degradation, as described by the UNCCD and WOCAT takes the UNCCD and WOCAT, takes many forms. The main forms in Cambodia are soil degradation, and deforestation, and subsequent loss of biodiversity of biodiversity . • At least two major natural factors exacerbate the effects of land degradation in Cambodia: land degradation in Cambodia: – The first is the inherent low soil fertility in substantive portions of agricultural lands. This was reported as early as the 1960s reported as early as the 1960s (Crocker, 1962). Related to this, is the natural limitation of most soils to retain/store water which tends to limit the organic matter tends to limit the organic matter content of soils, thereby contributing to low soil fertility.

Overall Land Degradation Situation (C (Con’t) ’t) – The second major exacerbating factor would be the effects j g of climate change, primarily through increased intensity and frequency of floods and drought (rice growing areas), and see water intrusion (3 costal agricultural provinces). ( g p ) • Land degradation caused by human-induced activities are included: – population growth – inappropriate agriculture practices – insecurity of land ownership insecurity of land ownership – low awareness and insufficient support services from institutions, and inadequate governance. , q g

Overall Land Degradation Situation (C (Con’t) ’t) • The FAO study (Douglas 2008) was made to determine The FAO study (Douglas, 2008) was made to determine the extent of land degradation in 8 ASEAN countries through satellite imagery indicated that: • The portion of degraded land to the total land area varied from a low 41% (Vietnam) to a high 54% (Indonesia). • Cambodia had the second lowest level of degradation (at • Cambodia had the second lowest level of degradation (at 43%). However, this still involved about 7.7 million ha of land areas.

Overall Land Degradation Situation (C (Con’t) ’t) Land degradation among Southeast Asian Nations Land degradation among Southeast Asian Nations Degraded land Total land Total NPP lost Affected Country (000 ha) (%) (ton/CO 2 /23yrs) population Indonesia 102,894 54 67,679,850 86,656,550 Myanmar 35,889 53 23,625,068 23,608,512 Th il Thailand d 30 925 30,925 60 60 15,990,860 15 990 860 36 991 080 36,991,080 Malaysia 17,582 53 9,257,510 10,401,113 Laos 13,340 56 7,232,762 3,304,253 Philippines 13,228 44 4,100,145 33,064,628 Cambodia 7,796 43 2,524,942 3,583,464 Vietnam Vietnam 13 403 13,403 41 41 342,632 342 632 28 085 074 28,085,074 Source: Bai ZG, Dent DL, Olsson L, and Schaepman ME (2008) NPP= Net Primary Productivity

The Change of Forest Cover: land degradation in forestland The changes in forest cover from 1965 to 2010 g No Assessment of forest Land Use cover by year Area with Forest cover Area without forest cover Ha H % % H Ha % % 1 1965 13,227,100 73.04 4,883,400 26.96 2 1992/93 10,859,695 59.82 7,293,290 40.18 3 1996/97 10,638,209 58.60 7,514,776 41.40 4 2002 11,104,293 61.15 7,056,383 38.85 5 2005/06 10,730,781 59.09 7,429,893 40.91 6 2010 10,339,826 56.94 7,820,848 43.91 • • Three main reasons of the reduction of forest cover: forest and Three main reasons of the reduction of forest cover: forest and forestland concessions, and illegal logging and forest land occupancy.

The Change of Forest Cover: land d degradation in forestland (Con’t) d ti i f tl d (C ’t) • The change of forest cover has caused soil erosion g under the influence of rainfall that erode top fertile soil from upland to lowland, especially to the Mekong river and Tonle Sap Lake (maximum sediment loads: 1500 p ( and 3000 g/m3 in 1995 &2006). • Because of insufficient cover, the rest soils have been degraded its quality and productivity and this is the degraded its quality and productivity, and this is the primary cause of land degradation.

The Economic Land Concession (ELC) The Economic Land Concession (ELC) • Government has issued a policy to support Economic Land Concessions (ELCs) based on sub decree 148 Land Concessions (ELCs) based on sub-decree 148, dated in 07 July 2005, and modified it to a new sub- decree no. 131, dated 15 September 2008 . • Guidelines were provided for agri-businesses, tree G id li id d f i b i t plantations and rubber plantations to help in maintaining land cover, forest recovery and improve biodiversity resources while pursuing agribusiness objectives. hil i ib i bj i • Ministry of Agriculture (MAFF) provided ELCs from the forestland to investors since 1997, covering about 1.335 , g million ha. • Ministry of Environment (MOE) also converted degraded portions of Protected Areas to ELCs covering about portions of Protected Areas to ELCs, covering about 640,000 ha.

The Economic Land Concession (ELC) (Con’t) • It is noticed that some lands remained unplanted, while p most of the planted areas did not follow the proper planting systems that allow sufficient ground cover, and to meet the "land, climate and plant requirements for p q productive and sustainable agribusiness. • Thus, after the MAFF working group on ELCs completed their assessment in 2009 41 ELCs’ agreements which their assessment in 2009, 41 ELCs agreements which covered 373,034 ha were terminated. Only 38 companies were retained. More recently MAFF is due to terminate many more companies There are currently 55 companies many more companies. There are currently 55 companies who have renewed their contract with MAFF, covering 956,690 ha (MAFF, 2009).