Climate change, forest governance and REDD+ in Cambodia:
workshop series for university students
From February 15 to June 21, 2014
Coordinated by: Nguon Pheakkdey Lecturer, Department of International Studies
Royal University of Phnom Penh
Workshop series on climate change, forest governance and REDD+ in Cambodia Pheakkdey Nguon
Lecturer, Department of International Studies Royal University of Phnom Penh
Introduction The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) has been making significant progress at national and
subnational level on the development and implementation of REDD+, an international policy that
aims at addressing climate change through improved forest governance in developing countries.
The RGC has also involved various groups of stakeholders including civil society organizations and
private sector to work in partnership with the government on REDD+. There has been a variety of
awareness raising activities that have been conducted by different institutions, in particular the
Cambodia REDD+ Taskforce Secretariat, for various groups of stakeholders. However, this line of
work has been limited for the academic community, especially for students who might be interested
in pursuing REDD+ as a thesis topic. For example, there is no program at national universities such
as the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP) or the Royal University of Agriculture (RUA) that
prepares or even introduces students to the development and implementation of REDD+ policies
and projects in Cambodia.
Therefore, to bridge this current gap, a series of workshops (total 10) on REDD+, forest governance
and climate change was conducted from February 15 to June 21, 2014 at the Department of
International Studies, Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP). This workshop series attracted
about 35 students from various departments of the RUPP and the RUA. The NGO Forum on
Cambodia provided the financial supports to cover the arrangement and refreshment for each
workshop. Overall, the goals of this workshop series were to:
1. Introduce students to the development and implementation of REDD+ in Cambodia
2. Encourage students to explore this area of work (forest governance, REDD+, and climate
change) as potential topics for their undergraduate theses
3. Introduce students to different institutions that have been involved in realizing REDD+ in
Cambodia
4. Establish network between the two leading universities and institutions involved in realizing
REDD+ in Cambodia
5. Prepare students for potential internships or careers with institutions working on REDD+ in
Cambodia
Guest speakers The 10 workshops took place every Saturday from 14:00pm to 17:00pm at Room 16, Building C,
DIS, RUPP campus. The first part of the workshop usually started with a presentation by the guest
speaker on the overview of the work that their institution is undertaking in regards to the
development and implementation of REDD+, forest governance and climate change in Cambodia.
The second part of the workshop involved an interactive discussion between the guest speaker and
the students on potential topics that students can explore as the topics for their theses. Often times,
conversations in this second part of the workshop also focused on the possibilities for internships at
the invited guest’s institution. The following table summarized the list of invited guests of the
workshop series.
Table 1: Summary of the workshop series
Invited Guests Presentation Title Key Points
Feb 15 Nguon
Pheakkdey DIS, RUPP
Introduction to research on
climate change and
REDD+
1. Introduction to the workshop series
- Purposes
- Expectations
- Participants self-introduction
2. Brief introduction on
- Basic science of climate change
- Current research on forest governance and REDD+
3. Overview of REDD+ development and implementation in Cambodia
Feb 22 Koe Kalyan UNDP
United Nations and
Climate Change in
Cambodia
1. The United Nations
- History and works of the UN
- UN activities in Cambodia since 1950s
2. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
- Objectives of the UNDP
- UNDP in Cambodia
3. The UNDP’s work on climate change
- Cambodia Climate Change Alliance
- Community based adaptation
- Climate resilience in agriculture and water
- Cambodia UN-REDD National Programme
- Sustainable forest management
- Forest Carbon Partnership Facility
4. UNDP’s key achievements on climate change in Cambodia
Mar 15 Peter Iversen Cambodia REDD+
Secretariat
REDD+ negotiations at the
UNFCCC
1. Climate change science and politics
- Current scientific consensus and global policy negotiations
- Roles of land use and forestry sector in global climate change mitigation
and adaptation
2. REDD+
- Challenges
• Political/economic
• Technical
- Scale of implementation
- Other issues
3. Current works on REDD+ in Cambodia
- National forest monitoring systems and GHG inventory
- Forest definition
- Establishment of reference level
• REDD+ activities
• Carbon pools
• Lack of historic data (especially degradation)
- Safeguards
4. Dilemma for REDD+ countries
5. UNFCCC REDD+ mechanism versus voluntary market REDD+ schemes
Mar 22 Yeang Donal Fauna and Flora
International
Empirical experience from
Siem Reap
1. Introduction to REDD+ and global negotiations
2. Decisions on REDD+ at the UNFCCC
3. Kyoto Protocol
4. Cambodia progress at the UNFCCC and REDD+
5. Social and environmental safeguards for REDD+
6. Three phases of REDD+ development and implementation
7. Legal context for REDD+ implementation in Cambodia
8. Experience from REDD+ pilot projects in Cambodia
- Oddar Meanchey
- Siem Reap
Mar 29 Teng Rithiny NGO Forum on
Cambodia
Experience of NGO
Forum on REDD+ and
CSOs Perspective
1. Background of the NGO Forum on Cambodia (NGOF)
- History and overview of NGOF
- Membership and networking
2. Programs and activities of the NGOF
- NGOF’s organizational structure
- Roles and functions of the four main programs
3. NGOF’s activities on REDD+
- REDD+ policy monitoring project
- Activities and outputs on REDD+
4. Cambodia CSO-REDD+ Network
- History and objectives of CSO-REDD+ Network
- Memberships and activities
- Participation at the national and local levels
5. Stakeholders engagement and representation in policy process
May 03 Chhoeng
Soviriya
Non-Timber Forest
Products-Exchange
Programme
Regional experience with
REDD+ and social
forestry in ASEAN
1. Brief overview on NTFP-EP
2. NTFP-EP programs and activities in Cambodia and the region
- Conservation and resource management
- Food and health security
- Enterprise development
- Advocacy
3. Operationalization of NTFP-EP, community based forest enterprise (CBFE)
in Cambodia
- Organizing and strengthening CBFEs
- Capacity building
- Incorporating indigenous knowledge, systems, and practices into CBFEs
- Integrating sustainable resource management plans in CBFE operations
- Identifying appropriate markets
- Developing products and appropriate technologies
- Linking CBFEs to value chain actors
- Conducting needs-based research
- Designing standards and applying appropriate certification schemes
- Providing access to finance
- Monitor impact
4. Lessons learnt from NTFP-EP works in Cambodia
May 24 Chhun Delux Forestry
Administration
Forest Governance and
REDD+ for the Royal
Government of Cambodia
1. Defining governance
2. Governance components in natural resource management
- Institutions
- Process
- Statutory and customary law
3. Governance principle in natural resource management
- Transparency
- Rule of law
- Accountability
- Participation
4. Forest governance and REDD+ implementation in Cambodia
- Institutions
- Process
- Statutory and customary law
5. Governance principle for REDD+ in Cambodia
- Transparency
- Rule of law
- Accountability
- Participation
6. Roles of government agencies to ensure successful implementation of
REDD+ in Cambodia
- As a coordinator
- As a facilitator
Jun 07 Sao Sotheary East West
Management Institute
Grassroots Networking
and Advocacy
Coordination: Prey Lang
Communities Network
1. Overview of EWMI
2. Forest and communities, linkages
3. Prey Lang Communities Network
- History of the network
- Objectives
- Members and activities
- Personal accounts of community members
4. Social justice and grassroots movement
Jun 14 Kim Narong Wildlife
Conservation Society
Status, experience, and
recommendations from
development and
implementation of Seima
REDD+ pilot project,
Mondulkiri Province
1. History of the Seima Protection Forest
2. Development of REDD+ pilot project in Seima
3. Status of Seima REDD+ pilot project
4. REDD+ and local communities
5. Land tenure and land uses in Seima
6. Importance of consultation
7. Experience of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) with local
communities in Seima
8. Results of the FPIC processes in Seima
9. Recommendations
Jun 21 Nguon
Pheakkdey DIS, RUPP
Research and Scholarship:
Climate Change, Forest
Governance and REDD+
1. Recaps of to the workshop series
- Purposes
- Expectations
2. Summary of key messages from previous sessions
3. Overview of the progress of REDD+ development and implementation in
Cambodia
4. Possible topics for research on REDD+, forest governance and climate
change in Cambodia
5. Tips on where and how to get support for thesis research
Workshops evaluation At the end of the 10
th workshop, all participants were asked to voluntarily complete an evaluation
form that focuses on the positive and constructive comments on each of the workshop. The
following table presents the comments from students. Out of the 35 participants, 25 students
submitted their evaluation of the workshop series. Similar comments are grouped together. This
evaluation was done anonymously. It should be noted that these comments are typed exactly as
written by students.
Table 2: Evaluation of the workshop
Positive comments Constructive comments
I am very grateful to the organizer for this workshop
series. I have learned a lot.
I suggest that the organizer should increase
the numbers of announcement for each of
the workshop to attract more students
I learned a lot about climate change and environment
in general, REDD+ and climate change in Cambodia,
why Cambodia needs REDD+. I also appreciate the
tips and advice from guest speakers on internship and
work opportunities
I suggest that the organizer advertise about
this workshop on the internet to make sure
other students are aware of this great
workshop
I learned about what is REDD, REDD+, the
importance of environmental protection globally and
in Cambodia
Please provide the presentation slides
before the workshop, if possible. Also, if
possible, I would suggest that we have a
roundtable discussion which allow
everyone to answer the question
I learned a lot about REDD+, which before the
workshop series I did not really know about. I also
learned a lot about climate change in Cambodia and
globally
I suggest that the organizer advertise about
this workshop on the internet to make sure
other students are aware of this great
workshop
Each workshop was very interesting. I learned a lot
about the REDD+ projects in Mondulkiri province
I hope that there is a part two of this
workshop series
I get clearer view about REDD+ from the workshop,
especially on its background and its progress in
Cambodia. It was also a pleasure to have the
opportunity to meet these amazing speakers. I also
get a lot of ideas of what I can research for my thesis.
Finally, additional to REDD+, I also learned a lot
about other topics such as civil society involvement
in Cambodia, and grassroots activities, etc.
In conclusion, although this is a small group, it is a
splendid workshop. It gives detail about something I
cannot learned at other places
Sometimes the presentation is a bit abstract
and I cannot fully understand
I have learned a lot. I used to be so interested in
environment, but since my major is International
Studies, I got no chance to know much about it.
Attending this workshop gives me chances to know
how enthusiastic the national as well as international
society concerned about climate change issues. I
started to feel more concerned about this important
issue
Overall, this workshop has been produced
greatly already. I do thank and appreciate
all the efforts from Lecturer Pheakkdey and
all the guest speakers
Overall, I think this is a great workshop series. There
are so many interesting topics
I suggest that registration for this workshop
should be done online, if possible. I also
think that third year students should be
prioritized to attend this workshop series
because it might help them to think about
their thesis topics. Maybe, in the next
workshop series, there should be a topic
that talks about geographic information
system and remote sensing application for
climate change and REDD+
I have learnt a lot of things related to REDD+, the
implementation of REDD+ and agencies that have
been working on REDD+. Furthermore, I also have
learnt how indigenous people depend on forest
products as well as protect the forest. In additional to
that I now know a lot of NGOs that work on these
topics
The workshops should take shorter time
than the full three hours because some of
the students might be busy with their
school’s works
I learnt a lot about how to work with local
communities and indigenous people on climate
change and REDD+. I also learnt about the important
link between forest and climate change
The guest speakers were great, but I wish
that we had more speakers who work on
REDD+ in Cambodia
I learned a lot about REDD+ and how it works in
participating countries, including Cambodia. I
appreciated most about the experiences on livelihood
activities with local communities by government and
non-government groups.
I have no suggestions. Thank you for the
workshops
After the workshops, I have learnt so much about
REDD+ programme and activities, and how the
international community has been working on this
topic. Importantly, these workshops illustrated how
stakeholders have been involved in forest governance
in Cambodia. Also, I appreciate the opportunities to
interact with guest speakers
In my opinion, the workshops are very
good with interesting topics and guest
speakers. In order to improve, I would
suggest that students talk more during the
workshops. I would also suggest that the
next workshop series, if there is a plan,
should focus on development and climate
change related issues
Photos from the workshops
Caption: Introducing guest speaker, Ms. Keo Kalyan, UNDP Programme, Cambodia
Caption: Group photo with guest speaker
Caption: Presentation by Mr. Peter Iversen, Cambodia REDD+ Taskforce Secretariat
Caption: Presentation by Ms. Teng Rithiny, NGO Forum on Cambodia
Caption: Presentation by Mr. Chhun Delux, Forestry Administration
Caption: Presentation by Mr. Kim Narong, Wildlife Conservation Society