Community Development In Virachey National Park 2000-2006

Executive Summary

This report summarises the work undertaken by the Community Development (CD) Component in Virachey National Park (VNP) over the almost seven year life of the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management Project (BPAMP) of the Department of Nature Conservation and Protection, Ministry of Environment and outlines the lessons learned in the process. It looks at the work undertaken in developing and implementing:

• the co-management of natural resources between VNP and the local communities, including the assessment of natural resources through a Park Wide Assessment and Participatory Rural Appraisals and the establishment of Community Protected Areas,
• community empowerment and institution building particularly the development of Community Protected Area Committees,
• an environmental awareness raising programme, and
• a community grant programme for livelihood improvement of local communities close to the park.

The report comprises three sections:
Section 1 – Co-management of natural resources
Section 2 – Environmental awareness raising
Section 3 – Community grants

Section 1 – Co-management of natural resources

This section describes the processes undertaken to lead to the co-management of VNP’s natural resources particularly between the park authority and the local communities, including the establishment of community protected areas.
In 2000 a Park Wide Assessment was undertaken in order to properly assess natural resources in and around VNP and to understand and be familiar with VNP in terms of its geography, natural resources, indigenous cultures, livelihoods, religions and beliefs, agricultural activities, infrastructure and settlements etc.

Between 2001 and 2003 a number of Participatory Rural Appraisals (PRAs) and case studies were undertaken which focused on the inhabited areas around the park and examined the history and geography of the relevant local areas and described the natural resources which are most important to the local communities. They also looked at the customs and traditions of the villagers, their management of natural resources, socio-economic circumstances, and demographics. These PRAs and case studies ultimately led to the identification of 21 target villages around the park which were identified as being regular users of natural resources within the park and also practitioners of swidden (shifting) agriculture in some parts. It was in these 21 villages where the CD Component focussed most of its subsequent activities.

Between 2003 and 2006 regulations for the establishment of community protected areas (CPAs) in the park were developed in consultation with the local communities and government authorities and five CPAs have now been formally approved within VNP and the boundaries demarcated. The CPAs cover a total area of approximately 5.6% of VNP. A CPA management plan for one of the CPAs is currently being developed and management plans for the other CPAs are expected to be developed shortly.
Between 2001-2005 CPA Committees were also established with local community support and participation to principally assist with the establishment and management of the CPAs including the monitoring of natural resource use.

Some key lessons learned in the development of co-management of natural resources include: documentation of processes undertaken need to be well kept, facts are researched and reported as accurately as possible, collaboration with other government authorities and NGOs working in the area is needed, CPA Committee members need to be clear on their roles and responsibilities and meet regularly, community members should not be paid to attend community meetings, close consultation with the Ministry of Environment in CPA establishment is required, the process for demarcating CPA boundaries needs to be clear, CPA management plans need to be developed as soon as possible after the approval of CPA regulations and community natural resource use monitoring needs time to develop.

Section 2 – Environmental awareness raising

The objective of the environmental awareness raising programme for Virachey National Park is to increase understanding/awareness about biodiversity conservation in the area. There is a mix of target audiences for the park which is complex with key target audiences being quite disparate from one another.

In 2003 a VNP/BPAMP Outreach Strategy was developed which detailed the objectives, materials, activities, key messages and target audiences for the park’s information, communication and education initiatives. A number of the activities contained in the strategy have been undertaken by the Information and Education (IE) Unit of the CD Component. These include the development and implementation of a number of training materials including manuals, posters and videos, and also the organisation of Samrong (Malva Nut) campaigns and organising World Environment Day events.

Some key lessons learnt from environmental awareness raising activities include: an Information and Education Unit needs to be set up as soon as possible after project start with staff qualified to undertake the work, education messages need to be kept simple and translated into the local indigenous language and repeated on a regular basis, awareness raising material needs to be continually developed, and awareness raising activities need to be evaluated.

Section 3 – Community grants

Community grants are provided by BPAMP’s Small Grants Programme for the Ministry of Environment. They are provided in accordance with a Small Grants Guideline which was developed by the CD Component of Virachey National Park.

The grants are to support community development activities which encourage the sustainable use and conservation of VNP’s resources, particularly those activities which are income generating and geared towards reducing poverty such as the development of community owned and managed guesthouses and community meeting structures, provision of agricultural tools and animal raising training etc. The grants are directly aimed at assisting indigenous and local communities in the VNP’s target villages.

A total of US$60,000 was made available by BPAMP from a GEF grant for the funding of sub-projects through the community grants programme during 2006. For sub-projects to be eligible for funding criteria provided by the guidelines has to be met and the sub-project investment cost cannot exceed US$2,500.

The Small Grants Guidelines were completed and approved by the Ministry of Environment and World Bank in 2005. The guidelines describe how sub-projects should be proposed, selected, assessed, determined, funded, implemented, and monitored and evaluated. Sub-projects are principally selected from unfunded projects identified in Commune Investment Plans (CIP) which are developed by Commune Councils each year. Initially it was intended that the development of sub-projects would be through the CIP development process. It was however subsequently decided that this would be too time consuming and that selecting unfunded projects already identified through the CIP process would be as effective.

Implementation of the guidelines commenced in 2006. By the end of June 2006 there had been eight applications submitted by the community and one sub-project had been completed. Seven of the applications were in either the assessment or implementation stages. A further twelve applications were expected to be submitted shortly.

Some key lessons learnt from the development and implementation of the small grants guidelines are: community grant programmes should be set up as soon as possible after project start, community expectations need to be well managed, sub-project funding needs to be provided in a timely manner, focus needs to be on quality of sub-projects not quantity, and village size needs to be taken into consideration when initially allocating funds.