Protected Area Law

The Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management Project has been facilitating and funding the development of Cambodia’s Protected Area Law since 2001. In late 2001 a Protected Area Law Secretary was set up at the Ministry of Environment with assistance from an international lawyer.

A Task Force for the development of the Protected Area Law was set up with representatives from 5 ministries and non-governmental organisations related to protected area management: World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and NGO forum.

Two Task Force meetings were held in 2002 as well as a training workshop. The first draft version of the Protected Area Law in English was submitted to the Department of Nature Conservation and Protection (Ministry of Environment) by late February 2002.

To ensure that the Protected Area Law is applicable to and acceptable by protected area beneficiaries and affected communities and individuals, five provincial cluster consultation workshops on the Protected Area Law were carried out in 2002. About 300 participants from 20 provinces and municipalities attended, representing key civil and armed provincial departments, governors, community representatives at commune and district level in and adjacent to protected areas and local non-governmental organisations.

Since early 2002 the Protected Area Law has undergone an extensive review process. Two draft versions were circulated in Khmer and English to relevant non-governmental and international organisations within and outside the country for comments. In addition to a series of in-house reviews, the draft law was reviewed several times at the Council of Ministers, and in meetings between key Ministries involved in the management of natural resources, particularly with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The Ministry of Justice also contributed to the review process.

During the September 01, 2005 plenary meeting of the Council of Ministers, 10 articles of the draft Protected Area Law were amended and the rest of the law was approved. It is now with the National Assembly for final review approval.