Global Environment Programme Essay

CAMBODIA

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Global Environment Programme (GEF) project which entitled “ Reversing Environmental Degradation Trends in the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand “ was being proposed to address the concerns about environment. There are three- substantive project component includes in the project, habitat degradation and lost weight is the largest so it has been divided into four sub-component which are mangroves, coral reefs, sea grass and wetlands. This report concern more about the coral reefs .

The coral reef sub-component includes of six participating countries which namely Cambodia, Thailand, Viet Nam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines . These six countries has agreed Terms of Reference and

The marine habitats in Cambodia are divided by three which are coral reefs, mangrove forests which known as inundated forest and sea grass. These habitats mainly are covered by The Departments of Fisheries. Many Cambodians usually depends on coral reefs for livelihood and nutrition, with high demand placed on many commercially valuable species dependant on these habitats. In addition, these habitats of coral reefs are very suitable for development of eco-tourism because these areas provide much potential for their economy of the country. Until the day where the studied that carried out by the Danida funded Project on Environmental Coastal Zone management in Cambodia implemented in the Provinces and Municipalities of Kep, Sihanoukville, and Koh Rong Province (Nelson et al ,1999 ), the National University of Singapore ( Chou et al, 2003) and through the UNEP/ GEF of South China Sea Project. Due to these studies, the status of Cambodia’s Coral reefs started to be revealed. Since then, the coral reef in Cambodia starts to

Even though, there is no law that clearly relates to coral reef management because they still lack of clear policies and regulations for the management of these important resources, but they still need to be identified and laws amended to provide a legislative basis for the protection of coral reefs. There are two legislative tools are being proposed by the Department of Fisheries .

• Royal Decree on the establishment of protected areas and the conservation of coral reefs and sea grass in Koh Rong and Koh Sdach Group of Islands.

• Sub-Decree on the management of marine protected Areas covering coral reefs and sea grass areas.

The Royal Decree had been submitted to the Consul Minister but still waiting for approval, while the Sub-Decree submitted to the ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is still in draft form.

MARINE PROTECTED AREA

There are only one marine protected area that has been established, known as the Ream National Park. It was designed to protect mangrove forests and some coral reef areas. The first project community- based fisheries management at Ream National Park and was demonstration project funded by ADB (Asian Development Bank) in