SEILA Program in environmental and natural resources protection and conservation, 2000

Due to the low awareness and the constraints of relevant knowledge among local communities and responsible officers including staff of provincial environmental department constituted one of the causes underlying the depletion of natural resources and decline of the environmental quality. The low awareness and the constraints of relevant knowledge would also become a major obstacle to the implementation of the Royal Government Policy on Poverty Alleviation.

The attention on natural resources, environmental management and protection, as well as human and institutional capacity are still limited at the local level, and it was considered as a cause of environmental degradation. Therefore, people at the local level recognised and considered it to be a priority issue which required improvement.

Natural resources including land and water are legally recognised as State property, and are managed by a highly centralised State system that is characterised by: a hierarchical and top down structure, appointment of lower level leaders by higher administrative levels, and excessive bureaucracy in which any level is rarely well-coordinated (Ojendal, et al, 2001).

Picture 1: Activities causing local water pollution in Tonle Sap Great Lake (Pictured by MOE 2003)

Tremendous natural resources are important basis for socio-economic development and people’s livelihood as well. However, these resources were improperly exploited in many cases due to unsustainable development practices, such as over fishing and illegal fishing, illegal inundated forests clearing for a variety of purposes. These activities have intentionally and/or unintentionally impeded the country development, unless the sustainable development and environmentally sound management were carried out. As observed, the fish yields and the number of waterfowl species had noticeably decreased, and some of species were extinct or have become endangered.

However, programmes and relevant activities to manage and protect natural resources and the environment at both local and national levels were still limited, and therefore it was required to take prompt actions for improvement of environmental management.

Policy response

In 1996, the Royal Government of Cambodia realised the need to promote a decentralised system of governance as a part of a reform agenda and launched a pilot programme for decentralised development planning, called the SEILA program. In the inception phase of the SEILA program, five target provinces were picked out such as Pursat, Battambang, Bantey Meanchey, Siem Reap, and Ratanakiri (Charny, 1999). The first four provinces are surrounded by Tonle Sap Great Lake in central Cambodia, and Ratanakiri is located in the Northeast part of Cambodia.

As a result of this programme as and also as a part of a governmental commitment to decentralise power to lower level, the commune councils were democratically elected in February 2003, for the first time since 1993 (Law of Commune Councils, 2001). The reform was intended to become a positive long-term factor in promotion of both the democratic process and overall development in Cambodia.

As the structure and procedures of implementation under the SEILA program were common in the above five provinces, one selected province will be introduced as an example among the five provinces, namely Siem Reap.

The Provincial Environmental Department of Siem Reap had a contract with the SEILA program in the total budget of 7,792 USD in 2005. The staff of the Environmental Department of this province were engaged in the programme. Under an environmental education programme, the community councils and school teachers attended the training courses. The awareness to manage and protect the environment of the participants were raised as the result of training, and then they disseminated their knowledge to local communities and school students. In addition, the department provided a chance to manage and conserve the environment and natural resources by communities themselves.

As a part of the SEILA program, the environmental educational programme focused mainly on (i) natural resources management and protection within the national parks and wildlife sanctuaries; and (ii) waste management against environmental pollution. The programme provided an opportunity for the local key stakeholders including local communities to be aware of the environment, which also could contribute to carry out the Royal Government Policy of Poverty Alleviation.

References

• Provincial Environmental Department of Siem Reap
• Decentralisation and Natural Resource Management in Cambodia: Implication of the Decentralisation Process to Date − A case studies in Pursat Province Prepared by FACT, April 2005

Data and information as indicated in the Section of Background was provided by senior officers of the Environmental Provincial Departments, and some parts of them were quoted from documents of which printed for general dissemination.

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