Streaming the establishment of community protected areas (CPAS) in Cambodia

This Policy Brief is the first in a series of three that have been compiled as input into the revision of the Protected Areas Law (2008) based on a comprehensive review of documents and interviews with experts. It summarizes analyses and key recommendations on how to improve the Community Protected Area (CPA) system and formulates four proposals: (1) CPAs should be defined based on existing customary tenure practices and include areas of high value forest resources for the communities; (2) CPA registration needs to be simplified, decentralised, and streamlined; (3) CPA management plans need to identify and map the key socio-economic potentials; (4) zoning of PAs should be a collaborative process with the communities involved and with Indigenous Peoples.