A resin tree tapper in Preah Roka Forest Community in Preah Vihear province in June last year. Yousos Abdulrashim
The Ministry of Environment and USAID Greening Prey Lang Project are collecting data on the number of owners of resin trees – and the number of their trees – in order to produce a registry of ownership.
The work is being carried out in collaboration with partner NGOs, communities and local authorities in four provinces of the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary, the USAID Greening Prey Lang Project said.
“There are roughly 780 families from more than 40 villages in the four provinces of Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary that harvest resin. Families earn from $200 to $300 per month collecting resin,” said the project, on its Facebook page.
It said that for generations, local communities have been tapping resin trees in the forest. Traditionally, each resin tree is owned by the first person who collected resin from that tree. There is no formal ownership, but the local people know who own which trees.
Should there be clear documentation, there will be records of customary use, giving them formal ownership and ensuring unrestricted access to the forest to tap their resin trees.
The prakas on resin tree management guidelines issued by the ministry is an important component in the process of recognising ownership of community resin trees, it said.
Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) head Hoeun Sopheap said on February 3 that the guidelines were a good idea, and would make management of the trees more efficient. However, if there is no real will to do so, it is not very useful.
“The guidelines are encouraging for the owners of the trees, because we do not have ownership rights yet. If some have already been granted, we must ensure that all owners are registered to guarantee an equitable system,” he said.
Chan Heng, a resin tapper in Prey Lang, said on February 3 that he supported the establishment of the new regulations as they would form a large part of preserving people’s rights to harvest resin.
“I have no objection. Once we have this law, we will have plans that clearly show which trees are ours. If someone destroys one of our trees, we will have full rights to legal recourse. I want legislation that will protect us,” he said.
Chan Heng added that he had about 300 resin trees, and could harvest two jerry-cans of resin a day. One jerry-can of resin sold for $15 to $17.
Ministry spokesman Neth Pheaktra said this was part of the ministry’s policy to generate a local economy that was linked to the protection and conservation of natural resources and economic development that enhanced the livelihoods of protected area communities.
He added that people who register with the project will be required to sign contracts agreeing to manage the resin tress and to cooperate with environmental rangers in the sanctuary.
“They will collaborate with environmental rangers to prevent hunting and clearing of forest land and protect the resin trees that the ministry has registered,” he said.
