WWF-Cambodia and its partners have been supporting the establishment of 12 community-based non-timber forest product enterprises in Mondulkiri. The honey and resin groups created with the Phnong community in Puchrey commune are part of this project.
 

How does it work?

Communities organize themselves in groups supported by the project to implement sustainable, safe and hygienic harvesting and processing techniques. Communities are also provided with training on accounting procedures. The project ensures sustainable and diversified livelihoods of these forest dependent communities by linking the groups created to local, national and international buyers and enterprises.

 

Achieving sustainable resources management in the Community Protected Forest

Collectors used to work with traditional techniques to collect honey and resin. Thanks to the training they received, they now understand how to sustainably collect these products and preserve the Community Protected Forest their livelihood depends on.
 

• “Before joining the project, we could only collect honey once from a colony. Now, we keep 20% of it, so it can grow back. Therefore, we preserve the colony, but we can also collect the product several times and thus increase our productivity and income. We have also learned to increase the quality of our products to meet the market’s requirements.” Khom Sokhom – Honey collector leader – Puchrey commune

 

• “To collect resin, we used to follow the traditional method which was deeply impacting the forest. By joining this program, we have learned how to collect the product while taking care of the trees: now we know how many times we can collect resin from one tree, how long to wait before we can come back and collect more resin, and how to safely collect good quality resin.” Chhoy  Leav – Resin group leader – Puchrey commune

 
With the benefits generated by these activities, beneficiaries have set up a community patrol to protect their forest and reduce illegal activities such as logging and poaching..

 

Improving the community members’ livelihood

The project aims at increasing the value of forest resources as an important means for improving the community’s living standard.
 

• “Before joining the project, we were selling small quantities of our products at a time and the prices were highly fluctuating. The program has helped us find a market so we can sell bigger quantities of resin and honey.  Most importantly, we can set up the price of our products with the company found by the project: we know in advance what our income will be and all community members have additional resources to buy more food for their families.”  Doung Dinoeun – Community Protected Forest Secretary