A Cost and Benefit Analysis of the Community Forestry Project in Chumkiri District, Kampot Province, Cambodia

Abstract

Open-access forest schemes in Cambodia have contributed to a serious decline in timber and non-timber forest products collected from forests. Authorities have responded by introducing a major programme of Community Forestry (CF) in more than 237 CF areas covering 71,724 ha and involving 411,440 people. The authors of this study carry out a cost-benefit analysis to estimate the incremental net benefit of three Community Forestry management options, relative to the base case scenario, in Chumkiri district of Kampot Province to determine whether a community forest management scheme would be economically desirable. In the first management option, the Conservation Option, only 389.5 ha out of 992 ha of forest is used for timber and non-timber product collection. The present value of total costs over a 30-year time period at a 10 % discount rate is approximately USD 821,000. The option could generate benefits of up to USD 6.30 million measured in terms of present value. The second option, the Exploitation Option, involves the exploitation of forest products with CF management. The present value of total costs over a 30-year time period at a 10 % discount rate would be USD 1.16 million, and the present value of benefits would be about USD 5.01 million. The third option, which combines the Conservation and Exploitation Options, shows that the present value of total costs over a 30-year time period at a 10 % discount rate would be nearly USD 1 million, while the present value of benefits would be up to USD 5.92 million. The analysis reveals that the Conservation Option is the most economically viable, followed by the Combined Option and lastly by the Exploitation Option. Sensitivity analysis indicates that the Conservation Option ranks first even under the assumptions of a higher price for timber and non-timber products, as well as under different time horizons and discount rates.