Economics and stakeholders of Ream National Park, Cambodia

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of an economic analysis of Ream National Park, a protected area located in southern Cambodia. The objective is to assess how the establishment or destruction of the Park distributes benefits and costs among different stakeholders. A household survey of local communities was undertaken to provide social, economic and ecological data. The paper determines the costs and benefits of three management options: (1) The experimental park scenario corresponds to the base case where some level of protection is achieved, but fisheries eventually collapse; (2) the ghost park scenario assumes that all timber and fish are harvested, destroying the area; (3) the dream park scenario only allows subsistence activities, recreation, education and research. At a 10% discount rate, the dream park has the highest net present value (US $11.9 million). This compares with US $10.0 million for the ghost park and US $9.8 million for the experimental park. Although the dream park scenario has the highest net present value, it exceeds that of the ghost park by less than US $2.0 million. However, protection scenarios allocate the bulk of the Park's benefits to local communities. The dream park confers three times more benefit value to villagers compared with the ghost park. Local communities, whose traditional livelihoods depend on the sustainable use of the Park, stand to loose most; commercial loggers and fishing fleets, as well as the Armed Forces, stand to gain most from the wanton exploitation of timber and marine resources.