Protected area downgrading, downsizing, and degazettement in Cambodia: Enabling conditions and opportunities for intervention. Issue 4 (23rd February 2023) - Nuttall, Matthew
Abstract: Protected area (PA) sustainability is challenged worldwide by legal downgrading, downsizing, and degazettement (PADDD). National and local case studies of ecologically destructive PADDD events provide useful insights that may help respond to or prevent future events. Using information from legal documents and expert input, we identified 37 PADDD events that affected two adjacent PAs in northeastern Cambodia differently despite similar economic, environmental, and social conditions. Important differences in local context led to the eventual degazettement (100% loss) of one PA and downsizing (10.49% loss) of the other, the rest of which remains protected. This case study confirms the contribution of secure Indigenous land tenure to durable conservation governance and demonstrates the importance of investing in site‐level capacity to ensure that social and ecological conditions are monitored and proposed PADDD events can be successfully challenged. Abstract : This paper compares the economic, political, and social contexts and legal mechanisms that drove rapid and substantial downgrading and downsizing of two contiguous protected areas (PA) in Cambodia, resulting in the degazettement of one. We highlight examples of PADDD events from these PAs with both positive and negative impacts on biodiversity, and legal procedures that lack transparency and due process. Finally, we discuss the relevance of these lessons for the global conservation community.