Deforestation is the cutting down of forests on purpose, mostly to clear land for agriculture or construction, to obtain wood to be used as fuel and for timber. Deforestation poses an immense threat to the natural ecosystem, biodiversity and climate. The most common adverse effects are loss of habitat, soil erosion, pollution, global warming and climate change.
Deforestation is a global problem, and every country has its own approach to mitigating the negative effects linked to it. In this blog, we will focus on the rate of deforestation in Cambodia and its adverse impacts on the environment and population.
Cambodia is located on the Indochinese mainland of Southeast Asia. It is largely a land of plains and great rivers with diverse ecosystems and rich flora and fauna. Lately, as a result of several human activities, this country has been a victim of immense deforestation. These activities include poorly managed commercial logging, fuelwood collection, agricultural invasion, and infrastructure and urban development.
The forest cover was 73.4% in 1965 and due to continuous clearing of forested area, it was reduced to 46.86% in 2018 and is still declining rapidly. 
Data from Global Forest Watch’s Dashboards show that Cambodia lost nearly 2.2 million hectares of tree cover between 2001 and 2018 which is about 24 percent of its tree cover.
Rural Cambodians are especially impacted by illegal deforestation as 65% of them depend on forest resources for food, fuel and shelter. Forests also help in carbon storage, thus regulating the temperature of the atmosphere. With every 100,000 hectares of deforestation, 15 million tons of carbon will remain in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. Another harmful effect is soil erosion which leads to flooding and has a catastrophic impact on the production of rice crops which supports the livelihood of Cambodian people. Deforestation has also decreased fishing capabilities by reducing the area available for productive ecological activities such as breeding in addition to restricting access for fishermen. Last but not the least, loss of habitat for over 60 globally threatened species can lead to their extinction.
With the increase of awareness, Cambodia is on its way towards sustainable development where forests are protected from over-exploitation. These measures are being taken on both government and community levels. The ministry of environment has designated some areas as conservation areas and protected forests and has introduced an environment code to strengthen the effectiveness of environmental protection and conservation management. On the community level, Community Forestry and Community Protected Areas are the drives for lowering the damage done due to deforestation.
Hira Akbar
V-Blue
Beaconhouse I-9 Campus
