PHNOM PENH, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- The World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Cambodia), along with its partner organizations, on Wednesday launched the 6.1 million U.S. dollars phase 2 project to continue supporting forestry and fisheries communities in the Mekong Flooded Forest Landscape of Cambodia.
The project started in 2014 and covers three phases over eight years until 2022, the WWF said in a statement, adding that the phase 2 project will be running from August 2017 until June 2021.
"It aims to support local and indigenous communities and households in increasing their income and improving their resilience to economic and natural shocks," the statement said. "This is done by engaging in sustainable community-based livelihood approaches that protect ecosystems and reduce pressure on communal natural resources."
The phase 2 project will build on experiences and lessons learned from phase 1 to add two neighboring provinces (Preah Vihear and Kampong Thom) to its current intervention areas of Kratie and Stung Treng, it said.
This expansion will allow the project's outreach to increase from 158 to 347 forestry and fisheries communities with 32,910 households, it added.
"The sustainable management of natural resources is fundamental to supporting the lives of the Cambodian people," said Eng Cheasan, director-general of Cambodia's Fisheries Administration, adding that the government fully supported the project.
Seng Teak, country director of WWF-Cambodia, said forestry and fisheries are productive resources that, if managed efficiently, can provide sustained products that can be utilized directly to support local livelihoods, including fish and non-timber forest products such as resin, wild honey, bamboo, and rattan.
