The Ministry of Environment is gearing up to introduce bamboo processing sites in two additional community protected regions, a move designed to enhance the livelihoods of local communities.

The chosen areas are the Anlong Svay community protected areas and the Cheung Leang community protected zone within the Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary, located in Kampong Chhnang province.

During a meeting on July 10-11, the Cambodia Sustainable Landscape and Ecotourism Project (CSLEP) team, which operates under the Ministry of Environment, convened to formulate a sub-project proposal.

The meeting aimed to advance community livelihoods through the establishment of bamboo processing sites.

The discussion was attended by representatives from the provincial department of environment, environmental rangers, committee members, and local authority figures from both village and commune levels, as per a social media post from the Ministry of Environment dated July 15.

The CSLEP project officials put a spotlight on the project's vision, with a particular emphasis on activities tied to community development. They also detailed the technical guidelines associated with the sustainable handling and extraction of bamboo.

Alongside outlining the project's goals, the officials took a deep dive into community reference documents and gathered essential data for integration into the proposed project.

This included specific details of member statutes, organisational structures, authorised bank accounts, procurement committees, and finance and implementation teams.

The social media post also relayed the team's on-site inspection of the prospective bamboo processing sites, noting that they "studied environmental and social safety to record data and information in preparation for the sub-project proposal and final discussion before the proposal is submitted to the leadership for review”.