FLO has been working with over 60 different communities in the past 14 years. Meet some of the communities we currently work with!
Community Forestry
Before NGOs came to help us, we didn’t know about our rights as an indigenous community or how to prevent the forest from being destroyed. “We were worried about our forest, but we didn’t know how to protect it.” Thanks to training sessions and workshops, our community now has control over its resources.
“When I visit other villages that have lost all their forests, I feel lucky that we still have ours. Our forest is our gold.”
The Okok community’s 1,200-hectare forest is surrounded by a 15,000-hectare sugar cane economic concession. Without the Community Forestry (CF) initiative and regular patrolling, this forest would no longer exist.
Okok Village
- Bunong Indigenous community
- Land Titling and Community Forestry project.
- 66 families in the village
- 1200 hectares of protected forest
- Deciduous forest type.
Indigenous Community identity
In the last decades it has been challenging to preserve the Bunong Identity. We can’t make our Pong, our traditional clothes. We have a few traditional music instruments in the village, but few people know how to play. “Fortunately there is a strong will to keep speaking our language and transmit it to our children. We still practice traditional ceremonies and transmit our spiritual practices.
Thanks to the help of FLO, we can do this to a larger extend and hopefully keep our traditions and our identity alive.”
Pontachea village
- Bunong Indigenous community
- Community Land Titling project
- 168 families in the village
- 317 hectares of protected forest
- Deciduous forest type.
Community Fishery
“We want our children and all the future generations to be able to see the beauty of our Mekong River, and to benefit from its abundance. That’s why we wanted to create a Community Fishery, to protect nature and our livelihood.”
Cha Thnoal Village
- Community Fishery established in 2020
- 10 managing committee members, including 5 women
- 75 families
Community Forestry
In 2006, a private company began clearing the forest around our village. A group of monks and an environmental activist organized a protest with the villagers, which led to the creation of the Community Forestry (CF).
“We feel proud and empowered when we show our preserved forest and its thriving wildlife to visitors. There is a great sense of collectiveness and support within the community.”
Veal Kanseng Village
- Community Forestry established in 2007
- Land Titling received 2017
- 484 Member Families
- 1600 hectares of protected forest
- Dense Evergreen Forest type
Managing the Forest through Community Forestry
“the community forest is a forest area that benefits many people in Rolous commune. We depend on the forest for our survival; from the food we eat to the air we breathe. Besides providing livelihood for us and habitat for animals, it also offers plant-based forest products and timber for building and construction. In as much as the Forest Admnistration, FLO and other stakeholders are promoting Rolus Community Forest, we the local communities have a great responsibility to protect, manage and utilize the forest in a sustainable manner.”
Paklae Village
- Community Forestry established in 2011
- Land Title received 2017
- 182 Member Families
- 1940 hectares of protected forest
- Semi-evergreen forest type
Kuy identity and traditional farming
The community chief explains: “The way we cultivate our land is simple: we grow rice on a parcel for 3 or 4 years, then this parcel is left to rest for at least 5 years. It’s called crop rotation and fallows. During the time the land is left to rest, the forest has time to regenerate and nourish the soil, we don’t need to use chemicals. Over the years, we have been rotating our cultures and “clearing” the fallows, but now with the PA, we can’t do that anymore. Why can rich people and big international companies clear thousands of hectares of forest for their business? We hope that by obtaining the CLT we will be able to farm in our traditional way and feed the whole community again.”
Enchey Community
- ICLT project
- working on obtaining their Land Title
- 128 Member Families
- 581 ha of protected forest