Virachey National Park
Virachey National Park is currently not listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. However, the park was designated an ASEAN Heritage Park in 2003.
There are no carbon offsetting projects currently happening in Virachey National Park. However, an ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity review in 2023 argued that Virachey National Park of Cambodia should be developed to be the next REDD+ project.[1]
Cambodia Indigenous Youth Association (CIYA).
Phone: +855 12 829 717
Email: info@ciyanet.org
Website: https://www.ciyanet.org/
Cambodia Indigenous Peoples Alliance (CIPA).
Phone: +855 59 971 2423
Email: yun.lorang25@gmail.com
Website: cipocambodia.org/cipo/
Fauna & Flora support includes camera trapping, eDNA, and “community outreach.”
https://www.fauna-flora.org/projects/conserving-virachey-national-parks-forest-ecosystem/
ASEAN Centre For Biodiversity: declared Virachey Park on December 18, 2003, as an ASEAN Declaration of Heritage Parks
https://beta.aseanbiodiversity.org/asean-heritage-parks/virachey-national-park/.
WWF: (Report) Risk or Reward? Rewarding the Present, Risking the Future: Analyzing The High-Stakes of Hydropower in the Lower Mekong’s Supply Chain.
The park is overseen by the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Tourism. The official oversight of the park is by the Ministry of Tourism of Cambodia and is featured as a sightseeing venue.
Ministry of Tourism, Cambodia.
Website: https://tourismcambodia.org/provinces/search/detail/215/virachey-national-park-ratanakiri
Current minister is H.E. SOK Soken: https://www.tourismcambodia.org/minister.
Ministry of Environment.
Phnom Penh: https://www.moe.gov.kh/
Email: info@tourismcambodia.org
Ministry of Tourism, Cambodia.
H.E. SOK Soken: https://www.tourismcambodia.org/minister.
Website: https://tourismcambodia.org/provinces/search/detail/215/virachey-national-park-ratanakiri
Ministry of Environment.
Phnom Penh: https://www.moe.gov.kh/
Email: info@tourismcambodia.org
Fauna & Flora’s project to ‘Strengthened livelihoods and conservation management in Virachey National Park - the exact amount of funding is not shown on the website, however, the donors financially contributing to this project (the details of which are noted below) are listed as the Darwin Initiative, Prince Bernhard Nature Fund and the Lucille Foundation.[1] The Darwin Initiative awarded £497,244 to support the project between 2021 and 2024.[2] In 2022, the UK government also awarded nearly $600,000 to support Fauna & Flora deliver this program.[3]
In 2023, the U.K. embassy in Phnom Penh confirmed that $730,000 was to be allocated as funding for the Virachey National Park as part of Britain’s global Biodiversity Landscape Fund. Marc Thayre from the UK embassy stated that the vast majority of the funding for the Mekong region is bound for Virachey.[4]
Virachey National Park was established on the ancestral lands of the Indigenous Brau and Kavet peoples under the Royal Decree Concerning the Creation and Designation of Protected Areas, issued on November 1, 1993. In 2003, it was designated as an ASEAN Heritage Park and is one of Cambodia’s largest national parks, covering over 332,500 hectares. Indigenous communities and ethnic minorities with historical ties to Virachey now reside on the outskirts of the park. The park also holds significance for its recent political history, as the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a crucial supply route for the Northern Vietnamese Army during the Vietnam War, crossed the park's eastern border to support revolutionary efforts in South Vietnam.
Limited public information is available regarding the impact of Virachey National Park’s creation on Indigenous communities and traditional custodians of the land now included in this conservation area. Restrictions on hunting have significantly affected these tribes' ability to provide for their families, both through direct access to food sources and by selling surplus game for income. The tribes rely on the park’s forests for collecting nuts, roots, berries, and herbs, and on its waterways for fishing. Some groups, including the Hill Tribe People, have a long history of cultivating crops such as rice. While Indigenous hunting has been systematically restricted, little has been done to prevent poaching by outsiders. Access to the land within the park's boundaries is of vital cultural and spiritual importance, as Indigenous communities maintain deep spiritual connections and knowledge systems rooted in the life forces that inhabit the forest.
There are two controversial hydropower projects planned for the Mekong River area at the core of Virachey, with investigative journalism in late 2023 showing that initial assessment work had begun at the dam sites. Veng Many, a Kroeung woman from the Tiem Leu village in Ratanakiri province, on the outskirts of Virachey National Park said in response to the dam proposals that “If there is no water, humans and animals cannot survive.[1]” The Tiem Leu village has already been subject to environmental degradation from other regional hydroelectric projects; the two dams being proposed in addition would place what is left of their fishing resources and ecologies to breaking point.[2]
Cambodian Code on Environment and Natural Resources, which came into effect in 2023.[1] However, the previous law concerning protected areas was the Royal Kram NS/RKM/0208/07 on promulgation of the Law on Protected Areas.[2]
Land Law of Cambodia 2001, has specific provisions on Indigenous land rights.[3]
No comprehensive information in English was readily available regarding the specific challenges faced by the tribes, aside from the pressure to refrain from hunting in the jungle. However, relevant information is likely available on non-English platforms, and further research is needed. Recent developments, such as hydropower project proposals and potential carbon credit initiatives within the park, remain ongoing concerns. These issues should be closely monitored, and Indigenous resistance efforts should be supported.