The Partnership for Forestry and Fisheries Communities in Cambodia (PaFF) is an eight-year initiative that is helping rural Cambodians exercise their rights to manage, protect and benefit from local natural resources in ways that sustain livelihoods, reduce poverty and increase resilience to economic and environmental shocks. It also seeks to strengthen democratic processes, promote rule of law and safeguard human rights of women, indigenous groups, and low-income community members through their engagement in community-based natural resource management.

PaFF strengthens capacity among communities and government agencies to implement three approaches to sustainable natural resource management: community forestry, community fisheries and community-protected areas. It is supporting indigenous and local communities to secure rights to access and use local forest and fishery resources, implement resource management plans, improve production practices and access finance. The initiative also empowers community members with a specific focus on Indigenous Peoples and women to participate in dialogues with authorities on natural resource management, development planning and policy. 

To improve incomes, PaFF supports the creation of small-scale enterprises to process and market fish, develop and market forest products such as honey and bamboo, and promote ecotourism. PaFF strengthens links between community groups and private sector actors along value chains. 

PaFF is also setting up credit schemes and mini trust funds. These will provide sustainable sources of finance for implementing forest and fishery management plans and provide community members with a means of investing to improve their livelihoods.

Ultimately, PaFF will benefit tens of thousands of rural Cambodians in line with the Royal Government of Cambodia’s policy goals, including international commitments on climate change and biodiversity and progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) funded the first two phases of PaFF. SDC and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) are co-funding the third and final phase. Other funders that contributed to Phase 2 are: IUCN Netherlands, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Belgium development cooperation and Forum Syd.