The World Wildlife Fund announced a $6.1 million expansion of a program designed to transfer direct management of resources from government administrations to local communities, more than doubling the project’s scope.
The Partnership for Forestry and Fishery Communities program aims to improve the livelihoods of villagers by helping communities gain legal rights to their land and teaching them to manage their resources sustainably.
“The most important thing we see from the program itself…[is] long-term sustainable resource use,” said Seng Teak, country director for World Wildlife Fund, on Wednesday.
“It’s not only government managed…. It’s communities themselves actually living in the area and relying heavily on the resources,” Mr. Teak added.
“They should take a key role in…managing the resources as well.”
The $6.1 million is set to fund the project through June 2021, and expand the number of community-managed forests and fisheries from 158 to 347, encompassing more than 380,000 hectares of land and impacting nearly 33,000 families, according to a statement.
