Cambodia in the Canopy Global 1000

Ranked of 1,000 by conservation value. Both rankings are shown: plant data is being added, and neither is the final word. Lower is higher priority.

Who manages protected areas

From Canopy’s country evidence record for Cambodia, compiled 2026-10-05 from the sources named under each item. A field marked not reported was not verified in those sources, which is not evidence that it does not exist.

Managing agency: Ministry of Environment (Nature Protection and Conservation Administration as secretariat). Article 4 of the 2008 Protected Area Law places protected area management under the Ministry of Environment, with the Nature Protection and Conservation Administration as its secretariat.

System: Natural protected areas system.

Sources: Kingdom of Cambodia, via FAOLEX (FAO): Protected Area Law (English text, January 2008 version), 2008; Open Development Cambodia: Sub-decree No. 69 on the transfer of the protected forest, forest conservation and production forest, 2016-04-28.

Legal framework

Law on Protected Areas (Royal Kram NS/RKM/0208/007), 2008-02-15.

Administration: The Ministry of Environment manages protected areas through the Nature Protection and Conservation Administration (Art. 4). Eight categories are defined by sub-decree (Art. 7); establishment or modification of any protected area is by sub-decree on a dossier of studies, boundaries and consultations (Art. 8). Finance: A protected areas fund co-chaired by the Ministers of Environment and Economy and Finance (Art. 32); sources include the national budget, entrance and service fees, donations and international funds (Art. 33). Superseded by the 2023 Code per DFDL. Limits on application: Four zones per area, including core and conservation zones (Art. 11). Clearing for public infrastructure through core and conservation zones is prohibited (Art. 36); swidden farming is barred in core and conservation zones (Art. 24).

Sources: Kingdom of Cambodia, via FAOLEX (FAO): Protected Area Law (English text, January 2008 version), 2008; OGEL (search result): Cambodia Law on Protected Areas of 2008 (Royal Kram NS/RKM/0208/007, dated 15 February 2008), 2008-02-15.

Environment and Natural Resources Code (Royal Kram NS/RKM/0623/007), 2023-06-29.

Administration: 12 books and 865 articles; it replaces the 1996 environment law, the 2008 protected area law and the 2008 biosafety law one year after adoption, per DFDL. Article-level protected area provisions were not read. Finance: not reported. Limits on application: Book 4 covers natural protection zones, beaches, coasts and the sea (per DFDL); fines run from about USD 2,500 to 500,000 and imprisonment up to 30 years. Specific protected-area use rules not verified.

Statute summary paraphrased from the cited text; a missing finance entry means no finance provision was verified, not that none exists. Source: DFDL: Cambodia: Adopts the 2023 Environmental and Natural Resources Code, 2023.

Sub-decree No. 183 on reclassifying Veun Sai-Siem Pang National Park (one of the 40-plus July 2023 reclassification sub-decrees), 2023-07-17.

Administration: Expands the national park from 57,469 ha to 280,359 ha in Ratanak Kiri and Stung Treng provinces, folding in adjacent biodiversity corridor land. Finance: not reported. Limits on application: Not read beyond the record summary.

Statute summary paraphrased from the cited text; a missing finance entry means no finance provision was verified, not that none exists. Sources: Mongabay: Skepticism as Cambodia expands protected areas by more than a million hectares, 2023-08-29; Open Development Mekong (Royal Gazette record): Sub-decree No. 183 on reclassifying Veun Sai-Siem Pang National Park, 2023-07-17.

Sub-decree No. 69 on the transfer of protected forest, forest conservation and production forest, 2016-04-28.

Administration: Moved 13 protected forest and forest conservation areas and 5 production forest areas from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to the Ministry of Environment; 73 economic land concessions went the other way (search snippet). Finance: not reported. Limits on application: Not read.

Statute summary paraphrased from the cited text; a missing finance entry means no finance provision was verified, not that none exists. Source: Open Development Cambodia: Sub-decree No. 69 on the transfer of the protected forest, forest conservation and production forest, 2016-04-28.

Protected-area coverage

Terrestrial: 39.8% of national land area, 176,520 km²; as of 2025.

World Bank WDI indicator ER.LND.PTLD.ZS for 2025 (39.7 in 2020 to 2023, 39.8 in 2024 and 2025), updated 2026-07-13. Protected area km2 not stated by the source; the land area figure is the 2023 WDI value. Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators API: Terrestrial protected areas (% of total land area), Cambodia, ER.LND.PTLD.ZS, 2026-07-13.

Marine: 1.5% of territorial waters, its area not stated by the source; as of 2025.

World Bank WDI ER.MRN.PTMR.ZS, percent of territorial waters (not EEZ), updated 2026-07-13. Denominator area not given. Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators API: Marine protected areas (% of territorial waters), Cambodia, ER.MRN.PTMR.ZS, 2026-07-13.

National inventory, as of 2023-08: 73 protected areas, 7,050,000 ha.

Protected areas under the Ministry of Environment after the July to August 2023 sub-decrees (more than 40). Mongabay gives 7.05 million ha attributed to the Ministry; the Phnom Penh Post (Dec 2023) snippet gives over 7 million ha, 40 percent; other reports cite 7.2 million ha, 41 percent. Terrestrial and marine split not found.

Sources: Mongabay: Skepticism as Cambodia expands protected areas by more than a million hectares, 2023-08-29; The Phnom Penh Post (via PressReader): Ministry urges enhanced unity for conservation, 2023-12-08.

Funding mechanisms

Selected programmes, each with the basis its source states. Amounts are programme or fund totals, not annual protected-area receipts, and are not added together or converted between currencies.

Additional Financing for the Cambodia Sustainable Landscape and Ecotourism Project (GEF-7), 2020-04-16.

Amount: USD 4,422,020 (GEF grant; co-financing of USD 53,160,000 is separate). Administrator: World Bank (implementing agency); executed by Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Rural Development. Scope: Protected area management and ecotourism in the Cardamom Mountains-Tonle Sap landscape.

Source: Global Environment Facility: Additional Financing for the Cambodia Sustainable Landscape and Ecotourism Project (GEF ID 10483), 2020-04-16.

Ministry of Environment REDD+ credit sales for Keo Seima, Southern Cardamom and Prey Lang, 2022-11.

Amount: not stated (Volume reported as 15 million tonnes of VERs over 1.27 million ha; contract value not stated in the article). Administrator: Ministry of Environment with WCS and Wildlife Alliance; Everland as marketing partner. Scope: Site-based REDD+ in protected landscapes and community revenue sharing.

Source: CarbonCredits.com: Cambodia to sell 15 million tonnes of REDD+ carbon credits to corporates, 2022-11.

GEF-6 CALM (UNDP, USD 3,340,320) and GEF-5 CAMPAS (USD 4,718,182) protected area projects, date not reported.

Amount: not stated (Two separate GEF grants; not summed). Administrator: UNDP (CALM); Ministry of Environment (CAMPAS). Scope: Northern Plains landscape (CALM) and national protected area system (CAMPAS).

Source: GEF / UNDP (search results): GEF Cambodia protected-area projects (CALM, CAMPAS).

What this record does not establish

Comparable C-RISK/readiness and delivery scores. No country calibration or model assessment authorized for Southeast Asia.

Current annual national PA financing need, agency budget and gap. No validated cost rate, executed agency budget or complete current funding inventory was verified; programme totals cannot fill these fields.

Complete park, carbon and legal-event inventories. Selected national documents do not establish complete inventories, status-change (PADDD) histories or park observations.

Research limit. Protected-area km2 and the terrestrial/marine split are not established; Environment and Natural Resources Code protected-area articles and most 2023 sub-decree texts were not read.

Research limit. The 2016 transfer sub-decree and the 2008 Royal Kram date rest on search snippets; no jurisdictional REDD+ or LEAF agreement was found or claimed.

Not here yet

Canopy’s country readiness score (C-RISK) and its PACE management scores cover Africa today. They have not been published for Cambodia.

Corrections

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