Sen Monorom, Mondulkiri province, April 7th 2009 – Joined by many ministry level government officials, representatives of international and local NGOs, journalists, local villagers and Sen Monorom citizens, today minority ethnic Phnong communities of Krang Teh and Pou Chrey and the local government of Mondulkiri celebrate the launch of their fresh Mondulkiri Wild Honey product to mark the commitment to protecting forest resources and promoting livelihoods development based on non-timber forest products.

The Mondulkiri Wild Honey is the result of a forest based livelihoods project the two communities began in 2007 to respectively operate enterprises of Krang Raton and Prey Rodang raising the value of forest resource as an important means for improving their living standard. Such an achievement is also motivated by community’s understanding of their role and participation in natural resource management being key to successfully protecting the surrounding plains and wildlife.

“WWF, Government and NGO partners are actively working with local communities in the Eastern Plains Landscape to encourage their involvement in forest conservation while promoting livelihood opportunities,” said Mr Seng Teak, WWF Country Director.

Honey is one of the important forest based livelihoods that communities living in and around the protected areas of Mondulkiri are dependent upon.  By motivating the communities with processing of wild honey, the intimate relations between people, forests and non-timber forest products are promoted.

“WWF works with NTFP-EP to promote and support NTFP based community processing activities by organising them in groups, providing capacity building, inviting them in processes of forest management and helping them promote their achievement among the public,” said Mrs Amy Maling, WWF Community Extension Technical Advisor.

Forest honey from the wild bee species living in protected areas and community forests has the potential to attract domestic and international markets if honey products meet standard requirements with regard to quality, quantity, price, packaging and product use. To ensure that forest honey collection is a sustainable community livelihood, honey collectors handle harvesting following proper methods, adopt hygienic and standardized practices in honey processing and product packaging with attractive labeling.

“Although the honey market is wide in Cambodia, the Mondulkiri Wild Honey is not yet widely promoted.  It can achieve competitive advantage if it is a sustainably harvested, quality product.” said Ms Femy Pinto, Country Facilitator of NTFP-EP Cambodia.

“Our efforts are also strengthened by good working relationships among the supporting organizations, the communities and our government partners,” she continued.

The launch of the honey product of Mondulkiri is organised to coincide with celebrations of community networking and marketing campaigns as we promote NTFP based community enterprises in other parts of the country including Phnom Penh, Ratanakiri as part of the April Festival on Forests, People & NTFPs and later in the year in Siem Reap and Koh Kong provinces.

For more information, contact Asnarith.
asnarith.tep@wwfgreatermekong.org