The role of community participation in the sustainability of nature-based solution implementation: The case of Trapeang Sangkae Community-Based Natural Resource Management Project in Cambodia

Climate change has produced a lot of disturbances and impacts on the existing coastal ecosystems and human settlements in term of the rise of sea level and the more frequent and intense incidents of storm resulting in flooding and loss of land. Regarding to this matter, the idea of utilizing natural resource as a tool to address climate change issues have gained in popularity, and it has been framed as a new concept called “Nature-Based Solution” or NBS. The implementation of natural resource protection, conservation, restoration and management, a mixture of the first two typologies in NBS, the local participation is seen as an effective intervention contributing to the achievement of project goals in a sustainable manner. Community participation is one of the most influential aspects for the sustainability of NBS- related projects. Particularly, characteristics of local community participation differently take part in the project implementation and support the sustainability of projects.

In this study, the researcher conducted a comprehensive analysis and description about the role of community participation in the sustainability of the NBS implementation for coastal resilience by selecting a successful case of the coastal resource conservation and management, especially for mangrove forests in Trapeang Sangkae Commune, Cambodia. The main objective for this study is to explain how characteristics of local community participation influence the sustainability of the Trapeang Sangkae CBNRM project.

Regarding the methodology of this research, a specific empirical case that satisfies the sustainable implementation of NBS-related project and particularly fulfils the criteria of being sustainable in term of institutional issues was chosen as the main area of focus. 7 key informant interviews, and a focus group discussion followed by the application of observation and the analysis of the secondary data were conducted to gather the information and data for analysis.

The finding of the study positively confirms that the project is the most successful project in the coastal area that could sustainably maintain its performance and the positive outcomes of the project. Also, the study found out that all particular the participation characteristics namely the level of involvement, form of involvement, methods and mechanism, citizen control, allocation of resource, institutional system adaption and management, accountability, benefits, local people attitude, and leadership quality do exist and take a separate role in the project. However, only a few main characteristics including project benefits, local people attitude, the institutional adaptation and management perspective, leadership quality, and the citizen control seem to take a lager and interactive role concerning the sustainability of the project.