Co-designing community-friendly forest monitoring tool: Highlights from stakeholder consultation

Open Development Cambodia Organization (ODC) conducted a Stakeholder Consultation on Co-Designing Community-Friendly Forest Monitoring Tool on 18 December 2025 with a total of 25 participants. This consultation aims to gather insights on the Forest Dis from civil society organizations (CSOs), community-based organization (CBOs), and community representatives. The consultation aimed to ensure that ODC’s Forest Disturbance Platform is grounded in real community needs and supports effective, timely forest protection at the grassroots level.

The consultation opened with welcome remarks by Mr. Thy Try, Executive Director of ODC who emphasized organization’s role as a neutral open data and digital platform. While ODC provides expertise in data, digital tools, and visualization, communities and practitioners bring important field experience. Co-designing the platform with users is therefore essential to ensure it is practical, accessible, and responsive to on-the-ground realities. This consultation aimed to:

  • Share the draft platform with stakeholders
  • Collect feedback and technical and practical recommendations
  • Explore how communities can use the tool in their daily monitoring work
  • Discuss how the platform can be linked to training, coordination, and funding support for CBOs and grassroots groups

ODC’s experience with open environmental data

In her presentation, Ms. Koem Chhuonvuoch introduced ODC’s mission and values and demonstrated how the organization translates complex environmental data into user-friendly open-access data. She guided participants through several key profile pages on the ODC website, including:

She then introduced the Forest Disturbance Platform, outlining the challenges communities face in monitoring forest changes and responding to illegal activities. By using satellite-based forest disturbance alerts, the platform provides alerts, simple visualizations, and open, transparent data that can be understood and used at the community level. Early detection allows faster response and stronger coordination.

Linking technology with community patrol experience

In the following session, Mr. Sam An Mardy discussed field-based experiences from community forest patrols and demonstrated practical use cases for the Forest Disturbance Platform. Participants discussed how patrols are organized, including both scheduled and rapid-response missions.

Key questions and stakeholder feedback

The consultation generated constructive feedback and practical questions, including:

  • Can the platform monitor specific community boundaries rather than broad areas?
  • Will the tool be free to use, and will training be provided for communities?
  • Can unregistered communities benefit from the platform?
  • How will alerts be shared?

Participants agreed that real-time or near-real-time alerts, clear workflows, and simple visualizations would significantly improve community effectiveness in protecting forest.

Community reflections: Challenges and needs

During group discussions, participants identified common challenges in community forest monitoring, including technical limitations, institutional constraints, and limited resources. They also highlighted the need for:

  • Practical and continuous training
  • Tools that work in low-connectivity environments
  • Clear procedures for information sharing and coordination with authorities.

The consultation repeated that effective forest monitoring depends on more than technology alone. It requires community participation, trust, collaboration, and user-centered design. ODC will integrate the feedback from this consultation to further refine the Forest Disturbance Platform and explore ways to link the tool with training, funding mechanisms, and long-term support for community and indigenous forest monitoring efforts.

ODC sincerely thanks all participants for their valuable contributions. Through continued collaboration, ODC aims to strengthen open, inclusive, and community-friendly forest monitoring tools that support forest protection across Cambodia.