During the last two decades, policy makers, planners and scholars have needed to revisit and reconsider the important role of relevant stakeholders, particularly marginalized groups in local communities, in natural resources management and conservation. One new management approach towards sustainable natural resource management is community based natural resource management (CBNRM). This is an umbrella term used for many initiatives including community forestry, community fisheries, participatory land use planning, community protected area and joint forest management. A national Workshop on CBNRM (Phnom Penh, November 2002) indicated a need for compilation of field lessons learned from different projects and organizations. This compilation is divided into five sections and twenty chapters. The first section, Developing CBNRM in Cambodia, provides an overview of the theoretical background and practical situation for CBNRM in Cambodia. The second section focuses on recent policy changes and legal developments while the third explores networking, working groups and institutional developments. The fourth section is lessons learned from field experiences while the last section looks at key opportunities and challenges for CBNRM which look at moving towards good governance, securing land and resource tenure rights, and sustainable livelihoods. This status report serves as important baseline information for CBNRM as it stands in Cambodia towards the end of 2004.