Local level sustainability planning for livelihoods: A Cambodian experience

Abstract

SUMMARYHow do Cambodian villagers perceive sustainability and what do they do 'on the ground'? Looking at sustainability issues through the lens of two local resource management committees, and using a triangulation of social science research methods, this paper examines the roles and responsibilities of these groups and how they grapple with resource degradation and related activities. The committees have experimented with a range of resource management strategies, from creating fishing sanctuaries to resolving fishing gear theft. The results indicate that one reason villagers are willing to engage in community-based management is when they believe that they can improve livelihoods within their community. Community-based management is being carried out in the absence of formal legislation; it is recognized through government policy and administrative approvals. In this regard, local-level support and leadership has been key, and the current arrangement has created the political space for experimentation and learning.

Social capital of community forest management on Nusapati Village, Mempawah District, West Kalimantan, Indonesia

“…The forest management should provide optimal benefits to society, the forest and the surrounding stakeholders (Birgantoro and Nurrochmat 2007). Furthermore, community-based management can turn unsustainable practices into more sustainable ones through a number of ways, such as selforganization, institutional development, experiment, knowledge elaboration, and social learning (Marschke and Berkes 2005).…”

Can Local Institutions Help Sustain Livelihoods in an Era of Fish Declines and Persistent Environmental Change? A Cambodian Case Study

“…and blue crabs (P. pelagicus) in deeper waters. In the mangrove-estuary areas, Marschke and Berkes [53] already warned of a collapse in crab species, due to the number of pre-reproductive species being caught in the early 2000s; a complete collapse does not appear to have happened, and over-fishing has been seen as an issue for over a decade. Overall, fishery decline is attributed to the use of certain types of fishing gear (large trawls, circle nets) and the impacts of large-scale sand extraction taking place in this area since 2008.…”

Life, Fish and Mangroves : Resource Governance in Coastal Cambodia

“…Already decentralization policies are widely promoted both within the Ministry of Interior and across other ministries, and there may be multiple committees working on resource-related issues within a village or a commune, since the elected commune councils have a mandated role in resource management activities, as do the specific committees elected at a village level to address fisheries, forestry or protected areas issues. This causes tension, duplication and confusion (Marschke and Berkes 2005). This is also an issue between technical departments that see resource management issues as the domain of centralized state agencies (i.e., fisheries, forestry and land management) and the Ministry of Interior, which argues that it is tasked to deal with all local governance issues.…”

“…Over half of Cambodia's national budget is funded by foreign sources (Hubbard 2005); between 1993 and 2003, five billion dollars of overseas development assistance accounted for 13 percent of Cambodia's GDP (Ear 2007). There are more than thirty major donors, along with hundreds of NGOs, working in Cambodia (Ear 2007 (Marschke 2005). Some projects focused on fisheries, some on forestry and some on both.…”

“…Initial community-based management approaches were experimental: community members, NGOs and/or government facilitators worked on understanding what resource management could look like on a village-by-village basis. In these areas, village-level institutions were created in a policy vacuum, with maps and management plans recognized informally through appropriate signatures (from village headpersons to the provincial governor) and in some cases by technical departments at the provincial or national level (Marschke 2005). Pilot projects tended to address a mix of resource issues, from the illegal cutting of trees, to stopping the use of explosives in fishing, to addressing water supply issues.…”