The Impact of Agricultural Expansion on Forest Cover in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia

Abstract

In the northeastern Cambodian province of Ratanakiri, agricultural expansion has been a significant factor in the decline of forest coverage. As forests are essential for rural populations' livelihoods and a healthy environment, this study presents the dynamics of this transformed forest landscape resulting from changes in farming, land accessibility and policy changes. A multitemporal dataset consisting of two ALOS/AVNIR-2 images in 2007 and 2011 were used to compare changes in land cover, and the panchromatic image of 2012 Worldview-1 acquired at 100 km 2 was used to access specific land-use patterns. Qualitative research methods ranging from an ethnographic method to qualitative data analysis were performed for gathering in-situ information to understand human-induced changes in land use. The results illustrate three triggers found at the local level, actively changing the forest landscape: (1) indigenous people transforming the swidden farming system to the mono-cropping system without external support and agricultural market information, (2) chaotic property market resulting from migrants purchasing existing farms or forest lands from indigenous people via land brokers, and (3) the introduction of land concessions by government via the 2001 Land Law, which allows agricultural cooperation to develop plantations.

Evaluation of Land Use and Land Cover Change and Its Drivers in Battambang Province, Cambodia from 1998 to 2018

“…According to key informant interviews during the field survey, the agricultural land price sharply increased from $650 to $20,000 US dollars per hectare over the past 20 years. The rising land price was found to be the driver of LULC change in the northeastern province of Rattanakiri [64]. In Battambang, it could potentially lead to conversion of agricultural land to urban built-up land, which has higher price as buyers or investors want to make profits.…”

“Living a good life”: conceptualizations of well-being in a conservation context in Cambodia

“…Part of Cambodia's national development strategy takes the form of economic land concessions (ELCs), or the granting of land to private companies for investments in plantations and large-scale agriculture. Although ELCs are meant to respond to the national impetus for economic development (Phelps et al 2013; Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries: http://www.maff.gov.kh/), disputes have arisen specifically around the unfair eviction of local communities from land, human rights abuses, and the partial pattern of ELCs granted over high-value forests and protected areas, thus affecting local livelihoods (Üllenberg 2009, Bues 2011, Hor et al 2014, Beauchamp et al 2018a). …”

Quantification of the effect of agriculture on forest carbon stock: Case study of a Nigerian forest reserve

“…In Southeast Asia, crop production has also been a major cause of deforestation for the past three decades (Imai et al 2018). The study of Hor et al (2014) in Ratanakiri Province Cambodia identified the expansion of agriculture especially swidden practice as a significant factor contributing to the decrease of forest area.…”