“…Moreover, this form of "resilience grabbing" involves both livelihoods and culture. As noted by McAndrew (2000) in a study of indigenous villages in neighboring Ratanakiri Province, land takeovers "have not only diminished natural resources necessary for sustaining livelihoods, they have also debilitated cultural and social resources needed to deal with the exigencies of change itself ( [56], p. 50).…”
Cambodia has become a principal target of transnational (and domestic) land grabs over the past decade, mostly in the form of economic land concessions (ELCs). The northeastern part of the country—where the majority of Cambodia’s indigenous people reside—is a particular hotspot. In this article, we discuss three policy mechanisms that the Cambodian government has employed to extend and legitimize land exclusions in the name of national economic development through the example of two indigenous villages in Srae Preah Commune, Mondulkiri Province. First, we show how the allocation of two ELCs has deprived indigenous communities of their communally managed land. Second, we examine how communal land titling processes have failed to provide indigenous villagers with effective legal mechanisms to counteract ELCs and land encroachment by internal migrants. Third, we elucidate how the promotion of cash crop production contributed to livelihood and land use transitions from a reliance on forest resources in 2003 to a dependence on cash crops in 2012 to a struggle to remain resilient amid a slump in crop prices in 2018. We conclude that the combination of these policies has undermined communal ownership and livelihood resilience under a situation of limited exit strategies.
“…Moreover, this form of "resilience grabbing" involves both livelihoods and culture. As noted by McAndrew (2000) in a study of indigenous villages in neighboring Ratanakiri Province, land takeovers "have not only diminished natural resources necessary for sustaining livelihoods, they have also debilitated cultural and social resources needed to deal with the exigencies of change itself ( [56], p. 50).…”
Cambodia has become a principal target of transnational (and domestic) land grabs over the past decade, mostly in the form of economic land concessions (ELCs). The northeastern part of the country—where the majority of Cambodia’s indigenous people reside—is a particular hotspot. In this article, we discuss three policy mechanisms that the Cambodian government has employed to extend and legitimize land exclusions in the name of national economic development through the example of two indigenous villages in Srae Preah Commune, Mondulkiri Province. First, we show how the allocation of two ELCs has deprived indigenous communities of their communally managed land. Second, we examine how communal land titling processes have failed to provide indigenous villagers with effective legal mechanisms to counteract ELCs and land encroachment by internal migrants. Third, we elucidate how the promotion of cash crop production contributed to livelihood and land use transitions from a reliance on forest resources in 2003 to a dependence on cash crops in 2012 to a struggle to remain resilient amid a slump in crop prices in 2018. We conclude that the combination of these policies has undermined communal ownership and livelihood resilience under a situation of limited exit strategies.
“…Ethnic minorities make up 70% of the population in Mondulkiri; the dominant group is the Bunong people (ADB, 2000; ICC, 2004). A principal livelihood of the Bunong is the collection of forest products, particularly liquid tree resin (Evans et al, 2003; McAndrew et al, 2003). Hunting is a traditional activity for men and is known to occur in the area (Richardson, 2003; Drury, 2005).…”
Field surveys of the Vulnerable pygmy slow loris Nycticebus pygmaeus using local knowledge in Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia C a r l y S t a r r , K . A . I . N e k a r i s , U l r i k e S t r e i c h e r and L u k e K . -P . L e u n g Abstract The pygmy slow loris Nycticebus pygmaeus is a little-studied primate endemic to Vietnam, Laos, southern China and eastern Cambodia. Our study aimed to gain local knowledge on the distribution and ecology of, and threats to, the species by interviewing hunters, traders and wildlife protection staff, and to verify this information using a spotlighting survey in three major reserves in Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia. Encounter rates of pygmy loris were assessed along 29 transects (129.5 km), yielding observations of 26 individuals. Mean encounter rates were 0.40 km -1 in Seima Protection Forest, 0.10 km -1 in Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary and 0.00 km -1 in Mondulkiri Protected Forest. Informants had knowledge of where populations occurred, their diet, sociality and habitat preferences. Widespread large population declines were reported and informants linked this to high hunting pressure, particularly in 2001 and 2002. In late 2008 and 2009 we resurveyed three transects that had high encounter rates in early 2008 and failed to detect any lorises. Local informants reported high hunting pressure during the previous wet season in two of these sites, and a gold mine development was underway in the third site. Urgent actions are required to address these population declines and to assess the conservation status of pygmy lorises throughout eastern Cambodia.
“…As John McAndrew has stated:[s]ince the 1990s the opening up of Cambodia's economy has had far reaching consequences for Ratanakiri. The pursuit of logging concessions, hydropower projects, and industrial plantations has occasioned a major shift in the use and ownership of provincial land resources (McAndrew : 1).…”
Section: General Background To the Cambodian Highlandsmentioning
Nation-building throughout Southeast Asia has been undertaken in contexts where minority groups, living on the margins of society, are being forced into recent state constructions, and have had their cultures eroded as a result. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for education have provided international benchmarks for literacy. These have been adopted by the Cambodian state, and a number of donors and NGOs have funded and enacted policies with the explicit aim of improving the language skills of Cambodia's highland communities. However, these are being implemented in communities that do not speak Khmer (the Cambodian national language), and do not have indigenous systems of writing. Drawing on fieldwork in Cambodia, this paper argues that the impact of the MDGs has been to depoliticize an inherently contested terrain, and to ironically silence communities on fundamental issues by teaching them to read, write and speak the national language. This has limited their capacity to perform sovereignty by restricting the very voice they are entitled to speak.
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