Abstract/Summary

Of the more than 10 million Cambodians currently living in rural areas, over 8.5 million depend on natural resources to support their livelihoods. Most are subsistent, relying on one crop of rice per year, fish and other aquatic resources, and a range of forest products. Although rice farming remains the dominant activity in rural areas, fisheries and forest resources also play a critical role in supporting livelihoods. As common property resources (publicly held resources to which access is open to all), fisheries and forests provide households a means for diversifying their subsistence and income-generating activities, optimising their labour resources during different seasons, and “insuring” against the risks of agricultural failures. Moreover, people with no land, little money for capital investments, and few alternative livelihood opportunities can still often fish and/or collect forest products for subsistence. In this manner, Cambodia’s natural resources not only provide a foundation for food security, income, and employment for most of the population, but also an essential “safety net” for the rural poor.

Over the past decade, rural livelihoods have faced increasing challenges due to a rapid decline in resources. Illegal and unsustainable harvests of fish and timber by commercial enterprises, military, local authorities, and a growing rural population have resulted in high rates of forest loss and degradation and a reduction in the productive value of fisheries. Meanwhile, greater competition for land has led to an increase in the landless population. These problems have been compounded by greater restrictions on the rural population’s access to resources. Over the past decade, the government has leased out large tracts of Cambodia’s most productive resources to private interests as forest, fisheries, and land concessions. Of Cambodia’s 18.1 million hectares (ha) of territory, about 5.5 million ha are presently under concession management – forest (4.24 million ha), land (0.81 million ha), and fisheries (0.42 million ha). This is down from close to eight million ha under concessions during the 1990s.

Increasing pressures on land, fisheries, and forests will make the maintenance of rural subsistence a serious challenge in the coming decade. Census estimates indicate that approximately 55 percent of rural Cambodians were age 19 or below in 1998, suggesting population pressure on natural resources will increase significantly in the near future. In light of this pressure, and the importance of natural resources to rural livelihoods, a central component of future poverty reduction efforts must be effective natural resource management.

With this in mind, CDRI established its Natural Resources and Environment Programme in late-2001. The Programme seeks to support improved policymaking on issues of natural resource management, sustainable development, and poverty reduction. This initial paper provides an assessment of the present status of, and issues surrounding, natural resources and rural livelihoods for three key sectors – agriculture (Chapter 2), fisheries (Chapter 3), and forestry (Chapter 4). From this basis, a number of gaps and needs for socio-economic research are identified. The paper is based on an extensive review of existing studies and documents, and interviews with a selection of experts and practitioners working on natural resource and rural livelihood issues.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64202/wp.23.200207