Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University)
"Obfuscating collective ownership: Forest degradation in Ratanakiri province, Cambodia"
Abstract:
Cambodia is currently experiencing profound processes of land use and cover change, driven by obfuscating collective ownership. This article discusses potential future of titling indigenous communal land towards to address land issue by clarifying collective rights in the east of Ratanakiri province, Cambodia. Qualitative method was applied to interview key informants in order to characterize land-use dynamics and law enforcement. There were forty-seven farmers excluding three government officers and three NGO’s employees who were invited to join in-depth interviews. Two Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) images from 1996 to 2009 employed in analyzing change in land use and cover. 2012 Worldview-1 image employed during the field survey in order to collect concrete information on agricultural land uses. This composition of research methods may request to understand at least three aspects, such as livelihood of indigenous people, quantitative information of land use change and legal documents. Particularly, the study found that the livelihood of local people is significant deference within 1998 and 2008. This transformation causes change in forest cover under open access resource regime. Sadly, forests have significantly declined, and agricultural land has dramatically increased between 1996 and 2009. In-depth interviews yielded an understanding of communal tenure could clarify collective ownership. Finally, the de-facto situation must call for vigorous action on managing common property before depletion and titling communal land should not delay.
