ROYAL UNIVERSITY OF PHNOM PENHDEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

M.A. SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY

Present: By Thol Dina

Situated Knowledge on Land Use practice

A case study in Ratanakiri province

In the Context of Development

General Background

Ratankiri locates in the Northeastern of Cambodia with 1.16 million ha and four main agro-ecological zones.

1. Central Plateau

2. Hill region 3. Mountain region and 4. Low land plain region

It has 9 districts with eight ethnic groups Those ethnic minority groups still practice their traditional

knowledge and some of them have changed their practices because of the introduction of market economy.

Some indigenous villages face the danger of land grabbing.

General Background

Most indigenous people live in a poor condition, illiterate and far from the lowlanders, but now some of them have interact with the lowlanders.

They mostly have been practicing “shifting cultivation” agriculture or and pragmatically gather forest products (Chayan et al., 1995). They still grow hill rice but they also involve in cash crop practices.

General Background

After 1993 Ratanakiri has become the new frontier for settlement because of the introduction of development projects in this area.

With the immigration, more troubles are added to highlander people, especially on land issues.

History of development in the northeastern provinces

The first development projects were brought to the areas since the French colony period (Ironside et al., 2003)

The French built military outposts, primary schools, health care centers, rubber plantations, etc.

These projects were not successful.

History of development in the northeastern provincesSangkum Period (1954-1969)

Special attention was given to NE Cambodia because of the threat of Communism

Some primary schools and health care centers were built, especially in Ratanakiri

Rubber plantation was expanded.

History of development in the northeastern provinces

Khmer Republic (1970-1975) High-ranking staff and the retired officers to

live in those provinces including the provinces in the northeastern Cambodia to control the local people (Colm 1996)

Those outside people destroyed forest to expand rubber plantation and hunted forest animals.

History of development in the northeastern provincesHeng Samrin Regime (1980s)

The Heng Samrin government reestablished local administration system in northeastern provinces, especially in Ratanakiri in 1980

In 1980, Vietnamese logging company started to build road from Vietnam border to Ratanakiri and destroyed forest

History of development in the northeastern provinces

The Royal Government (1993) Ratanakiri has become new frontier for immigration. Lots of

NGOs and different types of projects were introduced to Ranakiri, especially SEILA program.

There are many land concession and forest concessions to both legal and illegal companies, especially logging companies.

After Ratanakiri is being concerned as a development area, many indigenous people lost their land and the forests are in danger land conflict, land lost

Outsiders want to occupy land or start agriculture, and some interested in forest.

Problem Statement

Despite the encroachment of forest land by outsiders, many ethnic communities can still keep and protect their forest.

These ethnic communities seem to have developed their indigenous knowledge on land use, and maintained their customary practices in the use of their forest and forest resources.

These ethnic minorities have experienced development from the government and NGOs; they have learned new ideas, have more contacts with outsiders, including tourists, and have been increasingly linked to market economy.

Thus how are the practices of indigenous on land use in the context of development.

Objectives

To understand ethnic minorities indigenous knowledge on land use practices;

To investigate how indigenous knowledge has been developed, maintained and strengthened in the context of development;

To study how the ethnic minorities use their indigenous knowledge (making claims, etc) in dealing with conflicts in resource management.

Research Methodology

Field site Participant Observation

Gather information on the practice of land use and join directly with villagers

In-dept interview Informal interview Secondary data collection

Literature Review

Property Right/Access Theory Property right is defined as a schema ranging from

authorized users to claimant, proprietor, and owner It right refers to the actions that are authorized which

means that legally acceptance (V. Ostrom 1976) property right is the authority to undertake particular

actions related to a specific domain (Commons 1968) property rights refer to access and withdrawal There are two main kinds of property rights, de jure

and de facto property rights.

Literature Review

Property Right/Access Theory Access is known as the right to enter a defined

physical property while withdrawal is the right to obtain the products of a resource

Access is the ability to benefit from things-including material objects, persons, institutions, and symbols.

Rights-based Access-Legal access and illegal access.

Literature Review

The Concept of Indigenous knowledge Indigenous knowledge can be seen as the knowledge

owns or belongs to a community Indigenous knowledge appears as multifarious,

contestable product of an ever-evolving process (Sillitoe 1998)

Indigenous knowledge is a repertoire of situated experience developed in particular physical and cultural contexts from intimate relationship between man and the nature (Yos Santasombat 2003)

Literature Review

Indigenous knowledge is not a limited knowledge

Studying about indigenous knowledge needs to include the issue of how rather than what (Gardner and Lewis 1996)

Indigenous knowledge is a scientific knowledge and could be understood as a system (Gatter and Ichard 1993)

Literature Review

Indigenous knowledge never stands still but it is dynamic and strategic (Sillitoe 1998 and Sikana 1994)

This can be seen from the experience of Kiaspo people in South America

Literature Review

Development Theory Capabilities approach or development as a

freedom is the famous theory, introduced by Amartya Sen.

This theory focuses on three points: being, doing and functioning.

Literature Review

The concept of development

Sustainable development To empower people The popular ideas of development related to the process of

transforming poverty into prosperity and the integration of ethnic minorities into mainstream society (Pen Dareth 1996)

Most of the development projects were designed by westerners without the knowledge of the indigenous people

Literature Review

Indigenous peoples ILO definition The UN defined indigenous people as those

who have historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that have developed on their territories, considered themselves distinct from other sectors of societies now prevailing in those territories, or parts of them

Thank for your attention