The Evolution of Demoncratic Process and Conflict Management in Cambodia: A Comparative Study of Three Cambodian Elections
This study examines the evolution of mechanisms for conflict management since 1998, and their effectiveness in preventing conflict escalation during the general elections of 2003. The study draws on extensive field research carried out by CDRI researchers on the 1998 and 2003 elections, and on the practical experience of conflict management gai...
Domestic Fish Trade: A Case Study of Fish Marketing from the Great Lake of Phnom Penh
With an inland catch of more than 400,000 tonnes per year and high domestic rates of fish consumption, freshwater fish are one of Cambodia’s most important traded commodities. Fresh and processed fish are traded widely within Cambodia, with the majority of trade originating at the Tonle Sap (Great Lake). Fish marketing involves a number of step...
Trading Forest Products in Cambodia: Challenges, Threats, and Opportunities for Resin
Forests support rural livelihoods in Cambodia in a number of important ways. Almost all rural Cambodians use forest resources for cooking fuel and construction materials. Many also collect other products for household use and income generation through trade, such as bamboo, rattan, resin, wild fruits and vegetables, and medicinal materials. In...
Fish Exports from the Great Lake to Thailand: An Analysis of Trade Constraints, Governance, and the Climate for Growth
Fisheries play a vital role in supporting rural livelihoods throughout Cambodia, but especially around the Tonle Sap (Great Lake) area where more than one million people depend on the fisheries sector for employment, income, and food security. With large surpluses of fish caught during peak fishing periods, fish trade and export is critical to...
Off-farm and Non-farm Employment: A Perspective on Job Creation in Cambodia
In rural Cambodia, options to maintain sustainable livelihoods have been limited to subsistence agriculture for reasons that are largely historical. Efforts to modernise the economy during the 1950s and 1960s bore some fruit, but the real impact was restricted to a few urban areas. During the 1980s and 1990s, some activities fanned out into the...
Facing the Challenge of Rural Livelihoods: A Perspective from Nine Villages in Cambodia
Since the inception of the Research Programme at the Cambodian Development Resource Institute (CDRI), considerable effort has been devoted to undertake diagnostic and policy studies on rural livelihoods, land, poverty, and natural resources. In 2001, CDRI launched a field survey of nine Cambodian villages to study the current state of rural liv...
Land, Rural Livelihoods and Food Security in Cambodia: A Perspective from Field Reconnaissance
The Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI) has been undertaking a systematic study of the different facets of rural livelihoods, land and environment in Cambodia, since the late 1990s. The first studies were conducted between 1997 and 1998, with further studies being undertaken between 2000 and 2001. This research paper, which forms pa...
Land Transactions in Cambodia: An Analysis of Transfers and Transaction Records
This research follows from concerns raised by the large-scale land transfers, and the consequent landlessness that emerged, in the later part of the 1990s in Cambodia. It aims to reclassify land transaction data as available with the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction (MLMUPC) to analyse possible trends and patterns in...
Natural Resources and Rural Livelihoods in Cambodia: A Baseline Assessment
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, fishe...
Cambodia 1999-2000: Land, Labour and Rural Livelihood in Focus
Political stability has improved greatly in Cambodia since the installation of the elected coalition government in November 1998. This is reflected in resumed economic growth and improved macro-economic indicators across the board. The conditions for institutional reform and consolidation, which are much needed for sustained economic and socia...