Indigenous communal land titling, the microfinance industry, and agrarian change in Ratanakiri Province, Northeastern Cambodia

Abstract

ABSTRACT Indigenous Community Land Titles (ICLTs) in Cambodia promised to protect Indigenous land tenure and rotational swidden cultivation. However, the proliferation of microfinance institutions (MFIs) operating in Indigenous communities has threatened the process to establish ICLTs. Through a case study of an Indigenous Brao Tanap/Kreung community in Ratanakiri Province, I demonstrate how an ICLT process fell apart, primarily due to agrarian change, an increase in MFI loans, debt, and the desire for individual land certificates to collateralize MFI loans and sell land. This study is relevant for thinking about communal land titling's relationship with investment frontiers, uneven property formalization, and microfinance.