The Politics and Ethics of Land Concessions in Rural Cambodia

Andreas Neef,Siphat Touch,Jamaree Chiengthong

doi:10.1007/s10806-013-9446-y

Andreas Neef, Siphat Touch + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-013-9446-y

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Abstract

In rural Cambodia the rampant allocation of state land to political elites and foreign investors in the form of “Economic Land Concessions (ELCs)”—estimated to cover an area equivalent to more than 50 % of the country’s arable land—has been associated with encroachment on farmland, community forests and indigenous territories and has contributed to a rapid increase of rural landlessness. By contrast, less than 7,000 ha of land have been allotted to land-poor and landless farmers under the pilot project for “Social Land Concessions (SLCs)” supported by various donor agencies. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in two research sites in Kratie Province, this article sheds light on the mechanisms and discourses surrounding the allocation of ELCs and SLCs. Our findings suggest that large-scale and non-transparent land leases in the form of ELCs are discursively justified as land policy measures supporting national development, creating employment opportunities in rural areas, and restoring “degraded” and “non-use” land, while SLCs are presented by the government and its international donors as a complementary policy to reduce landlessness, alleviate rural poverty, and ensure a more equitable land distribution. We argue that the SLC pilot project is a deliberate strategy deployed by the Cambodian ruling elite to instrumentalize international aid agencies in formalizing displacement and distributional injustices, in smoothing the adverse social impacts of their very own land policies and in minimizing resistance by dispossessed rural people.

Highlights

Cambodia is endowed with relatively abundant natural resources
Our findings suggest that large-scale and non-transparent land leases in the form of Economic Land Concessions (ELCs) are discursively justified as land policy measures supporting national development, creating employment opportunities in rural areas, and restoring ‘‘degraded’’ and ‘‘non-use’’ land, while Social Land Concessions (SLCs) are presented by the government and its international donors as a complementary policy to reduce landlessness, alleviate rural poverty, and ensure a more equitable land distribution
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows: we look at how economic and social land concessions have been embedded in the Land Law of 2001 and the Cambodian government’s controversial land reform agenda

Summary

Introduction

Cambodia is endowed with relatively abundant natural resources. Arable land per capita is among the highest in Asia (World Bank 2010). According to a report of the Kratie Provincial Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (KPDAFF), 30 large-scale and 19 small-scale Economic Land Concessions (ELCs) were registered in the province as of 30 December 2010, covering a total area of 244,844.3 hectares (Table 1) or 22 % of the province’s territory (KPDAFF 2010). The villagers maintained that most of the area was not ‘‘degraded’’ and ‘‘nonuse,’’ but rather ‘‘old-growth and dense forest,’’ locally known as prey chas, rich in biodiversity and valuable timber This narrative was supported by the commune land use and natural resource map of 2006 that had been developed by the community forestry project under government and NGO support and had identified more than 50,000 ha of the commune territory as ‘‘dry evergreen broad-leafed forest, deciduous forest, and mixed forest.’’. Without the money of the donors the LASED project would never have taken off. (LASED advisor, February 2012)

Findings

Synthesis and Discussion

Conclusion