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Local Knowledge in Local Knowledge in Forest Resource Forest Resource Management in Management in

Kompong Chhang, Kompong Chhang, CambodiaCambodia

By Touch Puthy

MA in Sociology-AnthropologyMajor in Rural Development

Department of Sociology Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia

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Research problems

Dichotomy: Local knowledge vs Western scientific knowledge

French colonial administration: system of private property and land ownership

Notion of modern nation-state

Forest concessions: (UNHCHR 2004)– 6.9 million ha (38% of total land area) granted 29 companies between 1994

– 2000. – 3.4 million ha (18% of total land area) at 24 locations in 2005

Negative impacts:– Large proportion of forest was degraded– Large parts were also privatized– Access of small farmers to the forests to avail themselves of nature

bounties was reduced

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Research problems

Forest in Cambodia officially cover about 58% of its area.

Access to forest resources plays very important roles in the livelihoods of the villagers in Kompong Chhnang; the villagers have recognized that those forest resources are threatened for various reasons and have requested assistance from concern to create community forests.

Some families in Prehream Rangsey Village, Rolear Paier District, Kompong Chhnang Provice have no land; thus, forest resources are even vital for their livelihoods

Market intervention brings both economic and social impacts to Prehream Rangsey villagers.

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Research questions

Within the local context of a community forest in Rolear Paier, Kompong Chhnang, how is local knowledge adapted in terms of historical realities and changing of modern time to provide practical knowledge for villagers’ sustainable livelihoods?

To what extend, does local knowledge contribute to forest resource management in conservative and sustainable ways?

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Research objectives

To explore the dynamics of local knowledge of Prehream Rangsey peoples

To identify and analyze what factors affect the change of local knowledge in relation to household and community forest resource management

To explore how local knowledge contribute to conservative and sustainable management of forest resources

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Literature reviewDynamics of local knowledge

Local knowledge as situated knowledge – local people and specific location with particular ecosystem.

“Local knowledge” is used interchangeably with “indigenous knowledge”, “indigenous ecological knowledge”, “traditional knowledge”, “ethnoscience”, and “rural people’s knowledge” etc.

Agrawal (1995): “indigenous knowledge” – not only technical but also non-technical insights, such as wisdom, ideas, perceptions and innovative capabilities. He also suggests that there is the contact, diversity, exchange, communication, learning and transformation among different systems of knowledge and beliefs.

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Dynamics of local knowledge Local knowledge is not closed, state, unchanging, backward or

irrational but dynamic, changing, integrating and receiving the influences form outside.

Thrupp (1989) analyses the socio-political, institutional, and ethical issues in understanding the local knowledge system. LK – “indigenous skill”, “traditional knowledge” or “ethnoscience”.

Thrupp: LK is rational responses to local conditions and logical adaptations to environmental change.

Thompson and Scoones use “rural people’s knowledge” in their analysis of agricultural research and extension practice. The knowledge is embedded in diverse cultural, economical, environmental and socio-political factors that intersect and influence one another.

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Dynamics of local knowledge Chambers (1983) “the whole system of knowledge, including

concepts, beliefs and perceptions, the stock of knowledge, and the process whereby it is acquired”. He explains development project failures caused by focusing on scientific knowledge rather than rural people knowledge.

Rambo (1995): LK is the most practical for identifying problems and constrains effecting resource management.

Hobart (1993) analyzes LK in power relations between developers and those to be developed

Nygren (1999) focuses on the articulation of knowledge repertories by viewing LK as a process of social negotiation involving multiple actors and complex power relations.

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Management of natural resource Property rights in natural resource management

Property is defined as rights to benefit from things.

State property, private property, common property, and non-property/open access.

Hardin (1967) “tragedy of common”

State’s role vs. community’s role

Local knowledge is socio-political, economical and environmental negotiative.

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Management of natural resource “Participatory management approach”, “Community

management”, or “Community-based natural resource management” (CBNRM)

Korten: community is popularly implying a group of people with common interests, sharing beliefs, norms, and morality.

Uphoff referred CBNRM to “community having full and generally autonomous responsibility fort the protection and use of natural resources.”

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Access to resource management

Ribot and Peluso define access as “the ability to derive benefits from things” or “a bundle of powers over things”

Local knowledge leads to power relations – “access”

Structural and rational mechanism of access:– Access to technology– Access to capital– Access to market– Access to labor and labor opportunities– Access to knowledge

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Limitation of the study

Location of the study– Prehream Rangsey Village, Rolear Paier District,

Kompong Chhnang, in the centre of Cambodia – Number of families: 214– Hectares of rice land: 102 (some sole)– Hectares of Chamkar: 4– Hectares of community forest: 300

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Research site,Rolear Paier

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Scope of the study Local knowledge based upon specific ecological

setting and particular people in Prehreap Rangsey Village.

Dynamics of villagers’ knowledge and its contribution to conservative and sustainable management of forest resources within local context

Certain factors – technology, capital, market, labor and labor opportunities and knowledge – may affect the change or adaptation of local knowledge in terms of modernization and development

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Methodology Secondary data – document research

Quantitative data

Qualitative data

Participation observation and informal interviews

Semi-structure interviews

Key informant interviews

Cross cheeking

Mapping

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Thanks for your attention!Thanks for your attention!