Governing Landscape Transitions in Cambodia
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ResearchOnline@JCU This file is part of the following work: Riggs, Rebecca Anne (2020) Governing landscape transitions in Cambodia. PhD Thesis, James Cook University. Access to this file is available from: https://doi.org/10.25903/26fz%2D5c27 Copyright © 2020 Rebecca Anne Riggs. The author has certified to JCU that they have made a reasonable effort to gain permission and acknowledge the owners of any third party copyright material included in this document. If you believe that this is not the case, please email [email protected] Governing Landscape Transitions in Cambodia Rebecca Anne Riggs Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Conferred on the 19th of March 2020 In the College of Science and Engineering James Cook University Acknowledgements I am very fortunate to have so many inspiring friends and colleagues in my life. Without your support, I would not be where I am today, and have the passion for the work that we do. Thank you to Jeff Sayer and Intu Boedhihartono, for introducing me to development practice, guiding and challenging my actions and research, and always encouraging exploration and discovery. Thank you to Chris Margules for continued support, problem-solving, and grounding this research in reality. Thank you to Bill Laurance for inspiring me to push boundaries. The experiences and friends I gained during the Master of Development Practice at James Cook University were life-changing. I am especially grateful to the cohorts of 2013 and 2014 who welcomed me with generosity and patience, and the many friendships that followed. This research exists to support the many people living in Cambodia trying to make a better life for their families and others. Thank you to the Wildlife Conservation Society Cambodia Program for welcoming me into a very special community. I gained so much from discussions with Tan Setha and Alistair Mould. Thank you to Olly Griffin, Jeff Silverman, Simon Mahood, Sarah Brook and the teams in Mondulkiri and Preah Vihear for your in-depth of knowledge of the Cambodian landscapes, Alex Diment, for making this research happen, and Henry Travers, Ashish John, Sereyrotha Ken, and Emilie Beauchamp for your thoughtful guidance. Thank you to the Ministry of Environment in Cambodia for allowing the opportunity to spend time in Cambodia. Thank you to the families that hosted us and shared meals with us and the people who gave their time to share their stories. Thank you to our research assistant, Yim Vichet, always cheerful and ready to help. You always ensured the comfort of others and embraced our unconventional appreciative inquiry approach to research. Our arrival in Cambodia was always enjoyable thanks to our MDP friends, especially Sampho Hing and family. During this research I spent a lot of time in Indonesia, learning the challenges and rewards of working in landscapes. Thank you to friends of Tanah Air Beta, Dwi Amalia Sari, Emilio Valeri and Adinda Rizky for being part of our ongoing learning experience. I am grateful to complete this thesis at University of British Columbia, and for new opportunities with new colleagues and friends. My family have always encouraged me to live life to the fullest and turn challenges into strengths. Thank you for the confidence, for being part of this experience, and always bringing happiness into our lives. I am lucky to have lifetime friends and family in Australia and North America to share these moments with. James, this research would not exist without you. Thank you for your curiosity, passion, rabble- rousing and love of life. Our life together is an adventure, let’s see where it takes us. ii Ethics Statement This PhD research was performed under James Cook University Human Research Ethics Committee Approval number H6914 Statement on the Contribution of Others Chapter Details of publications on which Nature and extent of the intellectual input of No. chapter is based each author, including the candidate 1 Riggs, RA, Langston, JD, Sayer, J, The authors co-developed the research question. (2018), Incorporating governance into Riggs collected and analysed the data. Riggs wrote forest transition frameworks to the first draft which was revised with editorial understand and influence Cambodia's input from Langston and Sayer. forest landscapes, Forest Policy and Economics 96:19-27 2 Riggs, RA, Langston, JD, Beauchamp, Riggs, Langston, and Margules co-developed the E, Travers, H, Sereyrotha, K, Margules, research question. Riggs and Langston collected C (In Press) Examining trajectories of the data. Riggs analysed the data. Riggs wrote the change for prosperous forest landscapes first draft of the paper which was revised with in Cambodia, Environmental conceptual and editorial input from Langston, Management Margules, Beauchamp, Travers, and Sereyrotha. 3 Riggs, RA., Langston, JD., Sayer, J, Riggs developed the research question. Riggs Sloan, S, & Laurance, WF (2020). collected and analysed the data. Riggs wrote the Learning from Local Perceptions for first draft of the paper with conceptual and Strategic Road Development in editorial input from Sayer, Langston, Sloan and Cambodia’s Protected Forest, Tropical Laurance. Conservation Science, 13 4 Riggs RA, Langston JD, Phann S Riggs and Langston co-developed the research (submitted), Actor network analysis to question. Riggs collected and analysed the data. leverage improvements in conservation Phann facilitated field activities. Riggs wrote the and development outcomes in first draft of the paper with conceptual direction Cambodia, Ecology and Society from Langston. Phann and Langston provided editorial input on subsequent drafts. Financial Support Grant / Award Amount Australian Postgraduate Award 94000 AUD Higher Degree Research Enhancement Scheme 3600 AUD Skyrail Rainforest Foundation 3000 AUD Climate and Land Use Alliance 5000 USD Doctoral Completion Grant 3000 AUD iii Abstract Achieving sustainable development in tropical forest landscapes is inherently challenging. Entwined issues of poverty and natural resource degradation provoke international attention, and the diversity of complex situations means there will not be one solution. In recognition of this, attempts to influence development trajectories focus on landscapes; geographical spaces, delimited by a set of locally identified problems, where decision-making unfolds. Understanding the unique, complex drivers of change occurring in different landscapes, and how change might be nurtured to improve existing systems, is fundamental to efforts seeking inclusive, locally desired, and environmentally-sound development pathways. In Cambodia, communities, government, and non-government organizations hold diverse and conflicting visions exist over the future of rapidly changing rural forest landscapes. Current production and consumption systems drive inequality and environmental degradation. Protected areas exist to retain habitat for globally significant biodiversity but compete for land against rural people seeking to improve their well-being. Institutions, processes, and structures that govern inherent conservation and development trade-offs are not delivering the desired outcomes for people and nature. In this thesis, I examine two changing forest landscapes in Cambodia to determine how local governance can enable better environmental and social outcomes. I ask (I) what are the trajectories of change for rural landscapes in Cambodia, and (II) how can institutions nurture change for sustainable development? Using place-based sustainability science, I engaged with the Wildlife Conservation Society and government and non-government organizations involved in conservation and development at the landscape scale. I gathered information through interviews, group discussions, questionnaires, and built upon previous studies that took place in the landscapes. I focused my analysis on local perspectives of conservation and development and the institutional arrangements and leverage points for managing landscape transitions. I find that forest landscapes in Cambodia are transitioning at a rapid pace. Proliferating infrastructure and agricultural expansion drive wealth accumulation. These conditions enable rural prosperity which allows households to increase off-farm income; well-being improves with each generation. Households that are locked out of increasing their assets, through hard or soft infrastructural isolation, remain in a poverty trap. Local agencies responsible for managing conservation and development trade-offs lack technical capacity and resources, and rent seeking is entrenched in decision-making. As a result, conservation agencies struggle to prevent deforestation and environmental degradation. iv Opportunities for nurturing landscape transitions in Cambodia lie within existing decision-making networks between government, non-government, and local actors. Local agencies must be willing to solve problems, and external actors must engage with local institutional processes, targeting resources to improve their capacity for governing change. Conservation agencies must accept trade-offs that arise from improving well-being in rural areas and consider long term realistic scenarios for the future of Cambodia’s forests. In tropical forest landscapes, efforts to nurture sustainability must be embedded in the social-political context, including decision-making and drivers of change at multiple temporal and hierarchical scales. The degree to which landscapes deliver sustainable inclusive development will depend on the institutions that govern