Situation Analysis at Three Project Sites on the Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia An exploration of the socio-economic, institutional, and political context for community-based fisheries management Sarah Milne INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE 0 The designation of geographical entities in this Citation: Milne, S. (2013). Situation analysis at book, and the presentation of the material, do not three project sites on the Tonle Sap Lake, imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever Cambodia: IUCN. 56 pp. on the part of IUCN or the European Union Cover photo: © IUCN Cambodia concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or Photo credits: © Sarah Milne, Khiev Vuthoun, concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or Pheakdey Sorn, and Chenda Say boundaries. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of Layout by: Ria Sen and Chenda Say IUCN or the European Union. Printed by: IUCN Cambodia This publication has been made possible in part by funding from the European Union. Available from: IUCN Cambodia #6B, Street 368, Beong Keng Kang III Chamkarmon, Published by: IUCN Cambodia P.O. Box: 1504, Phnom Penh, Cambodia Copyright: © 2013 IUCN, International Union for Tel: +855 (23) 222 311 Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources www.iucn.org/cambodia/NSA Reproduction of this publication for educational or other non-commercial purposes is authorized without prior written permission from the copyright holder provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of this publication for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without prior written permission of the copyright holder. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Non-State Actors in Development Project code EuropeAid/132-788/L/ACT/KH. The project title is Strengthening Capacity of Fishing Communities in the Tonle Sap to Manage their Natural Resources Sustainably. IUCN is very grateful to the Ministry of Environment and the Fisheries Administration for their helpful cooperation and the EU for its generous support. Thank you also to two reviewers, Ron Jones of the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Manitoba and Simon Mahood of the Wildlife Conservation Society, for their very helpful comments on the draft report. The author is grateful to the IUCN and FACT teams for their very patient support during fieldwork in March-April 2013, especially to Mr Sorn Pheakdey and Mr Khiev Vuthoun who worked diligently as research assistants, and to all people at the field sites who agreed to participate in the research and share their knowledge. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................................................. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................................................iii LIST OF ACRONYMS .................................................................................................................................................. iv EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................... v 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................... 1 2. BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................................................... 2 Fisheries management on the Tonle Sap ........................................................................................................ 2 Communities and livelihoods on the Tonle Sap ............................................................................................... 3 3. SITUATION ANALYSIS ......................................................................................................................................... 5 Aims and scope ............................................................................................................................................... 5 Data collection and methodology ..................................................................................................................... 5 4. BOEUNG CHHMAR, KAMPONG THOM PROVINCE........................................................................................... 8 Site overview ................................................................................................................................................... 8 Status and management of the fishery ............................................................................................................ 9 Institutional context and community organisation .......................................................................................... 10 Livelihoods and food security ........................................................................................................................ 12 Potential impact of the FCA ........................................................................................................................... 14 5. PLOV TOUK COMMUNE, KAMPONG CHHNANG PROVINCE ......................................................................... 14 Site overview ................................................................................................................................................. 14 Status and management of the fishery .......................................................................................................... 16 Institutional context and community organisation .......................................................................................... 17 Livelihoods and food security ........................................................................................................................ 18 The role of farming ......................................................................................................................................... 19 Potential impact of the FCAs ......................................................................................................................... 20 6. KAMPONG PLUK COMMUNE, SIEM REAP PROVINCE ................................................................................... 21 Site overview ................................................................................................................................................. 21 Status and management of the fishery .......................................................................................................... 22 Institutional context and community organisation .......................................................................................... 24 Livelihoods and food security ........................................................................................................................ 25 Tourism………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….28 Potential impact of the FCA ........................................................................................................................... 29 7. RECOMMENDATIONS ....................................................................................................................................... 29 Risks of fish conservation areas and how to mitigate these .......................................................................... 29 Monitoring and evaluation .............................................................................................................................. 30 Project design and implementation ................................................................................................................ 31 8. REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................................... 33 9. ANNEXES…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...34 Annex 1: Interview guide………………………………………………………………………………………………34 Annex 2: Focus group results………………………………………………………………………………………...36 iii LIST OF ACRONYMS ADB Asian Development Bank CBO Community-Based Organization CCF Coalition of Cambodian Fishers CFi Community Fisheries CPA Community Protected Area FACT Fisheries Action Coalition Team FCA Fish Conservation Area1 FCZ Fish Conservation Zone2 FiA Fisheries Administration IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature MAFF Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries MoE Ministry of Environment UNDP United Nations Development Programme TSCP Tonle Sap Conservation Project TSLP Tonle Sap Livelihoods Project 1This is an unofficial project term, which will be used to refer to the sites chosen for community-based protection under the EU-NSA project. These sites have multiple and mixed jurisdictions; comprising CFi, CPA, and FCA areas. 2This term is used to refer to the recently declared government conservation areas on the Tonle Sap, which overlay many of the former fishing lots. This is not an official term, but it is a widely used English term for the new government-declared conservation areas. iv EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report presents the findings of a situation analysis conducted for the European Union-funded Non- State Actors project in Cambodia, which will be implemented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Fisheries Action Coalition Team (FACT) over four years (2013-2016). The situation analysis