University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations Dissertations and Theses Summer November 2014 Common Pool Resources and Rural Livelihoods in Stung Treng Province of Cambodia Pitchaya Boonsrirat University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2 Part of the Other Economics Commons Recommended Citation Boonsrirat, Pitchaya, "Common Pool Resources and Rural Livelihoods in Stung Treng Province of Cambodia" (2014). Doctoral Dissertations. 158. https://doi.org/10.7275/5739530.0 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/158 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COMMON POOL RESOURCES AND RURAL LIVELIHOODS IN STUNG TRENG PROVINCE OF CAMBODIA A Dissertation Presented by PITCHAYA BOONSRIRAT Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY September 2014 Department of Economics © Copyright by Pitchaya Boonsrirat 2014 All Rights Reserved COMMON POOL RESOURCES AND RURAL LIVELIHOODS IN STUNG TRENG PROVINCE OF CAMBODIA A Dissertation Presented by PITCHAYA BOONSRIRAT Approved as to style and content by: _______________________________________________________ James K. Boyce, Chair _______________________________________________________ Michael Ash, Member ________________________________________________________ James A. Hafner, Member ________________________________________________________ Michael Ash, Department Chair Department of Economics DEDICATION To my grandmother, who will always be close to my heart. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to my dissertation chair, Dr. James Boyce, for all his guidance, kindness, and support in every process of this dissertation. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Dr. Michael Ash and Dr. James Hafner, my dissertation committee members. I would also like to thank Dr. Eric Baran for introducing me to the Lower Sesan 2 hydropower project and connecting me with the Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) Mekong team. My meeting and conversation with Dr. Ian Baird in Laos was a helpful step for this dissertation. A big thank you to Ms. Yumiko Kura of WorldFish Center Cambodia, project leader of the CPWF Mekong-MK 2: Water Valuation Project, for introducing me to the works of CPWF Mekong and supporting me in undertaking the Lower Sesan 2 hydropower project as a case study. Also, I am grateful for all her help in sponsoring me to the International Forum on Water and Food in South Africa, arranging my field visit to Stung Treng province, and recommending me as a grantee for the Mekong Program on Water, Environment and Resilience (M-POWER) fellowship. I want to thank Dr. Claudia Ringler of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) for sending me the spreadsheet of primary data. Thank you to Mr. Samonn Mith who helped me with translation and coordination of my field visits in Cambodia. I would also like to thank Dr. Sokhem Pech, my mentor under the M-POWER fellowship program. I am grateful for the opportunity and financial supports I got in my PhD study from the v Royal Thai Government scholarship, M-POWER fellowship, and the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) fellowship. During my PhD study, I was very lucky to live with people who shared with me a sense of family. I would like to thank my former housemates, Martin Rapetti, Avanti Mukherjee, Joao Paulo De Souza, Benjamin Storrow, Joshua Finn, and Mittens. The wonderful memories you all created when we lived together will always be with me. I am very fortunate to develop friendships with three wonderful friends who always shared with me a good laugh, and always were there for me during my tough times: thank you Jooyeoun Suh, Jessica Carrick-Hagenbarth, and Anilyn Diaz. I also want to thank Thai students of UMass Amherst for all the fun, the food, and the laughs we had, thank you Thai Mafia. Josh Arond helped me go through the last two years of my dissertation stage; his words always assured me that things will get better whenever I had a bad day. I also want to thank the Arond family for welcoming me into their lives. Lastly, I cannot express how lucky and grateful I am to have the love and support from my parents during all these years. vi ABSTRACT COMMON POOL RESOURCES AND RURAL LIVELIHOODS IN STUNG TRENG PROVINCE OF CAMBODIA SEPTEMBER 2014 PITCHAYA BOONSRIRAT, B.S., KASETSART UNIVERSITY M.S., KASETSART UNIVERSITY Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor James K. Boyce This dissertation assesses the contribution of fish and forest products in the livelihoods of villagers in Strung Treng province of Cambodia, as these two common pool resources are threatened by the construction of the Lower Sesan 2 hydropower project. Household survey data collected under the Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) are used in the analysis. It is found that, in general, fish accounts for a higher overall contribution in household’s livelihoods compared to forest products. Fishery products are most important for direct consumption, while forest products are more important for cash income. Across the study area, the households that most heavily extract and depend most on these resources are the relatively poorer households. The households that highly depend on forest products are distinct, however, from the households that highly depend on fish. The results indicate that these households’ livelihoods are vulnerable to changes in the quality of common pool resources or restriction in access to them due to implementation of the Lower Sesan 2 hydropower project. Compensation and income generation vii programs that can ensure food security and substitute for losses of common pool resource-based income are a necessity for impacted households. In addition, further restrictions on accessing common pool resources should be minimized in order to secure rural livelihoods and reduce poverty. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………………….…………….v ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………………………...…………….vii LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………………………………….……………xi LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………………………………….xvi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS……………………………………………………………………….…………xvii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION.……………….……………………………………..……………...………………………..1 1.1 Motivation and objectives……………….……………...…………………………………….1 1.2 Chapter summaries…………………………………………...…………………………………3 2. HYDROPOWER DEVELOPMENT AND COMMON POOL RESOURCES IN THE MEKONG RIVER BASIN……………………………………………………..………………..7 2.1 Geography and hydrology of the Mekong River………...…...………………………7 2.2 Socio-economic aspects and demand for energy of the Mekong countries………………………………………………………………………....10 2.2.1 Mekong countries economy………………………………………..…………10 2.2.2 Demand for energy in the Mekong countries………………………….14 2.3 Overview of hydropower projects in the Mekong River Basin………………16 2.4 Pro-poor development and common pool resource dependence……...…..20 3. THE LOWER SESAN 2 HYDROPOWER PROJECT: A CASE STUDY………………..….…..25 3.1 Overview of the Lower Sesan 2 hydropower project…………………………....25 3.2 Surveyed households and villages…………………………………………………...….30 4. FISH AND RURAL LIVELIHOOD DEPENDENCE………………..……………………………….42 4.1 Introduction……………………………...……………………………………………………….42 4.2 Fish and dams……………………………………………………………………………………43 4.3 Data…………………………………………………………………………………………………..52 4.3.1 The survey and questionnaire……………………………………………….52 4.3.2 The variables………………………………………………………………………..56 4.3.3 Descriptive statistics……………………………………………………………..63 4.4 Who depends most on the fishery?............................................................................68 ix 4.4.1 Fish dependence variables and stratifications…………….………….68 4.4.2 Descriptive statistics for the four fish dependence stratifications………………………………………….……………….…………72 4.5 A statistical analysis of fish dependence………………..…………………………….77 4.5.1 Correlation analysis………………………………………………….…………..77 4.5.2 Regression analysis…………………………………………….……………...…81 4.6 Discussion of the results…………………………………………………………………..…86 4.7 Conclusion……………………………………………………………….……………………...…96 5. FOREST AND RURAL LIVELIHOOD DEPENDENCE……………………..………………...…..99 5.1 Introduction……………………………………………….……………………………………...99 5.2 Forest sector and forest policies in Cambodia……………..……………………..100 5.3 Forests in the case study area…………………………………………….……………..108 5.4 Data……………………………………………………………………..………………………….114 5.4.1 Questionnaire: Forestry activities………………......……………………114 5.4.2 Consumption values of forest products………………………………..116 5.4.3 The variables………………………………………………………..…………….129 5.5 Who depends most on forest products?...............................................................131 5.5.1 Forest dependence variables and stratifications………….………..131 5.5.2 Descriptive statistics for the four forest dependence stratifications…………………………………………………………………..137 5.6 A statistical analysis of forest dependence………………………..……………….142 5.6.1 Correlation analysis………………………………………………………….…142 5.6.2 Regression analysis…………………………………………………………….147 5.7 The relationship between forest dependence and fish dependence……………………………………………………………………….....154 5.8 Discussion of the results………………………………………………………………..….157 5.9 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………...……………..160