Objectifs scientifiques et projet de recherche

Cambodia, a country of mainland South-East Asia highly vulnerable to climate change and natural resources depletion, witnesses large scale agro-environmental transformation (namely deforestation and agricultural intensification) that raise both equity and sustainability issues. The proposed project aims at understanding the coupled dynamics of environmental and agricultural changes in two strikingly different socioenvironments of Cambodia, yet a common governance framework : (1) the floodplains around the Tonle Sap Lake and in the Upper Mekong delta (these are strongly influenced by the rhythms of the Mekong river and witness large scale agricultural intensification for enhancing rice export); (2) the ‘peripheral’ forested uplands that are strongly affected by deforestation and erosion– which in turns affect the floodplains through negative environmental externalities that affect long term economic growth. (The project will draw from different academic disciplines : agricultural and environmental economics, human geography, and agronomy to characterize and analyze (1) the agro-environmental changes at play (including land use and land cover change) in these two socio-ecosystems (2) the practices of natural resources users, how they evolve and why; (3) the social and economic consequences of environmental changes on livelihoods. Drawing from a review of the existing literature, the own expertise of the team members as well as key informant interviews (with development agencies, sectoral ministry staff at national and provincial levels, and NGOs), selected in-depth case studies at village level (interviews with farmers and elected representatives), we specifically ask the question of the sustainability and equity implications of the environmental and agricultural changes at play in a country where most of the population rely on agro-ecosystems for its livelihoods. (Our research objective is to generate internationally recognized knowledge that contributes to current academic debates on the future of smallholder farming in Southeast Asia and on modalities of environmental management in the context of climate change. The project also has an institutional dimension: through research, the objective is to strengthen a young research center in a Cambodian public University and to support on-going education initiatives that aim at the improvement of education curricula and the establishment of doctoral schools in Cambodia. The project builds on a long term-partnership with IRD (since 2009), and is innovative given the involvement of researchers from two UMR (the UMR G-EAU and the UMR GRED) who study the governance of the environment will allow putting the research findings in the broader institutional and political context of Cambodia.

Unités IRD impliquées

1R18300 : G-EAU

Institutions membres

RUA : Royal University of Agriculture

Responsable(s)

Mme. x

Correspondant

M. X

Disciplines scientifiques

Sciences de la Terre et de l'univers, espace Sciences humaines et humanités

Thématiques de recherche

The first six months of the project will be devoted to literature review and the development of a common methodology, whose basis will be discussed at the start of the project during an “inception meeting”. The team already has an in-depth knowledge of Cambodian environmental and agricultural dynamics; this “inception period” will consist in “taking a step back” and initiate discussions on social science concepts such as those of “vulnerability” and “adaptation” and devising practical/operational tools to study these in Cambodia. A first writing workshop (write-shop) will be organized after one year to collectively reflect on this. Figure 3. Proposed timeline of the project (see also appendix) The second year of the project will be devoted to field work by block of three months, allowing to adjust research protocols if need be in-between the different field work periods. At the end of the second year, we will organize a second writeshop to reflect on the data collected and identify academic debates the findings could speak to, including those over agricultural transitions and the future of smallholders in main south-east Asia; the adaptive capacity of smallholders to climate change; the changing distribution of ecosystems services, etc. A last period of field work is also planned for during the last year of the project –though its exact content will be adapted depending on the needs and ideas that emerge over first two years of the project. The team will make use of the complementary expertise of its members in disciplines such as agronomy, agricultural and environmental economics, agrarian studies and human geography, political ecology. Field work will mostly consist of key informant interviews (with development agencies, sectoral ministry staff at national and provincial level, NGOs), and selected in-depth case studies at village level (interviews with farmers and elected representatives, direct measurements of actual environmental changes). The paragraph below gives further information regarding the methods we intend to use in the different phase of the project.