3 of annual expenditure. Indebtedness is high and returns for labor are low as most poor fishers are locked into a system of borrowing and selling to middlemen. Microfinance is rarely available. Further, absence of clean water and sanitation leads to morbidity and low life expectancy. 10. In the lowlands, rural life is intrinsically linked to the natural, annual cycle of flooding. The communities have developed coping mechanisms to live with flooded conditions, often for up to 6 months a year. But when floods are deeper than normal, unexpectedly fast at onset, or unusually prolonged, they can tax community self-reliance and capacity to cope. 11. Poverty is also related to extended instability and conflict and the resultant harm to the population. Most of Cambodia experienced more peace and economic growth after 1993 but only since 1998 have areas northwest of the Tonle Sap enjoyed their first real respite from war. Many internally displaced persons, repatriated refugees, internal migrants, and demobilized soldiers are reestablishing livelihoods in what remains a fractured society. B.
Analysis of Key Problems and Opportunities 1.
Livelihood Outcomes
12. Poverty and vulnerability are caused by declining access to assets.7 Human capital has been seriously affected by the extermination of a generation of leaders, health and education are poor, and women shoulder heavy responsibilities as a consequence of male deaths during the protracted civil war and genocide. Social capital has been severely diminished by the war and democratic processes have only recently been introduced. Natural capital, especially forests and fish, is under growing human exploitation. Physical capital is inadequate and there are few rural amenities.8 Access to financial capital is restricted: most loans are taken from relatives or neighbors, and moneylenders charge interest rates of up to 100% per month. The structures and processes that affect these assets are institutions, policies, legislation, culture, and power relations. They determine access, terms of exchange, and returns; shape the livelihood strategies of the poor; and govern their outcomes. All are weak (Appendix 1). 2.
The Government's Response
13. The Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve. In recognition of the lake's importance, a royal decree designated the Tonle Sap as a multiple-use protected area in 1993. Furthermore, the lake was declared a biosphere reserve in 1997 under the Man and the Biosphere Program of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. The institution of the Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve (TSBR), which entails adherence to core area, buffer zone, and transition area zoning principles, should lead to sustainable management and conservation of natural resources and biodiversity. But its management is a great challenge for the Government and few practical measures have been implemented since to protect the reserve. The Government needs to practice the tenets of biosphere reserve zoning: the existence of fishing lots in the core areas is the clearest example of failure to turn commitment into action. 14. Community Fisheries. In 2000, a prime ministerial decree released 56% of the fishing lot area and turned it over to community fisheries. In the long term, this change should benefit 7
8
ADB. 2003. Technical Assistance to the Kingdom of Cambodia for the Participatory Poverty Assessment of the Tonle Sap. Manila. Attention to rural amenities, e.g., schools, health posts, communal facilities, water supply and sanitation, or roads, is strongly justified for reasons of economic efficiency, social equity, cultural diversity, and sound management of natural resources and the environment.
