Services écosystémiques et riziculture autour du lac de Tonle Sap, Cambodge

International audienceThis paper aims to analyze the ecosystem services and dis-services that the Cambodian population get from the ecosystem formed by the Tonle Sap Lake and its large flood plain. This lake is characterized by a phenomenon of ebb and flow of the Mekong River according to the rainy season. Its size varies from one to five, and it is the place where rice is cultivated. Rice is the main agricultural activity of the country and the main food of its population. The study of this agro-ecosystem, carried out through surveys in six rice-growing villages, shows a complexity in the understanding of these ecosystem services. Some are positive, others are negative. Some are positive up to a certain level but become negative afterwards. Some are co-produced by rice cultivation, which over time has shaped the ecosystem. We also show, from an analysis of agrarian systems, that production systems are more or less compatible with maintaining these services.Cet article vise à analyser les services (et dis-services) écosystémiques que la population cambodgienne retire de l’écosystème formé par le lac Tonle Sap et sa grande plaine d’inondation. Caractérisé par un phénomène de flux et de reflux du fleuve Mékong selon la saison des pluies, ce lac, dont la taille varie de un à cinq, est le lieu de la culture du riz, principale activité agricole du pays et denrée alimentaire de sa population. L’étude de cet agroécosystème, réalisé par des enquêtes dans six villages, montre une complexité dans la compréhension de ces services écosystémiques. Certains sont positifs, d’autres négatifs. Certains sont positifs jusqu’à un certain niveau, mais deviennent négatifs par la suite. Certains sont coproduits par la riziculture, qui au fil du temps a façonné l’écosystème. Nous montrons également, à partir d’une analyse des systèmes agraires, que les systèmes de production sont plus ou moins compatibles avec le maintien de ces services

Exploring the potential of local market in remunerating water ecosystem services in Cambodia: An application for endogenous attribute non-attendance modelling

Within South East Asia, certification and local market development may play an important role in incentivizing farmers to continue with nature-based solutions delivered by organic or traditional farming practices and avoid using environmentally detrimental production techniques. The purpose of this study is to use economic valuation in order to achieve an empirical understanding of local consumer preferences for different attributes of rice products. Application of the agrarian system approach reveals that rice cultivation systems observed in the Tonle Sape Lake of the Mekong River Basin in Cambodia (our study case) may target three ecosystem services that present the characteristics of public goods and may benefit consumer support. A choice experiment survey was administered among local consumers in the city of Phnom Penh in 2013. Econometric analysis indicates high rate of non-attendance for the price attribute. It also suggests that 17% of the respondents made their choices neglecting attributes describing ecosystem services. However, there are evidence of consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for certified organic rice higher than the price-premium observed on the local market. Furthermore, there is additional WTP value for the preservation of ecosystem services. We discuss the implications of our findings on potential payment for ecosystem services in the specific case of rice

Émergence de la notion de service environnemental et des dispositifs de rémunération des fournisseurs: le cas du Cambodge

The definition of environmental policies in developing countries is affected by globalization of such issues and the change in governments’ interventions. Based on regulatory approaches for ages, environmental policy tends nowadays to promote more incentive tools called market-bases instruments.This article aims at illustrating the trend in Cambodia from data field surveys conducted in 2010 with a sample of local stakeholders: policy makers, NGO officers and donors. The objective is to understand the emergence of the pair of notions eco-system services (ES) and payment for environmental services (PES) in conservation policies implemented in the country (areas of biodiversity and carbon sequestration mainly) and international influence in this process.The paper shows that the initial conservation strategies based on regulatory approaches with the establishment of protected areas, have had mixed success in particular to reduce deforestation. Over the recent years, the concept of SE has been quickly circulated within government offices (Forestry Administration, Ministry of Environment). Number of conservation projects conducted by international NGOs (such as CI, WCS) has also sought to recognize the value of protected ecosystems. In this objective, they have experienced payment devices to rural/forest communities sitting on environmentally-friendly practices related to the conservation of fragile habitats. Cambodian legal framework has not yet recognized, so far, the concept of PES (based on the beneficiary pays principle) and significant obstacles remain in the development of such mechanisms on a large scale

Émergence de la notion de service environnemental et des dispositifs de rémunération des fournisseurs: le cas du Cambodge

The definition of environmental policies in developing countries is affected by globalization of such issues and the change in governments’ interventions. Based on regulatory approaches for ages, environmental policy tends nowadays to promote more incentive tools called market-bases instruments.This article aims at illustrating the trend in Cambodia from data field surveys conducted in 2010 with a sample of local stakeholders: policy makers, NGO officers and donors. The objective is to understand the emergence of the pair of notions eco-system services (ES) and payment for environmental services (PES) in conservation policies implemented in the country (areas of biodiversity and carbon sequestration mainly) and international influence in this process.The paper shows that the initial conservation strategies based on regulatory approaches with the establishment of protected areas, have had mixed success in particular to reduce deforestation. Over the recent years, the concept of SE has been quickly circulated within government offices (Forestry Administration, Ministry of Environment). Number of conservation projects conducted by international NGOs (such as CI, WCS) has also sought to recognize the value of protected ecosystems. In this objective, they have experienced payment devices to rural/forest communities sitting on environmentally-friendly practices related to the conservation of fragile habitats. Cambodian legal framework has not yet recognized, so far, the concept of PES (based on the beneficiary pays principle) and significant obstacles remain in the development of such mechanisms on a large scale

Diversity of rice cropping systems and organic rice adoption in agro-ecosystem with high risk of flood in Cambodia

In Cambodia, 85% of farmers are rice producers. Organic rice production has been adopted, with non-government organisation support and certifications, to improve farmers' revenue for sustainable rural development. This study aims to define the constraints of organic rice adoption in an agro-ecosystem with high risk of flood. Using agrarian system diagnosis and analysis, it is found in the study that organic rice gives high value-added per hectare but low value-added per family labour because of the less non-flooded surface available to avoid chemical contamination, to enlarge organic rice surface. Moreover, organic farmers face lower social status because organic production practices are viewed as old-fashioned tools use by the poor farmers and that will not help them escape poverty. Another institutional constraint is that organic farmers face late payment from their cooperative until the rice is on-sold. This study finds that the price premium for organic rice is not high enough to induce adoption of this cropping practice. However, organic farmers are well trained, produce high-quality rice and are model farmers who participate in policy-making events, which encourage them to continue to produce organic rice

Trade-offs Between Ecosystem Services and Opportunity Costs in Maintaining the Tonle Sap Lake Agro-ecosystem (Cambodia)

The usefulness of the ecosystem services framework (ESF) to emphasize relationships between agriculture and ecosystems has received little attention, and studies applying ESF to understand links between ecosystem services and rice production systems are lacking. This chapter tries to fill this gap by combining the ecosystem services (ES) and dis-services (EDS) approach suggested in 2007 by Zhang, Ricketts, Kremen, Carney, and Swinton and with agrarian system analysis and diagnosis methodology to identify ES and EDS provided by rice production systems adopted by farmers on the agro-ecosystem of Tonle Sap Lake (TSL) floodplain. Our findings show that organic rice production systems do not perform well economically or ecologically in ES provisions. In contrast, rainy-season rice, floating rice in particular, has the best performance for ES provision. This study proposes three choices to reconcile economic and ecological performance: (1) to promote production systems with medium performance for ES but low opportunity cost, promote adoption of rainy-season rice, excluding floating rice, in combination with short-term rice; (2) for medium performance for ES and medium opportunity cost, promote adoption of rainy-season rice, including floating rice, in combination with short-term rice; and (3) for high performance for ES and high opportunity cost, promote adoption of floating rice alone

Appropriate Scale Mechanization for Sustainable Intensification: Baseline Survey, Cambodia

This dataset represents the results of a survey of smallholder farmers in Cambodia, which was conducted to establish a baseline on farm practices, household welfare, and food security indicators prior to the launch of a project to develop and promote mechanization solutions

The boeung : a sensitive common threatened by uncertainty in intensification process

International audienceAfter the Khmer Rouge regime a period of far-reaching national construction saw Cambodia embrace the “modern water” paradigm (Linton 2010). This happened through the modernization of hydraulic infrastructures with the support of international donors. In a context where water is sometimes overabundant and sometimes in deficit, the State's objective was to fully control water resources and orchestrate water abundance to increase agricultural productivity (Bookchin 1977). This “modernization” aimed as much as it led Cambodia to join a dynamic of globalization driving local farmers to embrace a search for increasing the production of unprocessed products destined for export to the sub-region or to Europe.Downstream of Phnom Penh, water control can be considered as a poison and an antidote (Bookchin 1977). It must be evacuated as soon as possible during the rainy season to limit the impact of floods but, at the same time, there is a need to store water for dry season cultivation. This pharmacone of Homer's mythology has lead to lose sight of the unifying role of water as the rehabilitation of earthen canals, locally called Preks, has translated into the establishment of physical barriers in an otherwise continuous landscape, leading to individualization of practices and a threat to the commons. The area located downstream of Phnom Penh lies between the Bassac and the Mekong river that both flow southwards. Perpendicular to the rivers are “preks” that cut through a landscape made of two main “use-units’. Close to the river bank, the first area, chamkar, is slightly elevated and rarely flooded; further, the boeung, is a floodplain in which several preks drain. Previously, small scale infrastructure called for collective management of resources. However, the intensification of production is nowadays reflected in the cultivation of high-value crops (fruit trees, vegetables, etc.) in a Chamkar area that needs to be ‘flood-proofed’, severing it from a boeung that is progressively being transformed from a place of temporal multiple-use (fishing and rice farming) to an area where farmers attempts to grow two rice crops a year, despite the risk of floods The quest for total water control jeopardizes the multiple-use nature of this territory, leading to the exclusion of certain communities. By developing a participatory approach called Companion Modeling (ComMod; Etienne et al. 2013), we explore the socio-spatial dynamics at work in this iconic territory. We highlight the need to reconsider socio-environmental solidarity within the prek unit, but also the need to think collectively beyond the community.References :Bookchin, Murray. Post-Scarcity Anarchism. 2. ed. Black Rose Books, No. 071. Montréal: Black Rose Books, 1977. Etienne, Michel, et Collectif. Companion Modeling: A Participatory Approach to Support Sustainable Development. Springer Science & Business Media, 2013. Linton, Jamie. What Is Water?: The History of a Modern Abstraction. UBC Press, 2010