Asserting rights, defining responsibilities: perspectives from small-scale fishing communities on coastal and fisheries management in Cambodia

In preparation for the Workshop and Symposium on “Asserting Rights, Defining Responsibilities: Perspectives from Small-scale Fishing Communities on Coastal and Fisheries Management in Asia”, held in Siem Reap Cambodia, from 3 to 8 May 2007, case studies were undertaken in six countries in Asia—Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand. Among other things, the studies aimed to document and explore the understanding that fishing communities have about their rights to fisheries and coastal resources, as well as the obligations and responsibilities associated with these rights, and to document and discuss their initiatives to assert these rights and fulfill their responsibilities. The studies formed the basis for discussions at the Workshop and Symposium. This case study from Cambodia will be found useful by NGOs, regional and national organizations of artisanal fishworkers, and anyone interested in fisheries and fishing communities in Cambodia

Understanding the Factors that Support or Inhibit Livelihood Diversification in Coastal Cambodia

The DFID funded Aquatic Resource Dependency and Benefit Flows Project (ARDB) was a short research project (from January 2005 until August 2005) implemented by IMM of the UK, the Community Fisheries Development Office (CFDO) of the Department of Fisheries (DoF) and the Community Based Natural Resource Management Learning Institute (CBNRM LI), both based in Cambodia. It had two aims: 1) to build capacity amongst government and NGO staff in understanding the importance of livelihood diversification as a potential tool for natural resource management, and 2) to further our understanding of how factors that support or inhibit rural household diversification may apply in the Cambodian coastal context and beyond. The current report reviews the background to, and the findings of, that research