Suchergebnisse

By examining diverse water-related tension and conflict situations from the Tonle Sap area of Cambodia, the article seeks to contest the view that water-related conflicts are always about water scarcity. Tackling different dimensions of water-related conflicts, the three cases studied here all point to the importance of social, political, and historical aspects in water-related resource management. They also indicate that the water and resource conflicts in Tonle Sap are strongly related to problems with existing property and access rights. Challenges of access to and control over resources, rather than changes in the abundance of water and related resources, have lead to increasing tensions in the area.

Global discourses on climate change have significantly shaped how climate change is viewed as a problem and issue to be governed. This article discusses the role of policy narratives and expertise in the rendering of climate change governable in the so-called least-developed countries (LDCs). The main arguments are illustrated with examples from Cambodia. There are 3 key findings. First, climate change policy narratives are an important product and driver of the shifting rationalities of government with respect to adaptation and mitigation. In the case of Cambodia, policy narratives of donors have dominated, but have also been co-opted by national government. Second, most responses to climate change are framed in technical terms that draw on expert knowledge, tools and technologies. In Cambodia, mitigation has been viewed through the currency of carbon credits, as in clean development mechanism projects, that downplay other ecosystems and values as well as the livelihood dimensions of intervention projects. Third, the combination of donor-driven policy narratives and expert technologies is potent: it strongly depoliticizes climate change as an issue rendering it more easily governable through existing bureaucratic planning processes and without challenging the current structures of political economy. In Cambodia, opportunities for meaningful public engagement in shaping national responses to climate change remain limited despite significant opportunities for complementarities with sustainable development policies and concerns with adverse impacts and trade-offs associated with large-scale projects. Adapted from the source document.