Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2003

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science, School of Environmnet, Resources and Development

Preah Sihanouk Ream National Park used to have abundant natural resources, offering adequate livelihood opportunities to the local population. Unfortunately thirty years of civil war and growing population have placed considerable pressure on those resources and living standards appear to have declined drastically in recent years. The Royal Government of Cambodia through the National Park Management Unit, supported by Danida's Community-Based Fisheries Management project (CBFM) have attempted to address this problem, but insufficient attention has been given to the detailed livelihood systems of the local population, especially in terms of dependence on the natural resources base. This study seeks to address this issue by detailed investigation of the current community livelihood systems and their problems. Through the PRA meetings, household questionnaires survey and key informant interviews, it reveals that local villagers still face a lot of problems including low fish catch, natural disaster that adversely affects agricultural production, lack of alternative employment opportunities, low education and awareness, limited health services, and difficult to access clean and fresh water for daily consumption, particularly, villagers have low fish catch and insufficient rice supply for daily consumption. To cope with these problems, the National Park Management Unit (NPMU) has carried out several management activities on the natural resources such as monitoring, patrolling and cracking down on illegal fishing and mangrove cutting activities within the buffer zone of the National Park, the Community - Based Fisheries Management (CBFM) was also established to provide local villagers with alternative livelihoods activities such as chicken raisings, crabs fattening, VV A trainings, and education and awareness on environmental protection and natural resources management for improving their living standards. The findings show that the National Park has had positive impact on the community livelihoods through protecting and managing the resources, particularly fisheries resources for local villagers to use in a sustainable manner, and by formulating a sub committee for conflict resolution related to fisheries abuses. However, CBFM and the NPMU have to create more possible alternative livelihood opportunity within the buffer zone of the park, such as cattle raising, VVAs training, through improved agriculture practice, and training of local guides for small scale ecotourism development in order to improve the living standards of local community in an equitable manner. Finally, the National Park Management Unit has to: i) Strengthen its management activities in monitoring, patrolling, and cracking down on illegal fishing activities; ii) Define clear park boundary for community access to resources use; iii) Build up capacity of park rangers; iv) Encourage and promote local participation in environmental protection and natural resources management; v) Effectively solve fisheries abuses for local villagers; vi) Make effective cooperation and networking with local villagers and local authorities; and vii) hnprove communication and dissemination of information between the local community, local authority, the Department of Fisheries and the Ministry of Environment.