Political Geographies of the Tonle SAP: Power, Space and Resources

Abstract

The Tonle Sap is rich in fisheries, biodiversity and natural resources, which makes it a very important space for livelihood and environmental security for Cambodians. This research utilizes core political geography concepts, such as space, place, territoriality, territory and scale to examine the complex political and human landscape of the Lake, and also to explore why the politics of space is inherently significant to resource governance issues. In addition to researching the multi-layered political geographies of this freshwater lake, the thesis also considers non-territorial social and power relations within patron-client, money-lending and trading ?moy? system relations.

The thesis examines the Tonle Sap as a `global?, `regional? and `national? space, particularly through the study of official and abstract representations of the Lake-space by different international, state and non-state agencies. At the meso-level, the thesis explores the territorialization of the Tonle Sap, primarily through three key forms of territoriality ? commercial fishing, conservation of environment and biodiversity, and forms of `public fishing?.

To examine the differing boundaries, territories and contestations over space in the Lake, the research focused on four different fishing villages ? Kampong La. Kampong Loung, Kampong Phluk and Peam Bang. Due to the annual `flood pulse?, and great transformations in the wetlands, floodplain, and extent of the lake waters between dry and wet seasons, social ? ecological relations also affect the spatiality of fishing and territoriality of different communities. This thesis focuses on key differences between `floating villages? (permanently on the water), `stand-stilt villages? (static but half year dry and half year surrounded by water), and farming-fishing communities (rice paddy areas with fishing to supplement incomes).