FoxHershockMappingCommunities

egan to argue that these areas were too big and that
communities cannot manage such large areas. They asked
that the size of the CPAs be reduced.
The GIS Unit in the MoE (in Phnom Penh) subsequently
produced maps showing the size of the new CPAs. One
CPA was reduced from approximately 20,000 ha to about
600 ha. Another proposed CPA disappeared off the map
altogether. The DNCP was now saying that these reduced
areas are what villagers themselves asked for in meetings
with government officials. In meetings with the Kok Lak
commune members, however, VNP staff members
pressured the community to reduce the size of its CPAs.
The commune leaders were extremely reluctant to reduce
their CPAs since this was their traditional homeland and
since they had already surrendered much of their homeland
to the park. These CPAs were also seen as an important
resource for community livelihoods as villagers faced food
shortages since being pressured to move to lowland areas
and to take up lowland rice farming. As a result of more
discussions with VNP staff members another agreement was
signed that allocated approximately 10–15 percent less
land to the Kok Lak CPAs. A VNP ranger and Kok Lak
community members then jointly walked the new
boundaries for the CPAs with both the ranger and the
community members collecting their own GPS coordinates.
The maps produced by the MoE and by the NTFP using the
different sets of GPS data are vastly different. These
differences have created further conflict between villagers
and government authorities.
The NTFP and participatory mapping
The NTFP encourages villagers to participate in mapping as
one step in the land-use planning and community forestry
processes. Villagers from Kok Lak and Kachon have
participated in many workshops to develop regulations and
by-laws and to map village boundaries. Villagers from both
communes also met with NTFP staff members to review the
maps, to add new information, to edit the maps, and to
agree on their accuracy. Sketch and GIS maps are produced
in a two step process. In the first step, the field staff (team
leader and assistants) introduces and conducts sketch
mapping in a village. If the field staff has no experience
with mapping they can ask for help from the NTFP technical
staff member. In the second step, the NTFP technical staff
member goes to the village with NTFP field staff members
to organize a training course on using GPS and on methods
of collecting data. After the two steps are completed, the
two groups (field staff and technical staff) meet to discuss
transferring the information collected in the sketch maps to
topographic maps. Women staff members with less
knowledge of mapping participate in this process by
facilitating and translating between the local and Khmer
languages.
The NTFP seeks to produce GIS maps that demarcate areas
villagers have zoned for use (forests and agriculture) and
protection. The NTFP hopes to use these maps to gain
ratification of these community protected areas from the
provincial government. For example, the Executive
Committee of the Provincial Rural Development Committee
ratified the map of Yaka Ol Forest in Poey Commune.
Kachon and Kok Lak Communes land-use maps and
regulations have been recognized by Veunsai District. The
NTFP feels it is important to produce GIS maps, even if
villagers do not understand them, because the government
is not interested in sketch maps, especially those produced
by villagers. In Kok Lak and Krola, for example, provincial
authorities would not accept the sketch maps villagers had
produced to show present day land-use practices.
Consequently, NTFP team leaders are currently conducting
numerous training workshops and meetings on making and
using sketch maps for members of the NRM committees in
each of the target villages. In Kachon and Poey Communes,
sketch mapping workshops have been organized in four
villages in each commune.
One problem the NTFP has faced is that village women are
generally not interested in mapping because they consider
it to be “men’s” work. Moreover, women are busy feeding
their babies, husking rice, and carrying out other chores.
Women are also shy to speak in public and defer to the
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