FoxHershockMappingCommunities

UNDERSTANDING AND USING COMMUNITY MAPS AMONG INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES
IN RATANAKIRI PROVINCE, CAMBODIA
this document is not currently recognized at the national
level. This interim form of land tenure and the villager
capacity building exercises are intended to slow the rate of
land alienation caused by competition for land and
resources with outside interests.
The mapped village land-use boundaries become part of a
provincial data set, which contains land-use information for
communes (each containing an average of five villages)
across the province. Mapping activities are targeted currently
at areas of high land insecurity mainly along Highway 78,
which runs through the center of the province to the
Vietnamese border. The GIS Unit has completed mapping
twenty-three (out of forty-nine) communes and is currently
working in four additional communes. The original intention
was to map the entire province in this way by 2005.
Some areas have been mapped using a “slow step
mapping process” that can take up to three years to
complete for one village and involves more consultation
and mapping training with the villagers than the “quick step
mapping process” that has been used more recently. This
quick step process has now been abandoned, since its
impact in preventing land alienation has been limited.
Additionally, the government is now requiring the
implementation of a standardized participatory land-use
planning (PLUP) process. In the slow step process, villagers
involved in mapping receive training in how to read
topographic maps and aerial photographs and how to use
GPS. The PLUP process is similar to the slow step process.
All previously completed land-use maps will be reviewed
under the new PLUP process.
GIS Unit staff members have conducted a series of training
sessions to introduce villagers to mapping. These have
included training in reading topographic maps, aerial
photographs, sketch maps, and using GPS. Despite these
training activities many villagers find it difficult to understand
the maps of their areas. Particular problems have included
villagers and elders not being able read map legends and
place name information being misspelled or misplaced. To
increase villager understanding, the GIS Unit experimented
with various ways of presenting mapping information.
Table 1 summarizes these activities and their results.
CASE STUDIES
The villages selected for this research, including
background information and a description of mapping
processes undertaken, are as follows:
Tuy Village, Ting Chak Commune, Bokeo District.
The CBNRM project utilized a “slow” land-use
planning/mapping process in this village, taking three years
to complete the mapping and documentation exercise.
Provincial authorities have recognized the maps and
regulations developed by the village with the help of the
CBNRM project. The village is situated along the main road
that runs through the province and has experienced and
will likely continue to experience intense land pressures.
Private landowners have purchased a significant amount of
village land along the road on which they practice cash
cropping (mainly cashew nuts and soy beans). This trend of
cashew nut planting can be found across the province, but
is most advanced along the main road.
A participatory mapping training exercise for
representatives of several communes and villages
conducted in Tuy Village in 2000 highlighted problems with
the mapping process within the CBNRM and eventually led
to the formation of the GIS Unit. A report about
intimidation practices used in Tuy Village by private buyers
and government officials also came out of this mapping
training. This report was thumbprinted by all the villagers
and sent to government authorities. A follow up
government investigation found that the land had been
purchased ”legally.”
Tong Kro Pou Village, Ou Chum Commune,
Ou Chum District.
Tong Kro Pou, located approximately fifteen kilometers
from Ban Lung, the provincial capital, is situated on a
secondary road. In 1996, villagers successfully defended
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