CDRI PUBLICATIONS

C D R I Publications Catalogue 2011
8
Working Paper Series No. 47
The Local Governance of Common
Pool Resources: The Case of
Irrigation Water in Cambodia
Chea Chou
CDRI–Cambodia’s
leading independent
development policy
research institute
The study seeks the factors that enable
or constrain the good governance of
common pool resources in Cambodia,
using irrigation water as the case for
analysis. It explores the dynamics of
Chea Chou
community-based natural resource
management (CBNRM) and decentralised
August 2010
natural resource management (DNRM)
from a local perspective and how these two
approaches interact. The study found that
CBNRM, an approach that is being implemented locally to manage irrigation water,
is working, although unsatisfactorily due to three main constraints: the difficulty in
maintaining community participation in the form of paying irrigation service fees, the
lack of people’s sense of ownership of the managing association and the limited power
of the farmer water user community (FWUC). The problem has been exacerbated
by the flawed relationship between the association leader and the commune chief,
pushing the two “should be cooperating” actors to avoid each other. The DNRM
seemed not to be functioning in the selected case. Commune intervention was seen
once in a while but also was not effective. The study found disconnections between
the FWUC and the commune council, and between the leaders and the people.
WP 47 in English Overseas: $16.50 Local: $2.50
The Local Governance of
Common Pool Resources:
The Case of Irrigation
Wa ter in Cambodia
CDRI Wo rking Paper Series No. 47