A "People's" Irrigation Reservoir on the Tonle Sap Floodplain

Cambodia’s Tonle Sap floodplain has been the focus of increasing attention as an ecological system, at the same time that there is increasing awareness of the possibilities it suggests for agricultural growth in a core region.  Over the past seven years, Kampong Thom province, with the encouragement of then-governor Nam Tum, has seen the construction of numerous rectangular dike systems designed to capture floodwaters for the irrigation of dry season rice.  As the numbers of reservoirs increased, and as they increasingly encroached on protected areas (especially the Tonle Sap’s flooded forests) they have become increasingly controversial, to the point where in early 2010 Prime Minister Hun Sen called for all reservoirs to be destroyed. 
While the majority of the reservoirs are privately owned, some have been cooperatively constructed and run by villagers.  These are not recognized by the state as either farming cooperatives or farmer water user groups—but developed at the same time that the state was promoting such organizations. The proposed paper will describe the development of one large “people’s” reservoir in Stoung district—how it grew out of protests against private reservoirs, how it itself has generated disputes and charges of corruption and unfair exclusion, and how its location near protected areas raises questions about its future (although in July 2010 it was granted at least a temporary reprieve).  The paper explores questions of community mobilization and how this relates to larger patterns of social development in Cambodia.