Investigating Perceptions of Land Issues in a Threatened Landscape in Northern Cambodia

Emilie Beauchamp, Tom Clements and E. J. Milner-Gulland
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Emilie Beauchamp: International Institute for Environment and Development, London WC1X 8NH, UK
Tom Clements: Wildlife Conservation Society, Cambridge CB2 3QZ, UK
E. J. Milner-Gulland: Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SZ, UK

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 21, 1-20

Abstract: Land governance highly affects rural communities’ well-being in landscapes where land and its access are contested. This includes sites with high land pressures from development, but also from conservation interventions. In fact, local people’s motivations for sustainably managing their resources is highly tied to their perceptions of security, trust and participation in land management regimes. Understanding these perceptions is essential to ensure the internal legitimacy and sustainability of conservation interventions, especially in areas where development changes are fast paced. This paper presents an analysis of household perceptions of land issues in 20 villages across different conservation and development contexts in Northern Cambodia. We assess whether conservation and development interventions, as economic land concessions, influence perceptions of land issues in control and treatment sites by modelling five key perception indicators. We find that household characteristics rather than village contexts are the main factors influencing the perceptions of land issues. Interventions also affect perceptions, especially with regards to the negative effect of development pressures and population growth. While large-scale protected areas do not calm insecurity about land issues, some village-based payment for environmental services projects do. Ultimately, evidence from perception studies can help address current concerns and shape future conservation activities sustainably.

Keywords: perception indicators; land issues; payment for environmental services (PES); economic land concessions; protected areas; community well-being; Cambodia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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