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Threat to Tonle Sap Lake
Despite the immense importance of Tonle Sap Lake to Cambodia numerous well documented challenges are faced to ensure sustainable and equitable management of its resources that balance with its important conservation value, including:
- Weak governance, including lack of legal instruments, lack of accountability, lack of enforcement, and illegal fishing activities often backed by powerful interests;
- Increasing pressure on fisheries resources as a result of growing population, poverty, higher technology fishing gears, and the low entry barriers to small-scale fishing;
- Environmental degradation with the potential to affect fish stocks, including flooded forest clearance, destructive illegal fishing practices, and
- Transboundary issues (the natural hydrological cycle of the Mekong River, which is central to the TSLs fisheries productivity, is threatened by large-scale upstream developments such as damming for hydropower and irrigation schemes);
- Sectorial conflict in particular over the use of TSL's flood plains between fisheries, which derive its high fish productivity from the seasonal inundation of the flooded forest, and irrigated/ recessional agricultural.
The net result is unsustainable and inequitable use of the natural resources around TSL with little potential at present to raise the living standards of local communities, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable.
The fisheries management regime of Tonle Sap Lake has undergone significant reform in recent years. Initiated in October 2000 by Samdech Hun Sen, Prime minister of Cambodia, by February 2001 56% of the commercial fishing lots were released to the community under the management regime of 'Community Fisheries'. Whilst the initial transition period has resulted in a mixture of successful and unsuccessful community fisheries ongoing efforts by the Royal Government of Cambodia, together with NGOs and other organizations, offers a potential avenue that will empower communities to manage their resources in a sustainable manner. (more information) |
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