Resource Governance

The reclamation of seed as a common good has begun. Following the concept of open source, new approaches evolve that result in the cultivation of a large number of species and varieties.

In 2016/17, during the course of my research in Cambodia, I explored micro-politics of contestation and the role of former Khmer Rouge in contesting land grabbing. Analyzing the repercussions on conflict transformation, I also paid special attention to gender dynamics at play. 

Phnom Penh is a rapidly changing city marked by urban development. In 1998 one in every 20 Cambodians lived in Phnom Penh. Within four years, this statistic has become one in every ten Cambodians. Between 1998 and 2008 the city’s population more than doubled, increasing from 567,860 to 1,237,600 people.

Healthy soils are crucial to human nutrition and the fight against hunger. But worldwide 24 billion tons of fertile soil is lost annually. Barbara Unmüßig calls attention to the growing threat to one of Earth’s most important resources.

The COP 20’s “Lima call for climate action” is no wake-up call but a worrisome sign of a feeble multilateral climate process plagued by political deafness and leaving poor and vulnerable communities alone with the impacts of climate change.

One of the great challenges of the 21st century is to bring about global equity without further overstepping the planet’s ecological limits or overusing the earth’s finite resources.

Tenure security, or more specifically lack thereof, is a pervasive problem in Cambodia. While rural households are driven from their land in the thousands to make way for Economic Land Concessions and other types of developments, urban residents, particularly the poor, continue to live with insecure tenure. Over 150,000 people in Phnom Penh – representing 11% of the capital’s current population – have been displaced over the past two decades.

Large-scale wind farms and solar power plants are springing up everywhere one looks. That’s good for the climate, but small-scale farmers and the poor are becoming the pawns of hard-nosed business interests around the world.

“More wealth can result in more corruption” cautioned Dr. Ramos Horta Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and President of Timor-Leste participants at a Dialogue on Transforming Natural Resource Wealth into a Source for Sustainable Growth and Democratic Development organized by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Cambodians for Resource Revenue Transparency.

China has a huge thirst for natural resources and sources them from across the world, including the Mekong Region. In Search of Aluminum takes a look at developments, decision-making and regional.