Showing papers in "Asia Pacific Viewpoint in 2013"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore how a Yolŋu ontology of co-becoming can inform natural resource management (NRM) theory and practice and argue that as important as the concept of Caring for Country has been for NRM in Australia, it is critical that the human imperative to care for country is balanced with a multi-directional and beyondhuman understanding of the human-country relationship.
Abstract: This collaboratively written paper takes the reader on a journey to Bawaka, in North East Arnhem Land, northern Australia, to explore how a Yolŋu ontology of co-becoming can inform natural resource management (NRM) theory and practice. By focusing on the process of gathering and sharing miyapunu mapu (turtle eggs) and the foundational Yolŋu concept of wetj, we challenge NRM to take seriously Indigenous ways of knowing and becoming, and to attend to the vibrant, more-than-human relationality of our world. We discuss this relational cosmology, highlighting the importance of being aware and attentive, as well as the underlying ethical imperative of responsibility and obligation. We argue that as important as the concept of Caring for Country has been for NRM in Australia, it is critical that the human imperative to care for Country is balanced with a multi-directional and beyond-human understanding of the human–Country relationship. This requires engagement with the ways Country also cares and acknowledgement that humans are part of Country and not separate from it. We therefore propose a reframing, that we not only Care for Country but Care as Country. This has implications for understanding the ways that humans can and should relate to the environment as they exist together through co-becoming.
155 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the issues through the experiences of one village in Mondulkiri, which recently ‘reconciled’ its communal title claim with the new individually motivated reforms, revealing powerful moral and racial narratives around Bunong identity and the processes of land fragmentation, commodification and alienation.
Abstract: Two opposing land tenure policies are being implemented in upland Cambodia: indigenous communal title, the product of a decade of advocacy for indigenous rights; and Order 01, a dramatic new initiative to provide private individual titles to thousands of farmers living on state public land. This policy conflict has precipitated painful deliberations in Indigenous villages, whereby the merits of inalienable communal title must be weighed against its risks and constraints; and individual titles must be scrutinised for their potential to accelerate alienation and render frontier areas ‘legible’ for government and markets. I examine these issues through the experiences of one village in Mondulkiri, which recently ‘reconciled’ its communal title claim with the new individually motivated reforms. The village exemplifies Cambodia's commodity frontier: it is of mixed Bunong-Khmer ethnicity, and has undergone rapid deforestation and market integration since 2005. Thus, when the individual titling commenced in 2012, the already-fragile communal land claim was abandoned by 25% of its constituents. I explore how this unfolded, revealing powerful moral and racial narratives around Bunong identity and the processes of land fragmentation, commodification and alienation. I also reveal how these processes are enabled by Cambodia's predatory regime, of which Order 01 is an intimate part.
78 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors draw on the results of a questionnaire completed by 31 agencies that have implemented climate-change adaptation projects in various communities throughout the Pacific region, and assess their levels of success in safeguarding communities in the face of climate change.
Abstract: A number of international donors have in recent years shown great interest in implementing community-based projects related to adaptation to climate change climate- in the Pacific. This interest has seen a flurry of activity in Pacific communities to develop and implement on-ground activities in the hope of enhancing adaptive capacity. This article draws on the results of a questionnaire completed by 31 agencies that have implemented climate-change adaptation projects in various communities throughout the Pacific region. The impetus for this research is to better understand the types of projects that have been implemented, and assess their levels of success in safeguarding communities in the face of climate change. While there has been limited overall progress made across the region to address climate change impacts at the community level, four broad-brush lessons that relate to the process of project development and implementation are drawn from this research. These lessons include the need to: provide locally and culturally appropriate community awareness and education; integrate local environmental knowledge throughout the project cycle; ensure that community ownership is involved in all project stages; and enhance sustainable livelihood resources more broadly.
55 citations
TL;DR: In 2001, a new Land Law was adopted in Cambodia, which recognised a new legal category of people, "Indigenous Peoples" or chuncheat daoem pheak tech in Khmer, and introduced the legal concept of communal land rights to Cambodia as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In 2001 a new Land Law was adopted in Cambodia. It was significant because - for the first time - it recognised a new legal category of people, 'Indigenous Peoples' or chuncheat daoem pheak tech in Khmer, and it also introduced the legal concept of communal land rights to Cambodia. Indigenous Peoples are not mentioned in the 1993 constitution of Cambodia or any legislation pre-dating the 2001 Land Law. However, Cambodia's 2002 Forestry Law also followed the trend by recognising 'Indigenous Peoples'. These laws have been both symbolically and practically important, as they have provided government-mandated legitimacy to Indigenous identities and associated land and forest rights, including communal land rights, and have been ontologically significant in dividing Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples on legal grounds. Over a decade after the 2001 Land Law was promulgated,this article considers some aspects of its effects.In particular,when compared with the potential for developing communal land rights in Laos, one has to wonder how advantageous it is to adopt Indigenous identities and the types of communal land rights and community forestry rights presently possible in Cambodia.
50 citations
TL;DR: Focusing on the coexistence of competing and contested interests in intercultural natural resource management (NRM) systems in Australia and Malaysia, the authors explores the ways in which ontologi...
Abstract: Focusing on the coexistence of competing and contested interests in intercultural natural resource management (NRM) systems in Australia and Malaysia, this paper explores the ways in which ontologi ...
43 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines contemporary Indigeneity in Cambodia as an emergent heterogeneous and polythetic identity vis-a-vis the changing nature of the state, and suggests that a more substantive political engagement with Indigenous identity and history offers a pluricultural reframing of the world heritage of Cambodia and a possible source of alternative land regimes that are more sustainable and equitable than the current dominant neoliberal model of land concessions.
Abstract: Based primarily on fieldwork with Kuy peoples in Rovieng District, Preah Vihear Province, this article examines contemporary Indigeneity in Cambodia as an emergent heterogeneous and polythetic identity vis-a-vis the changing nature of the state, and suggests that a more substantive political engagement with Indigenous identity and history offers a pluricultural reframing of the world heritage of Cambodia and a possible source of alternative land regimes that are more sustainable and equitable than the current dominant neoliberal model of land concessions. Although the 2001 Cambodian National Land Law holds critical significance for Indigenous Peoples in pursuit of communal land rights, it has largely failed to protect rights because of (i) persistent discrimination against groups now claiming Indigenous identities, embedded in state procedures of Indigenous identity and land registration; and (ii) the state's demonstrated embrace of land concession regimes as the preferred strategy of economic development. The Delcom mining concession of Kuy lands provides one example of the destructive impacts of this strategy. An examination of the evidence of Kuy peoples' history suggests that their classification as ethnic minorities is of recent origins, and that in the past they played more active roles in Cambodian state-building projects.
24 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that despite the significant inequality in household cash incomes on Aniwa, traditional sharing and exchange relationships between households on the island and between island and migrant households ensure sufficient food and shelter for all villagers, and that constant flows of people, money and goods between the home island and migration destinations sustain the outer island community and its diasporas.
Abstract: In a challenging contemporary context of isolation and inequality, inhabitants of small Pacific islands have employed a variety of strategies to ensure that their livelihoods are both secure and sustainable. On the outer island of Aniwa, subsistence activities still constitute the basis of island life but are complemented by an increasingly diverse mix of cash-generating livelihood practices. Different motivations and constraints, including access to natural, physical, financial, social and human capital, affect the composition and success of household livelihood portfolios. Despite the significant inequality in household cash incomes on Aniwa, traditional sharing and exchange relationships between households on the island and between island and migrant households ensure sufficient food and shelter for all villagers. Rather than being a one-way drain on the island's skills and income-generation potential, the constant flows of people, money and goods between the home island and migration destinations sustain the outer-island community and its diasporas. Aniwa thus exemplifies how diversification and migration can provide a basis for sustainable and resilient island livelihoods.
23 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that tourism operating in a mutually satisfactory hybrid space in which acknowledgement, tolerance and respect discharges the need for understanding different ontologies that operate within that space but provides the potential for learning using Bourdieu's notion of transformative practice.
Abstract: This paper directly challenges the persisting argument that in the host–(uninvited) guest relationship of Kimberley coastal tourism in Australia's far northwest, Traditional Owners (the hosts) have a pedagogic responsibility to first educate the tourism industry (the guests) of their impacts on them in order to facilitate culturally appropriate and sustainable tourism experiences We contend that such an argument reflects a deeply entrenched context of erasure and power imbalance between Australian Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people We highlight, using three decades of public records, the fact that government and industry have ignored and continue to ignore knowledge and learning shared by Kimberley Aboriginal peoples in attempts to rectify serious issues of cultural impacts and risks to visitors arising from unsanctioned tourism activities on Traditional Owners’ land and sea country We argue for the possibility of tourism operating in a mutually satisfactory hybrid space in which acknowledgement, tolerance and respect discharges the need for understanding different ontologies that operate within that space but provides the potential for learning Using Bourdieu's notion of transformative practice, we propose that the development of such a hybrid space could transform the problem of unsanctioned tourism access to the Kimberley coast into an iteration that could facilitate its taming and thus a shift towards sustainable practices based on mutual recognition and respect
23 citations
TL;DR: This paper applied discourse analysis to policies surrounding the siting of radioactive waste disposal facilities in South Korea and found that participants define and frame the policy issue in distinctive ways, including selective attention to, and naming of, the policy issues in the processes of frame articulation, amplification, extension and transformation.
Abstract: :
This paper applies discourse analysis to policies surrounding the siting of radioactive waste disposal facilities in South Korea. We question the premises of previous studies that define the radioactive waste disposal facilities decision outcomes in Korea as ‘repeated failures’. Instead, we suggest that underlying ideas and value systems surrounding the policy problem differ between supporting and opposing parties. In particular, our focus is on the ‘framing’ strategies manifest in policy discourse. Our analysis of newspaper articles shows that participants define and frame the policy issue in distinctive ways. Framing strategies include selective attention to, and naming of, the policy issues in the processes of frame articulation, amplification, extension and transformation. Overall, our analysis shows that framing analysis is a useful tool for understanding the policy decision-making process from a different perspective than traditional policy analysis.
22 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a case study from a remote region of South Australia is used to support an argument that Indigenous empowerment through informed decision-making and a decolonising engagement strategy are yet to be fully realised as key components of an effective interface between Indigenous and commercial players.
Abstract: Howitt (2009) claims that state control over mineral and energy resources and developer–Indigenous relations constitute the ‘active erasure’ of Indigenous knowledge and governance. The cultures and interests of Indigenous players are diverse and at times conflicting during Indigenous–mining interface, and collective bargaining has been shown to substantially weaken these positions, especially in regard to those Indigenous players primarily concerned with the protection of localised heritage. This paper explores a case study from a remote region of South Australia to document this erasure and its implications and to advocate decolonisation of the regulatory interfaces between mining and Indigenous peoples in resource, environmental and heritage governance. It adopts an Indigenous standpoint for research and argues the need for academic research to accept responsibility for some weaknesses in existing systems. The experiences of Adnyamathanha people are used to support an argument that Indigenous empowerment through informed decision-making and a decolonising engagement strategy are yet to be fully realised as key components of an effective interface between Indigenous and commercial players.
21 citations
TL;DR: The Kuy are one of the largest Indigenous groups in Cambodia as discussed by the authors, and they are extremely similar to the Khmer in terms of physical appearance and material culture, a significant distinction between the two groups continues to be maintained.
Abstract: The Kuy are one of the largest Indigenous groups in Cambodia. Though they are extremely similar to the Khmer in terms of physical appearance and material culture, a significant distinction between the two groups continues to be maintained. At the same time, assimilation into the Khmer identity has been a dominant trend among the Kuy for a considerable time and appears to be related to the relatively lower status of the Kuy identity. However, over the past decade or more, some people have begun to reassert a Kuy identity, driven by awareness of benefits of identifying as Kuy and a lessening of the stigmatisation of the Kuy identity. Following the introduction in Cambodia of the concept of Indigenous Peoples, ‘Indigenous’ has become an ethnic identity that more and more Kuy are assuming and within which they are becoming prominent. It is associated with a broader Indigenous community inside and outside of Cambodia which is becoming increasingly respected. The Indigenous identity has been able to inspire pride and confidence in a way that the Kuy identity has not and has played an important role in letting people of Kuy ancestry ‘become Kuy’.
TL;DR: In this paper, the notion of "desire" is used as a conceptual vehicle to interweave economic, political and cultural dimensions within the same frame to understand the intentions and dynamics of skilled migration, and to link decision-making at the individual level to a broader geo-politics and geo-economies in which migration takes place.
Abstract: Until very recently the motivation of skilled migration has been largely explained from neo-classically oriented world views coupled with an institutional focus that pays major attention to how skilled migration is driven by (economic) globalisation and sustained by inter- or intra-company economic and social connections. Little is said about how dream and aspiration have shaped migration plans and choices of destination. Although the recent development of academic literature witnesses a shift away from a narrow focus on economic logics to the human face of transnational skills, the issue of desire only accidentally emerges in most discussions. Based on in-depth interviews with mainland Chinese professional migrants in post-colonial Hong Kong, this paper foregrounds the notion of ‘desire’ as a conceptual vehicle to interweave economic, political and cultural dimensions within the same frame to understand the intentions and dynamics of skilled migration, and to link decision-making at the individual level to a broader geo-politics and geo-economies in which migration takes place. In-depth interviews reveal that apart from economic and career considerations, decisions to migrate were marked by aspiration and fantasy associated with cultural imagination of post-colonial Hong Kong embedded in discourses of place, border and nationhood that go beyond the specific issue of China–Hong Kong migration.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors highlight the efforts made by the state of Sabah to explore the potential role of Indigenous and Community-Conserved Areas (ICCAs) in strengthening biodiversity conservation.
Abstract: Sabah in Malaysian Borneo contains a range of diverse ecosystems and some of the richest concentrations of biodiversity in the world. Yet the state's existing protected area network is too fragmented and of insufficient size to safeguard biodiversity in the long term. Experts have emphasised the need for a landscape level approach to shore up conservation areas through the creation of ecological corridors of compatible mixed use. In light of the 2003 Durban Accord which signalled a shift towards greater levels of community participation in conservation, this article features the efforts made by the state to explore the potential role of Indigenous and Community-Conserved Areas (ICCAs) in strengthening biodiversity conservation. Selected case studies are used to showcase some of the ways ICCAs are already making important contributions to safeguarding ecological services and maintaining habitat connectivity in the state. Recognising the role of indigenous and local communities in sustaining Sabah's unique biocultural landscapes is a critical component of a long-term approach to sustaining irreplaceable natural heritage. Sabah's legal framework actually contains sufficient provision for greater synergy between community and state-based governance of biodiversity areas, yet aspects of Sabah's political economy must be addressed before this ideal can be realised.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated how agrarian social structures and relations have changed after redistributive land reform under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) on coconut plantations in the province of Davao Oriental, Philippines.
Abstract: This article elaborates on how agrarian social structures and relations have changed after redistributive land reform under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) on coconut plantations in the province of Davao Oriental, Philippines. Three major arguments can be derived from this question. First, despite the objective of this land reform to transfer control over land and labour to poor agricultural workers, a majority of the coconut farmers are trapped in new forms of debt-bondage and, as a result, are forced to transfer the rights over their resources and/or land. Second, a regional business elite has managed to obtain control over these lands and resources through all sorts of informal arrangements. Lastly, medium-sized landed elites in coconut plantations have been disadvantaged because of CARP implementation since they became dispossessed from their sole form of economic power, land.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider that despite considerable infrastructural investment and state-led urban boosterism to sell Cyberjaya to prospective investors, more than 10 years after its completion in 1999 the development has become little more than a zone of disconnected business process outsourcing industries comprising low value-added outsourcing activities.
Abstract: :
Cyberjaya is one of a long line of aspiring science and technology parks in the Asia-Pacific region that have attempted to create a successful technopole, and in doing so become the ‘Silicon Valley of Asia’. The paper attends to the place-making strategies through which Cyberjaya was positioned as a new ‘global hub’ for information communication technology and multimedia industries, framed as an extremely ‘sticky place’ (Markusen, 1996). That is, a place within a global economic system where local skills, infrastructure and capital attracts and makes research and development and corporate headquarters reluctant to leave. The paper considers that despite considerable infrastructural investment and state-led urban boosterism to ‘sell’ Cyberjaya to prospective investors, more than 10 years after its completion in 1999 the development has become little more than a zone of disconnected business process outsourcing industries comprising low value-added outsourcing activities.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider how community development activities are incorporated into the daily ministries of Christian Churches in Vanuatu, including the use of church buildings as the location for these activities.
Abstract: Eighty per cent of the world's population profess religious faith, making religious belief a common human characteristic found in all cultures and societies. Within development studies' literature and practice, religion and faith have been largely ignored or misunderstood. While religious organisations are primarily concerned with providing spiritual leadership, an interest in the physical welfare of their communities is also a core aspect of their existence. Within Vanuatu, an important community space is the church building with a range of community development activities taking place within it. This case study considers how community development activities are incorporated into the daily ministries of Christian Churches in Vanuatu, including the use of church buildings as the location for these activities.
TL;DR: In this article, the spatial effect of causes (residency system) and consequences (frequent shifts in residence) experienced by low-skilled and low-wage migrants were examined.
Abstract: In the post-Mao era from the 1980s, market reforms have seen profit-led neoliberal forces being introduced into China's urban spatial movements. In supporting such movements, labour mobility is allowed but the hukou system has been retained to prevent urban informality and slum formation and to control municipal public expenses. Without residency permits granted by the host cities, low-wage rural migrants enjoy little right to the city' and are deprived of local welfare and benefits. They often become drifting tenants', frequently driven by urban renewal, rising rentals and change of jobs. This study examines the spatial effect of causes (residency system) and consequences (frequent shifts in residence) experienced by low-skilled and low-wage migrants. A survey was conducted from February to mid-April 2011 in northwestern Beijing's Great Zhongguancun area which shows and the marginalised state of displaced migrant tenants. This includes their adaptations to change, the pattern, causes and history of their intra-city mobility.
TL;DR: Based on a large-scale questionnaire survey conducted in China's three most important city-regions, the authors reveals a significant regional variation in technological innovation in a political economy undergoing marketisation and globalisation.
Abstract: This study critically evaluates the relevance of the existing theory of technological innovation to the case of China's information and communications technology industry. Based on a large-scale questionnaire survey conducted in China's three most important city-regions, namely, Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, where the core of China's information and communications technology industry is located, this study reveals a significant regional variation in technological innovation in a political economy undergoing marketisation and globalisation. This research has found no significant relationship between the innovative performance of firms and the extent of production linkages; nor was there a significant knowledge exchange among firms. A further analysis has identified the significant role played by government purchases, research and development capital input and export propensity in the process of technological innovation. The findings of this research cast doubts over the prevailing theory of ‘new economic geography’ in which soft and unbounded relational assets have been overemphasised at the expense of some solid and bounded actors and agents that are pivotal to technological innovation in a developing economy.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify the way different perspectives of corruption are employed in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and argue that critical and culturally aware academics can play an important role in reframing debates about corruption in PNG and the Pacific.
Abstract: There have been few attempts to identify the way different perspectives of corruption are employed in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The paucity of such analysis makes it difficult to identify the way scholars and policy-makers understand corruption in the country, in turn leading to potentially poor targeting of anti-corruption programmes. This article categorises perspectives of corruption that are found in academic and policy accounts of PNG. It finds that this literature is marked by an over-reliance on ‘mainstream’ Western interpretations of the definition, causes and solutions to corruption. In turn, it is argued that there is an important role that ‘critical’ and culturally aware academics can play in reframing debates about corruption in PNG and the Pacific.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the changing activities of the branches of Japanese electronics firms located in Southeast Asia (the ASEAN region) since the 1997-1998 financial crisis and argued that a modest development of Japanese subsidiaries has occurred in this region during the past 10 years or so.
Abstract: This paper contributes to the theory of subsidiary evolution in multinational corporations through utilising a value chain approach. It assesses the changing activities of the branches of Japanese electronics firms located in Southeast Asia (the ASEAN region) since the 1997-1998 financial crisis. In the paper, we argue that a modest development of Japanese subsidiaries has occurred in this region during the past 10 years or so.We connect models of subsidiary development to Michael Porter's value chain in the results of a set of interviews with 37 managers in the factories, sales offices and regional headquarters of Japanese subsidiary companies located in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.We show that decentralisation of management functions from Japan occurred in both primary and support activities of the value chain.However,corporate long-term research and development did not disperse to Southeast Asia and is unlikely to in the near future. The article interprets these results and highlights the need for further research relating to the evolving geography of Japanese electronics multinational corporations and their subsidiaries in Southeast Asia.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors reveal a worrying pattern of state and peoples' interactions over the provision of communal titles and state projects in rural areas of Sabah, Malaysia with regard to the policies, programmes and projects that have been implemented in the rural areas.
Abstract: Confusion over land rights issues and opportunities created through communal titles may just be rhetoric to some, but for the poor rural communities, it is a matter of survival As this paper reveals, this may be due to contradictory interpretations between native communities and state agencies of what constitutes native customary rights The methods and materials used are based on case studies in the state of Sabah, Malaysia with regard to the policies, programmes and projects that have been implemented in rural areas This was made possible through interviews with key informants, textual analyses and state documents, and through observations of projects implemented in the rural areas of Sabah Based on the information gathered, this paper reveals a worrying pattern of state and peoples' interactions over the provision of communal titles and state projects
TL;DR: In this article, a group of "active" young people discuss the merits and challenges of their participation in Fiji's socio-political and economic development, and draw attention to how they can be meaningfully supported as active citizens in the process of national development.
Abstract: Young people's participation is central to the attainment of meaningful governance systems. In Fiji, this is a challenge as the traditional view of young people's participation is restricted to that of ‘service’ and the precarious political environment restricting free expression. Despite these concerns, young people's participation and expression appear to be thriving in hybridised forms. This paper draws from conversations with a group of ‘active’ young people and discusses the merits and challenges of their participation in Fiji. As a nation, Fiji is at the threshold of a new socio-political era, where young people are expected to play a significant role. This discussion offers an understanding of young people's participation in Fiji and draws attention to how they can be meaningfully supported as active citizens in the process of national development.
TL;DR: In this article, an ethnographic study focused on specific events involving an explosion and death in a particular place and time on the Salween borderland is presented. But the authors focus on the Burmese government in association with the Thai state and transnational dam investors.
Abstract: The Salween borderlands can be conceptualised as spaces of exception where contradictory outcomes of state actions lead to state violence. The Burmese and Thai states have maintained their sovereign power and responded to economic regionalisation through violent practices in particular spaces. The political conflicts between the Burmese junta and ethnic minorities in the Salween borderlands have become war zones. The Burmese government in association with the Thai state and transnational dam investors has imposed the Salween dam projects on the Salween borderlands and people in the form of a terrorising state. The border people have experienced fear, danger and military violence, which has become part of the violence in everyday life. This paper provides an ethnographic study focused on specific events involving an explosion and death in a particular place and time on the Salween borderland. It shows the suffering of the border people in relation to sovereign power.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors review the experience of informal negotiations at the Argyle diamond mine in Western Australia and argue that giving careful consideration to specific cultural practices and processes associated with place and the social relations these practices engender facilitates development of transforming practices that change outcomes.
Abstract: Failure to recognise or acknowledge and respond to local cultural manifestations of Indigenous peoples' attempts to maintain or reassert themselves in spaces of intercultural engagement in resource management denies the power of their own cultural foundations and principles. This paper reviews experience of informal negotiations at the Argyle Diamond Mine in Western Australia. It argues that giving careful consideration to specific cultural practices and processes associated with place and the social relations these practices engender facilitates development of transforming practices that change outcomes.
TL;DR: This article used a qualitative methodology to discuss the island's potential for tourism development while recognising the issues and challenges faced by many small island developing states, such as Pitcairn Island.
Abstract: This research reports on empirical findings of remote Pitcairn Island, the last remaining British Overseas Territory in the Pacific. It uses a qualitative methodology to discuss the island's potential for tourism development while recognising the issues and challenges faced by many small island developing states. However, as a sub-national island jurisdiction Pitcairn presents a number of issues unique to its temporal socio-political development and its centre periphery relationship with the metropole. The concept ‘decolonising without disengaging’ is posited to argue sub-national island jurisdictions are places/spaces of innovative, creative and differentiated development processes that offer interesting departures from the conventional realms of sustainable discourse and island development. This concept is posited as a strategy of empowerment whereby autonomy without sovereignty does not necessarily hinder the development of tourism industries.
TL;DR: The use of the Khmer word daeum to distinguish between Indigenous and other forms of ethnic belonging in the newly derived translation of "Indigenous Peoples" points to historically sedimented beliefs about highlanders as living ancestors of modern Khmers.
Abstract: The notion that Cambodia's highland people may claim a distinct ‘Indigenous’ identity has emerged only recently in Cambodia. To date, advocacy for rights under the banner of indigeneity has produced few results for highlanders. Among the problems faced by advocates for Indigenous rights, problems of definition and translation represent an important challenge. Arguing that concepts like ‘Indigeneity’ are not simply adopted ex nihilo in new settings, but are rather incorporated into existing structures of meaning, this paper explores culturally produced understandings of who highlanders are, concentrating in particular on the way that the term ‘Indigenous’ has been translated into Khmer. The use of the Khmer word daeum, or ‘original’, to distinguish between Indigenous and other forms of ethnic belonging in the newly derived translation of ‘Indigenous Peoples’ points to historically sedimented beliefs about highlanders as living ancestors of modern Khmers.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined Elinor Ostrom's Design Principles that characterise long-enduring, self-governing resource systems to compare robustness of tribal and state-administered area spate irrigation institutions.
Abstract: The paper investigates how political processes shape the institutional arrangements and then affect performance of Indigenous irrigation systems. External interventions in the form of coercive authority and new rules resulted in a shift of resource governance from farmers to state officials in state-administered areas of Pakistani Punjab during British rule. The primary farm-level data were collected from 280 spate irrigation farmers from four systems. The analysis of systems-level agricultural production and institutional performance indicators of irrigation systems in identical environments is conducted. We examined Elinor Ostrom's Design Principles that characterise long-enduring, self-governing resource systems to compare robustness of tribal and state-administered area spate irrigation institutions. The state intervention in Indigenous irrigation systems weakened collective action and distorted equity in access to customary irrigation rights in state-administered areas. The study concludes that tribal areas systems working without state intervention have evolved effective local irrigation management institutions based on social and ecological values to ensure sustainable self-governing resource regimes.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored the experiences of establishing a marine protected area as part of Bunaken National Park in the north of Indonesia's Sulawesi Province and identified key issues regarding the conflict between the government and the management board that are influencing the success of managing this National Park.
Abstract: Marine protected areas are recognised as an important marine management strategy to deal with a range of user conflicts and over-exploitation of marine resources. This article explores the experiences of establishing a marine protected area as part of Bunaken National Park in the north of Indonesia's Sulawesi Province. The challenges faced in relation to institutional issues are examined. A literature review, key informant interviews and analysis of official documentation provide evidence regarding issues around government conflicts and the legal and structural issues of the management advisory board. The analysis identifies key issues regarding the conflict between the government and the management board that are influencing the success of managing this National Park.