Contested Living with/in the Boeng Chhmar Flooded Forests, Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia
The paper is based on empirical research of a territorial transect in Cambodia’s Tonle Sap floodplain. The flooded forests of the Tonle Sap Lake are determined by a significant seasonal flood of up to 13 m, where a large gradient of wetness and alluvia flow and dramatically transform the territory....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Land |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/11/2080 |
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| author | Vu Thi Phuong Linh Kelly Shannon Bruno De Meulder |
| author_facet | Vu Thi Phuong Linh Kelly Shannon Bruno De Meulder |
| author_sort | Vu Thi Phuong Linh |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The paper is based on empirical research of a territorial transect in Cambodia’s Tonle Sap floodplain. The flooded forests of the Tonle Sap Lake are determined by a significant seasonal flood of up to 13 m, where a large gradient of wetness and alluvia flow and dramatically transform the territory. The paper zooms into a case study of the inhabited RAMSAR area of Boeng Chhmar with its five floating villages, which are dispersed along seasonal waterways. Boeng Chhmar is one of the richest symbiotic habitats in the world and its inhabitants completely rely on the flooded forest’s natural cycles for settling, subsistence fishing, and forest−gathering activities. From two opposite landscape transformation processes, Khmer indigenous practices and State development procedures, the paper unravels the logics of settling, coexistence, and contestation. On the one hand, local daily practices are embedded in seasonal floods and forest lifecycles, coexisting, and reconfiguring the inhabited wild for subsistence living. On the other hand, State development through history has centered on (de)−(re)forestation and modern landscape construction for commercially exploitative practices. Forest logging and large−scale fishing lots extracted enormous quantities of natural resources and compromised the health and natural regenerative capacity of the ecological system. This also undermined the ago−old legacy of inhabitant’s ways of settling in and with the landscape. Today, State operations face challenges from both nature itself and cultural resistance. The findings for the paper are based on multi−scalar interpretive mapping. The tracing of morpho−typologies and landscape transformation processes allows multiple narratives to be translated into spatial terms. The coexistence and contestation in Boeng Chhmar and the Tonle Sap can provide spatial insights into contemporary forest and water urbanisms, especially concerning local material cultural practices and landscape transformation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T18:13:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-63869c10a17b4e72b36f6723eaf5c05e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-445X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T18:13:47Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Land |
| spelling | doaj.art-63869c10a17b4e72b36f6723eaf5c05e2023-11-24T08:56:27ZengMDPI AGLand2073-445X2022-11-011111208010.3390/land11112080Contested Living with/in the Boeng Chhmar Flooded Forests, Tonle Sap Lake, CambodiaVu Thi Phuong Linh0Kelly Shannon1Bruno De Meulder2OSA Research Group Urbanism & Architecture, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering Science, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, BelgiumOSA Research Group Urbanism & Architecture, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering Science, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, BelgiumOSA Research Group Urbanism & Architecture, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering Science, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, BelgiumThe paper is based on empirical research of a territorial transect in Cambodia’s Tonle Sap floodplain. The flooded forests of the Tonle Sap Lake are determined by a significant seasonal flood of up to 13 m, where a large gradient of wetness and alluvia flow and dramatically transform the territory. The paper zooms into a case study of the inhabited RAMSAR area of Boeng Chhmar with its five floating villages, which are dispersed along seasonal waterways. Boeng Chhmar is one of the richest symbiotic habitats in the world and its inhabitants completely rely on the flooded forest’s natural cycles for settling, subsistence fishing, and forest−gathering activities. From two opposite landscape transformation processes, Khmer indigenous practices and State development procedures, the paper unravels the logics of settling, coexistence, and contestation. On the one hand, local daily practices are embedded in seasonal floods and forest lifecycles, coexisting, and reconfiguring the inhabited wild for subsistence living. On the other hand, State development through history has centered on (de)−(re)forestation and modern landscape construction for commercially exploitative practices. Forest logging and large−scale fishing lots extracted enormous quantities of natural resources and compromised the health and natural regenerative capacity of the ecological system. This also undermined the ago−old legacy of inhabitant’s ways of settling in and with the landscape. Today, State operations face challenges from both nature itself and cultural resistance. The findings for the paper are based on multi−scalar interpretive mapping. The tracing of morpho−typologies and landscape transformation processes allows multiple narratives to be translated into spatial terms. The coexistence and contestation in Boeng Chhmar and the Tonle Sap can provide spatial insights into contemporary forest and water urbanisms, especially concerning local material cultural practices and landscape transformation.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/11/2080Khmer floating villagesState developmentinhabited wildcontested landscapestraditional ecological knowledge |
| spellingShingle | Vu Thi Phuong Linh Kelly Shannon Bruno De Meulder Contested Living with/in the Boeng Chhmar Flooded Forests, Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia Land Khmer floating villages State development inhabited wild contested landscapes traditional ecological knowledge |
| title | Contested Living with/in the Boeng Chhmar Flooded Forests, Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia |
| title_full | Contested Living with/in the Boeng Chhmar Flooded Forests, Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia |
| title_fullStr | Contested Living with/in the Boeng Chhmar Flooded Forests, Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Contested Living with/in the Boeng Chhmar Flooded Forests, Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia |
| title_short | Contested Living with/in the Boeng Chhmar Flooded Forests, Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia |
| title_sort | contested living with in the boeng chhmar flooded forests tonle sap lake cambodia |
| topic | Khmer floating villages State development inhabited wild contested landscapes traditional ecological knowledge |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/11/2080 |
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