Dorkenoo & Res: Climate-related Land Loss

In On the Production of Climate-related Loss: Land Dispossession, Indebtedness, and Climate Change in Northeastern Cambodia, Kelly Dorkenoo (Centre for Sustainability Studies, Lund University, Sweden) and Phasy Res (Development Studies, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University) explore how development policies reinforce social and economic inequalities that shape climate-related land loss in rural and Indigenous farming communities. Rather than focus on land loss brought about by climate change alone, the authors consider how loss of access to land is driven by historical and contemporary policies and practices which shape rural vulnerability to climate change and determines who bears the costs.

This study consisted of field research and interviews in Cambodia to understand the relationship among historical and contemporary land policies, governance practices, and climate-related land loss. The authors note that the area’s historical contexts of colonization, marginalization, and capitalist production, combined with the impacts of climate change, have made rural communities particularly vulnerable to loss of access to land.

For example, the authors found that as reliance on microfinance loans increased, farmers and Indigenous families bore higher costs when unexpected or destructive weather damaged their crops. Traditionally, the costs of a poor crop were borne by the community that looked out for one another and rarely would cause a farmer financial ruin. Today, with the need to pay back microfinance loans and interest, these costs now come in the form of loss of collateral, taking on extra jobs that pay very little, withdrawal of children from school in order to work, and taking out other formal or informal loans, often with 5-10% monthly interest.

The article considers how microfinance debt, loan collateral, local enforcement practices, and the limited efficacy of land protections through Indigenous Communal Land Titles intensify land insecurity for farming communities. Poor harvests may lead households to sell land or other assets to repay debts, contributing to debt-driven land dispossession.

Dorkenoo and Res argue that this combination of climate-related loss, developmental policies, debt, and economic practices is not isolated to Cambodia. Looking forward, the authors call for further research and policy measures that more holistically assess and equitably distribute the costs of climate change.