Large-Scale Land Grabbing in Cambodia: Failure of International and National Policies to Secure the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights to Access Land and Resources

Since the 1990s, the Cambodian state has attempted to encourage economic development in rural areas through a system of “Economic Land Concessions” (ELCs) in the agroindustry, the mining sector and tourism– both foreign and domestic – over hundreds of thousands of hectares in the country. This development pattern has been especially critical in indigenous upland regions, including the northeast, where less intensive land-use patterns prevail and natural resources are commonly seen as underutilized.