SEMINAR:

FLOATING LIVES AT RISK

Hydropower, Pulse Ecosystem & Water-Based Communities of the Tonle Sap
17 Feb 2017
PART 1: “RISKS AND CHALLENGES: HYDRO-
POWER, THE ‘FLOOD PULSE’ AND FLOATING
LIVES’
 Socio-Technological
Analysis and Material
Politics of Hydropower
in the Lower Mekong
Dr. Carl Middleton
BACKGROUD OF SPEAKER

Dr. Carl Middleton is Deputy Director for

Research Affairs on the MA in International
Development Studies (MAIDS) Program and
Director of the Center for Social
Development Studies (CSDS) in the Faculty
of Political Science, Chulalongkorn
University, Thailand. His research interests
orientate around the politics and policy of the
environment in Southeast Asia, with a
particular focus on environmental justice and
the political ecology of water and energy. Carl
has been heavily involved in writing,
researching and networking in relation to the
complex politics of hydropower, development
issues and environmental policy in the
Mekong region. He helps organise the
Mekong Commons website, and he has
written numerous academic papers focusing
on water, energy and security issues.
Hydropower in Laos and
the Vietnam-Cambodia
3 S Rivers
Securing ‘the Flow’ and its
implications for the Tonle Sap
Dr. Mak Sithirith
BACKGROUD OF SPEAKER
Dr. Mak Sithirith received a PhD from the
Department of Geography, National University
of Singapore in 2011, and undertook post-
doctoral research on transboundary water
governance in the context of climate change.
He teaches environment and natural resources
management at the Faculty of Development
Studies, Royal University of Phnom Penh
(RUPP) in Cambodia, and he is a full time
research fellow and Head of the Environment
Unit of Cambodia Development Resource
Institute (CDRI). He involves his students and
colleagues in activities that support
communities in the Tonle Sap Lake and the
Lower Mekong Basin. Mak has written many
papers focusing on fisheries, environmental
issues and the communities of the Tonle Sap
Lake.
 Going with or
Against “the Flow”
Socio-ecological dimensions of the
annual trans-boundary flood pulse
Dr. Carl Grundy-Warr
Geography, NUS
BACKGROUD OF SPEAKER
Dr. Carl Grundy-Warr teaches political
geography, geopolitics, and global political
ecologies in the NUS Department of
Geography. Carl has written numerous papers
on trans-border geopolitics and
environmental politics in the Mekong region.
He has coordinated several student field
investigations to the Tonle Sap and Mekong
region, and one project called ‘Waste on
Water’ is supported by the Lee Kuan Yew
School of Public Policy, Institute of Water
Policy (IWP), and is one outcome of a field
investigation to the Tonle Sap. Carl’s current
research is focusing on changing cross-border
political geographies and environmental
geopolitics to cross-border political
geographies and environmental geopolitics in
the Mekong region.
‘Flood Pulse Concept’ Applications
• According to Junk & Wantzen (2004)* the ‘Flood Pulse Concept’
‘has proved to be an integrative approach for studying highly
diverse and complex ecological processes in river-floodplain
systems’.
• It is primarily a scientific (ecology – hydrology) concept, Junk &
Wantzen argued that is has value in the policy arena, particularly in
relation to issues of ‘wetlands restoration and sustainable
management of floodplains’
• One of the huge values of the concept is in linking ecological
analyses of flow regimes as part of a river-floodplain system. As
Junk & Wantzen (2004) put it: ‘Periodic inundation and drought
(flood pulse) is the driving force in the river-floodplain system.
The floodplain is considered an integral part of the system that is
periodically coupled and decoupled from the parent river by the
aquatic / terrestrial transition zone’ (our emphasis)
• A concept very applicable to trans-boundary tropical river
systems

From: Junk, W.J. & Wantzen, K.M. (2004) ‘The Flood Pulse Concept: New
Aspects, Approaches and Applications – An Update’, Max-Planck-Institute for
Limnology, Working Group Tropical Ecology, Germany
Some Key Ecological Considerations
1. Flood pulse influences of mainstream (Lancang – Mekong) (or
lake) water-bound substances (dissolved or suspended,
organic and inorganic) flush into the floodplain (including
fish eggs)
2. Flood pulse influences on terrestrial habitats that become
inundated – resulting in large amounts of biomass decays and
quantities of inorganic and organic matter deposited as water
overlays terrestrial zones
3. Terrestrial organisms migrate into non-flooded habitats or show
adaptation to flooding (rising water-levels)
4. Aquatic organisms are flushed or migrate into the floodplain
(note: migratory fish reveal pronounced seasonal responses
relating to the flood pulse)
5. Vegetation is uniquely adapted to the flood pulse, including
“floating rice” varieties and flooded forest species that can
withstand long periods of flood and periods of drought.
6. Terrestrial invertebrates, fruits and seeds from the floodplain
forest are incorporated into the aquatic food webs
7. Seasonally inundated scrub and forests allow for habitats,
refuges and feeding areas for different migratory fish species
and are intra-lake sites for non-migratory species
Linking Ecology to Ethno-Hydrology
• ‘Ethno-hydrology and Mekong Knowledge in transition: An
Introductory Approach to Mekong Hydraulic Cognition’ Jakkrit
Sangkhamanee (2007) (Paper for International Conference ‘Critical
transitions in the Mekong Region’, 29-31 January 2007, organized by
Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD),
Chiang Mai University)
• Jakkrit argues for an approach which combines the science of
hydrology and ecology with ethnographic research in the
Mekong
• There exist many technical studies undertaken by key institutions
involved in Mekong “development”, such as the Mekong River
Commission (MRC) and Asian Development Bank (ADB), ‘most of
hydrological knowledge are based on selected technical
methodologies that can be used to develop models to understand,
calculate changes, and manage the river for the purpose of
development projects.’ Science [used] against ‘The Flow’???
• The argument here is for an understanding of concepts such as the
‘flood pulse’ that also incorporate lived social spaces
Human Geographies and “THE FLOOD
PULSE” (some socio-ecological symbiotic
properties)
• It is useful to acknowledge that there are socio-ecological
symbiotic properties to thinking about common property resources
in areas like the Tonle Sap Lake and its significant floodplain and
wetlands.
• SPATIAL – in fact, we can think of many CPRs being spatially
fragmented, yet common processes (such as the annual “flood
pulse” and rising / falling seasonal waters or the migratory habits of
certain fish species) tend to provide spatial linkage through
different parts of the Mekong Basin
• ECOLOGICAL – biophysical, hydrological, ecological processes
affecting commons complexity, biodiversity, stability and relative
“resilience”
• TEMPORAL – e.g. flood pulses initiate fish migrations, ensure
ecosystem productivity, scour deep pools, provide nutrients – e.g.
seasonal fish migrations – e.g. monsoons
• ETHNO-HYDROLOGICAL – that is the close connection
between water bodies, hydrology, annual flooding, lived spaces and
ways of living
Pulsing Ecosystems and Social Rhythms
• ‘Pulsing ecosystems create repeated and seasonal patterns
affecting everyday social life
• “Everywhere where there is interaction between a place, a time, and
an expenditure of energy, there is rhythm” (Henri Lefebvre, 2004,
Rhythmanalysis: Space, Time and Everyday Life, p.15)
• Socio-ecological “rhythm” including seasonality and
livelihoods; timing of seasonal practices associated with water-
levels; mobility of people and seasonal migrations; interactions
between people and biophysical space affected by water-levels
(forests, fisheries, land)
Annual Flood Pulse and Lived Space
• A ‘critical driver’ that is central to both ecological functions and
social functions is the annual flood pulse.
• We argue that large areas of the Lower Mekong Basin should be
perceived as belonging to a ‘pulsing ecosystem’ incorporating
multiple socio-ecological and biophysical-human relations
(Grundy-Warr, Sithirith & Yong, 2015).
• Our specific focus is on the neak tonle (river and water people) of
Tonle Sap lake, rivers and floodplain, especially water-based
communities or “floating villages”
• The life worlds, livelihoods and resource economies of the neak
tonle are still primarily associated with access to aquatic resources
and the annual ‘rising’ waters (‘tuk leung’) of the wet season and
‘falling’ waters (‘tuk srork’) of the dry season
• We argue that many aspects of ‘floating life’ remain as largely
hidden geographies within policy-making arenas.

Reference: Grundy-Warr, C., Sithirith, M. & Yong, M.L. (2015) ‘Volumes,

fluidity and flows: Rethinking the ‘nature’ of political geography’, Editorial,
Political Geography, 45: 93-95.
Fishing & Everyday Social Life-Spaces
• Sense of community and identity
• Livelihood strategies (e.g. fishing
often compliments other dominant
occupations)
• Ways of life (beyond livelihoods)
• Lived space (not the space of
policy-makers or abstract planning)
• Gender and generational roles
(e.g. status of women in society,
and the role of children in society,
including labour)
• Cultural and sacred practices
(linked often to seasonal changes)
• http://www.vqronline.org/reporting-
articles/2014/06/giving-flood

Reference: Grundy-Warr, C., Sithirith, M. &

Yong, M.L. (2015) ‘Volumes, fluidity and
flows: Rethinking the ‘nature’ of political
geography’, Editorial, Political Geography,
45: 93-95.
Peaceful Floating Vibes 
PART 2: “SHAKING HANDS WITH ‘THE FLOW’:
FIELDWORK IN A WATER WORLD
Background

• 15th – 25th Sep 2016

• Chhnok Tru Commune, Kampong Chhnang
Province, Cambodia
• Cambodian Buddies from Paññãsãstra University of
Cambodia
Today’s Sharing
• Sharing of Findings
• Ethnicity
• Children
• Fish
• Public Health
• Food
• Agriculture
• Vernacular Architecture
• Flooded Forest
• Waste

• Moving Forward: Waste on Water

Research Findings
Field Investigation
Lives on Stilts
 Ethnicity
Peace Keeping on Tonle Sap
Hannah, Sheryl & Jun Ting
Research Questions
• How are ethnic relations maintained within the
floating village of Chhnok Tru?
• Territoriality
• Geographies of Inclusion
• Geographies of Peace
• Sensory Geographies
Research Methodology
• Observing and participating in the everyday, lived
experiences of the community
• Pagoda Visits
• Night Parties
• Water Fights
• Cooking Sessions

• Limitations
• Sensitivity of our research topic
• Presence of our Vietnamese boatman
• Employ participatory diagramming techniques to elucidate
interviewees’ thoughts
Key Findings
• Space as relational
• Practicality
• Functionality and territoriality
Key Findings
• Peacemaking
• Negative peace – Lack of large common space except for
fishing space
• Positive peace – Commune chiefs’ meetings; inter-ethnic
marriages

• Geographies of Inclusion/Exclusion
• Political inclusion
• Economic inclusion
• Mainland cultural constraint

Peace is always in a state of becoming, and constant

efforts on each side have to put in to maintain peace-
making, especially considering spatial interplays such
as mainland sentiments.
Children Geographies
Bella, Shu Qi & Jun Yu
Research Objective(s)
• To highlight the importance of place in structuring
lives of children

• In examining the spatialities of everyday life of

children in Chhnok Tru, we contest the social
construction of children and childhood, illustrating
how children exhibit agency in their everyday lives
despite structural constraints
Research Methodology
• Flexible Mixed Method Approach

• Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2014): Inductive

approach focusing on research process rather than
outcome
• Child-led process acknowledging agency of children
• 17 children (9-14 years old), 2 teachers, 9 (grand)parents

• Methods
• Go-along
• Participatory video
• Drawing elicitation
• Time-space diaries
• Informal interviews
Key Findings

Challenge
Children as
Western
competent Construction of
thirdspaces
notions of
social actors
through use of childhood
waterways

Home space as School spaces

site of in reproduction
opportunities of relational
and restrictions social identities
 Fishery
Fishing out of Poverty?
Kelman, Ezzati & Jessica
Research Questions
• How are lives of locals impacted by domestic
fishing policies and fishing regulations in Tonle
Sap?

• Investigating how fishermen negotiate their

everyday life, we are using the livelihood approach
to understand current challenges and future
opportunities (Carr, 2014)

• What will be the future?

Research Methodology
• Interviews
Key Findings

• Fishing regulations and the

removal of fishing lots

• Specialization and
Diversification

• Microfinance
Key Findings

• Moving forward with a livelihood approach

• “Identify what the poor have, rather than what they do not
have”, capitalizing on the local’s innovative solutions (Alison
& Ellis, 2001)

• Glimpse into the future (Social networks = Capital)

• Chhnok Tru is “getting by” through bonding capital (i.e.
networks within the village)
• We identified that bridging capital (i.e. connections beyond the
village) is crucial for “getting ahead” (Baird & Gray, 2014).
• Diversification could be the most plausible livelihood strategy
to reduce vulnerability
 Public Heatlh
Xin Yun, Kim Yee & Miriam
Research Questions
• To investigate the underlying factors that shape the
uneven geographies of public health in Chhnok Tru

Figure: Uneven geographies of public health

- Place, Identity and other External Factors
Research Methodology
• Qualitative
• Observations
• Semi-structured interviews

• Quantitative
• Mapping of health services around the floating village

• 18 semi-structured interviews with public, private

and informal clinics as well as villagers of different
ethnicities - Khmer, Cham and Vietnamese.

Positionalities
• ‘Outsider’ vs ‘Insider’ - sharing of information
• Ours and our buddy’s identity, translation and language barrier

• Difficulty in mapping due to constant moving of

houses
Key Findings
(A) Inadequacies of public health sector
• Mapping exercise showed that there is a lack of
quantity of public health clinics

• Blurring between public and public health sector

• Giving rise to informal private activities of

workers/private clinics
Public Health Centre Private Health Clinic
Key Findings

(B) Difference in access to health care amongst ethnic

groups
• Khmer community has social networks that relay
information about healthcare resources e.g. health cards

• Vietnamese are excluded from this group membership

• Language barrier also present between Vietnamese

villagers so they do not visit public healthcare clinic.
Key Findings

(C) Inconsistent NGO efforts throughout community

• NGO efforts were periodic and there was lack of

follow-ups

• Difficult to produce behavioural changes in villagers

• NGO efforts may be insensitive to villagers as they do

not consider the socio-economic profiles of villagers-
Uneven spatial outreach by NGOs on their education
efforts
Key Findings
• Recommendations
• NGOs to have greater spatial outreach
• Have Vietnamese translators in NGO education workshops to
prevent language barrier or miscommunication
• More extensive collaboration with local NGOs and
government in consideration of international NGOs limited
time and resources

• Future Research Directions

• Infant Mortality Rate
• Water Quality
• Health Across Axes of Differences
• Informal and Unlicensed Vietnamese Health Clinics
 Food
Wei Yun, Yuan Hao & Vera
Research Question
• We aim to examine local food networks - as the web
of relations between food production, distribution
and consumption - to reveal the livelihood issues
faced and strategies adopted by the villagers within
the unique context of the Chhnok Tru floating
village.
Research Methodology
Research
Method
Participant • Joined various households in their food preparation
Observation process and to have meals with them
• Noted the way they prepared their food, the food they
were consuming and the interactions around a meal setting

Semi- • Semi structured interviews during meal settings

structured • Convenience sampling of host family of other researchers,
Interviews due to the difficulty of mobility on the floating village

Virtual • Requested for other researchers to send meal photos

Networking through Whatsapp messaging application on phone

Tracing the • Follow through the food network from production to

Network distribution to consumption
• Visited commercial and domestic farms and the land
market
• Followed a mobile trader on her daily route around the
village
Key Findings
(A) Production
• Due to the constraints of living on water, food production in
Chhnok Tru often revolves around the Tonle Sap Lake as a
water resource

• The livelihoods of the villagers are vulnerable to seasonal

fluctuations and changes within the ecological system

• Diversification is used as a livelihood strategy to decrease

the floating village’s vulnerability to fluctuations in essential
water resources - every member of the household fulfils a
role within the food network
• Villagers engage in subsistence farming as a form of risk
management strategy as it is a way to increase their food
security by reducing their dependence on external food
supply
Key Findings
(B) Distribution
• Mobile traders are a unique aspect of the floating village as it
provides a solution to overcome the restricted mobility on
water and villagers rely heavily on mobile traders for their
daily grocery needs

• Mobile traders and middlemen facilitate the distribution

process within the food network, and are a part of the local
food economy

• The benefits of food distribution to the livelihoods in Chhnok

Tru is twofold:
• 1) improving access to food
• 2) creating jobs to support local livelihoods
Key Findings
(C) Consumption
• The locals need to diversify their consumption patterns as It
is not always easy to ensure an access to a steady food
supply

• The villagers generally tend to source their food from the

environment around them, from water lilies, to shrimp, to
snail and mice

• Risk management strategy employed by households  use

of salt for food preservation allows households to store food
for an extended period of time

• Home is designated as a key space of familial and communal

socialisation through shared food consumption
Agriculture & Land-
Based Activities
Rebecca & Yien Jun
Research Questions
• How can agriculture be conducted in Chhnok Tru
during the wet season?

• How does agriculture (during the wet season) a form

of livelihood strategy?
Research Methodology
• Observations
• Host
• Interviewees’ home space

• Interviews
• Arrangement: Host
• Translation: Cambodian Buddy, Vibol
• Locational Proximity  Khmer interviewees
Key Findings
• How can agriculture be conducted in Chhnok Tru
during the wet season?
• Wet Season: Commercial agriculture
• Dry Season: Subsistence farming
• Floating & Sampan Gardens
• Lightweight. For heavier plants/fruits (e.g. Papaya)
• Monitoring the time required for them to mature allows
home owners to grow them during the wet season and
transplant them onto land during the dry season.

• How does agriculture becomes a form of livelihood

strategy?
• Agriculture as a livelihood strategy in response to external
vulnerabilities (rising water levels, fishing limits & decreasing
levels of fishes)
• Wet Season: Commercial farming/helping out in farms 
additional source of income
• Dry Season: Subsistence farming  additional food source
other than fish
Vernacular Architecture
Floating Lives
Felix, Kellie & Hui Feng
Research Questions
• How does vernacular architecture affect human-
nature interactions in Chhnok Thru and vice-versa?
Research Methodology
• Observations

• Interviews

• GPS logging
Key Findings
• The design and construction of the floating houses are
optimised for the living environment. Ethnic
peculiarities exist, but most of the choices in house
construction/design/material are economically driven.

• Village layout shifts according to weather event or

seasonality. Yet, there are sub-layouts that are
preserved for both functionality and practicality.

• People develops connection to the particular space on

the water body where their house is normally anchored.
 Flooded Forest
Fishing out of Poverty
Jess & Timotheus
Research Questions
• To use the flooded forest as a springboard to explore
issues within the area
Research Methodology
• Homestay

• Semi-structured interview

• Transact boat ride

Key Findings
• Uses
• Habitat for Fish - Productivity intricately tied to the seasonal
flood pulse
• Their livelihood
• Protection from surroundings
• Logged for its wood

• Conflict with mainland

• Hostility between Water-based communities and Land-based
communities
• Sense of protectiveness and ownership over the Flooded Forest as
"mine, not theirs”
• Government's plan to relocate them to land by 2019
Key Findings
• Management of flooded forest
• Zoning - Ambiguous and overlapping
• Talks to communicate and increase awareness - No incentive to
go
• Spectrum of effectiveness of patrolling – Messy

• Livelihood resilience: Academia vs. Reality

• Human agency to adapt
• Not just "well to do" or "suffering", but "in the process of"
 Waste
Waste on Water
Yi Yun & Li Wee
Research Questions
• We seek to bring to light the pressing issue of waste
on water through an empirical approach anchoring
on post-consumption geographies in exploring
spatial and temporal relations. We also seek to
propose a more environmentally just approach to
addressing this issue in the future.
Research Methodology
• Waste Collection

• Participant Observation

• Semi-structured Interviews
• Households
• Authorities (Environmental & Fishing)
Key Findings
(A) 3Rs – Reduce, Reuse & Recycle
Key Findings
(B) Impacts of Waste

• Environment
• Accumulation of waste 
“Rubbish Islands”
• Invisible Trash
• Scalar Impacts

• Human
• Diarrhea; skin rashes
• Worsens in dry season
• Hindering of mobility

“I have no choice”
– Lack of knowledge
– Short-lived impacts
– Lack of visible alternatives
– Forced by circumstances & lack of infrastructure
Key Findings

“Tonle Sap is the

product of a
complex set of
Involving all Attitudes & interdependent
Actors Habits systems,
however, it
continues to be
Women Space dealt with in a
Empowerment Constraints piecemeal
manner”
(Bonheur and
Lane, 2002: 39).
Moving Forward
Waste on Water
Changing Lives
Waste on Water (2017)

• Examine the impacts of

waste during the dry
season

• Willingness of
communities to
participate in the waste
management projects

• To engage community
stakeholders in seeking
solutions and testing
ideas
Thank You!
Arkoun