Participatory village surveys in water resources management - case from Tonle Sap Lake

Integrated water resources management asks for comprehensive approach combining hydrological data with environmental, economic and social information. Understanding the interconnections between water and social factors is prerequisite for sustainable and socially just water resources management. Still, in many water management projects this linkage remains inadequately understood and analysed. In addition, participation of local people is often lacking or, at best, forms only separate part of the project. This paper presents experiences from the participatory village surveys carried out in the Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia within a consultancy project under the Mekong River Commission. The village surveys were together with socio-economic databases used to achieve up-to-date picture on the socio-economic situation in the Tonle Sap Area. Although participation of the local people in the project is still far from perfect, the village surveys illustrate how invaluable the local people’s participation and knowledge is and what kind of benefits it can bring.