Recomendaciones Generales para el Desarrollo de los Productos

There is, nonetheless, still much that needs to be done in terms of regional co-operation and governance (Ratner, 2003). MRC is surrounded by regional arrangements and institutions that engage the member countries more than the commission does. The struggle of varying interests has put the commission into a situation where it has lost its position and mechanisms of fulfilling its development goals, particularly the goal of addressing socially just development of the basin and its water resources. In addition, the decision-making processes at the regional level have not been able to ensure democratic stakeholder participation, crucial to ensuring the sustainable development of the basin (Varis et al., 2008a).

More about regional water resources management is found in Chapter 6.

The Chinese want for hydropower and better navigation routes.

The Thais want water development to increase irrigation and hydropower.

The Laotians want hydropower (mainly for exporting), better navigation and aquatic resources but are threatened by the impacts of the river’s development on agriculture, fishing and bank erosion.

The Cambodians want for irrigation, aquatic resources and hydropower but, on the other hand, are concerned about the impacts on the floodplains and losses in agriculture and fishing productivity.

The Vietnamese want for irrigation in the delta and hydropower in the central highlands but are apprehensive of salt water intrusion due to upstream hydropower development.

The use of energy increases as the economic structure in the region is changing from agricultural production to industrial production. The electric power demand in the region is increasing annually by 7 percent. Meeting this need requires a fourfold increase in the current energy generation capacity by 2020 (Lu et al., 2008). As we have learned above, this creates demands also for hydropower development and as a result the plans for hydropower construction in the region are massive.

Due to the conflicting desires between upper and lower Mekong countries, there is a great need for sustainable development plans that can maintain the ecological and hydrological balance of the river and also monitor socially just development.

The Mekong River Commission has been working for over 40 years towards an economically prosperous, socially just and environmentally sound Mekong River Basin. The commission has strong expertise in water governance - the resources that have a great impact on the region’s economy and social development - and accordingly needs

The Cambodian population has increased steadily since the 1960s, except for the violent Khmer Rouge period that can be observed as a clear population collapse (1975 to 1980) (World Bank, 2001a; UNESCAP, 2002). Due to the big baby boom, which began in the1980s after the cruel period, the population started to grow rapidly with a higher rate than before the reforms of Pol Pot (Figure 6). Due to the high fertility and increasing life expectancy, the population is expected to grow relatively fast also in the coming years, with a population growth rate of over two percent (World Bank, 2003; 2006d). In 2004, the population of Cambodia was 13.8 million (World Bank, 2006d). By 2025, it is expected to reach 22 million (UNESCAP, 2002).

The majority of Cambodians live in rural areas, 11.2 million in 2004. The rural population is increasing steadily with the general population growth (Figure 6). Around 24 percent of the population, 2.646 million people, live in urban areas of the country (World Bank, 2007a). The urban population is still relatively small, which indicates that the country has not yet reached high levels of urbanization. The average annual growth rate, nevertheless, is over four percent, indicating that the urban population 2.7 POPULATION

Figure 6 Urban population has increased since the 1980s (UNESCAP, 2002; World Bank, 2006d)

is increasing twice as fast as the population overall.

In addition, the urbanization growth rate has risen during the last years and it is projected to grow also in the near future (UNESCAP, 2002; World Bank, 2006d; 2007a).

2.8 MIGRATION

Over one-third of the Cambodian population, 4.5 million people, has migrated at least once in their lifetime (NIS, 2005a). This high rate is mostly caused by the unsteady and war-ridden past. During the Khmer Rouge regime (1975 –1979), people were moved to collective farms in rural areas, and urban areas were nearly emptied.

In 1979, when the Khmer Rouge regime fell and re-establishment of stability in Cambodia began, the displaced people returned to their villages and towns in large numbers. The population movements were significant. From 1970 to 1980, around forty percent of the population migrated in both urban and rural areas of the country (Rao et al., 2002).

The troubled past also has a bearing on the reasons for migration. Around 14 percent of the country’s 3.6 million migrants, almost half a million people have migrated because of repatriation or return after internal displacement and six percent 2.8.1 The impacts of Khmer Rouge on migration

Migration is still taking place in Cambodia in rather high numbers; the number of migrants has increased by four percent between the last Population Censuses representing the movement of half a million people (1998-2004). In general, migration from rural to rural areas has been decreasing and migrants during the previous years have been more likely to move to urban 2.8.2 Present migration

because of insecurity (NIS, 2000b). The number of returned migrants among the rural population is particularly high. The large number of returned migrants cannot be explained solely by the high rural population. The fact that the internal and international displacements of the rural population that occurred during the 1970s were massive should also be taken into account (NIS, 2000b; 2005a).

The Pol Pot era still has impacts on the migration flows of today. Large parts of the land were mined and thus have been inaccessible for cultivation, construction and other purposes for a long time.

This has been the case, for instance, in the provinces of Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Siem Reap, Preah Vihear and Kampong Speu. Today, most of the landmines have been cleared out and the interest in “free” arable land in these provinces has been great. Hence, people have started to migrate back to these areas, which can also be seen in the migration flows of the country (OXFAM, 2000).

In Phnom Penh, people who have motorbikes commute daily from the provinces nearby to work as motorcycle-taxi drivers in the city centre.

In Battambang, people living in the same province or nearby commute either daily or weekly to work at the construction sites or hotels of the city.

In Poipet, people move in non-agricultural seasons to work as paid labourers in the city.

Many of the seasonal migrants end up working longer than they expected in their destination, since the living costs in the urban areas are higher than in the rural areas. It is also common that migrants have to pay for training or invest in their new work before getting the new job. For example, many migrants that are working in the garment factories have to pay for sewing lessons before getting the job, or taxi drivers have to invest in a motorcycle (500-1.000 US$) before being able to operate (Heng, 2002; CDRI, 2007A).

Cambodian migrants also cross the borders of the region’s countries, and international migration is fairly common. In the past quarter of a century, 10 percent of the pre-war Cambodian population, amounting to around 650.000 inhabitants, has moved abroad. Many of them migrated to the neighbouring countries, Vietnam or Thailand, due to political problems, disorder and persecution.

Most of these political migrants have returned to their home country after the period of violence (UNDP, 2000). However, since then Thailand and Vietnam have tempted many new migrants.

Presently, there are 1.1 million inhabitants in the Mekong Region that are living in riparian countries other than their place of birth. In addition, there are probably another million undocumented or seasonal migrants in the region (Asian Migrant Centre, 2005).

The wealthier countries of the region are popular destinations for migrants from the less developed countries. Today, Thailand is populated by around 88.000 Cambodians (Asian Migrant Centre,

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• areas (NIS, 2005a). Since the 1990s, a growing number of young adults from the rural parts of the country have migrated to urban areas in search of employment, as the country has opened up to a free market and showed a high economic growth (NIS, 2000b; 2005a; CDRI, 2007A).

Hence, the proportion of migrants among the urban population (56 percent) is significantly higher than among the rural population (31 percent). Migration is particularly high among young, urban residents. Over 80 percent of them (aged 20 years and over) are migrants and around 40 percent can be called recent migrants (moved in 1993-1998). In each of the urban age groups, recent migration constitutes at least 10 percent of the total migration. In addition, these numbers illustrate the urbanization process that Cambodia is slowly witnessing (NIS, 2000b; NIS, 2005a).

The main targets of rural-urban migration have been Phnom Penh and the market towns along the Thai borders. People are pulled to these cities by non-farming wage jobs: construction, factory and service jobs. Also Sihanoukville, Siem Reab and Battambang have attracted large numbers of migrants with non-farming and tourism-related jobs (OXFAM, 2000).

The average distance of migration in Cambodia is short, whereas the duration has increased during the last years (OXFAM, 2000; NIS, 2005a). Around 60 percent of the migrants have moved within the province and of these 37 percent within the same district. Only 35 percent have moved to another province (NIS, 2000b; 2005a). Males have generally been more eager to migrate than females (NIS, 2000b). It is common that young males migrate for employment reasons to both urban and rural areas, while females migrate to urban areas to work in the garment factories or stay home to take care of the family.

Migration is also characterized by strong seasonal variation. Seasonal migrants are mostly moving from rural to urban areas, although agricultural and fishing jobs attract especially male migrants also to rural areas. Seasonal migrants commute every day to work or stay for a couple of months:

2005). Thailand attracts large numbers of legal as well as illegal migrants with farming jobs near the Cambodian border, with work on fishing boats and ports in the Gulf of Thailand, or with plantations, sex-trade or paid work in Bangkok (OXFAM, 2000).

Economic reasons are very important push factors in international migration. The temptation is great when the neighbours return with good earnings.

Migrants can earn around 300.000 riels (~75 US$) a month at construction sites, sewing factories or cloth washing in Thailand, which is twice the monthly salary in Cambodia. On the other hand, migration needs capital. Some migrants pay 300.000 - 400.000 riels (75-100 US$) to the middleman only for the transportation to Thailand (Derks, 1997).

The large-scale migration in Cambodia can partly be explained by the large population displacements during the 1970s. However, there are also other factors than repatriation behind the high migration rates, especially behind recent migration. The decision to migrate is always personal, but very often the reasons of moving are connected to poverty, fragile livelihoods, employment, income and education.