In Cambodia, land and natural resources occupy a central place in the production systems of
peasants who represent about 80 percent of the country’s population. The development and
governance of socio-ecological systems trigger considerable economic, social and environmental
issues that need to be addressed urgently given the profound nature of the transformations at
play in these systems across Cambodia.
Against the background of Cambodian peasant conceptions of, and approaches towards, land tenure
security, we present the historical evolution of, and current challenges presented by, various land
reforms that have attempted to formalize the land property rights system in the Kingdom. We suggest
that current land tenure regimes in Cambodia are highly fragmented between lowland central
plains and peripheral uplands, which has yielded problematic results. We discuss the attempts by
the government to address the ensuing contradictions.