Publisher :
Place of publication :
Publication year : 2006
Thematic : TEEB
Language : English
Note
The Great Lake-Tonle Sap, the biggest in South Asia and the lower
tributary of the Mekong River system, has been providing livelihood
opportunities to millions in Cambodia. Monsoon rains, seasonal
floods, wetland forests and vegetation, and the nutrient-rich soil have
created an ecosystem that allows access of fish and other aquatic animals to
abundant nutrition and food resources. Traditionally, the Great Lake is the
spawning ground for many fish habitats that migrate through the Tonle Sap
River when the Lake expands with floodwaters usually by four to six times
its dry season size . It is thought to be the most productive inland fisheries
of the world, contributing about 60% of the country’s commercial fisheries
production (Ahmed et al. 1998). People in and around the Lake receives
both economic and noneconomic benefits from it in many ways. Households
in the Lake area extract fish, other aquatic animals and vegetations, and
collect forest products such as firewood and other indigenous materials
that are mostly used as raw materials for house building, fishing and fish
processing, and farming activities. In addition to these static resources, the
Lake provides a value chain or benefit flows through forward and backward
linkages. Forward values are created through trade and marketing of fish
and fish products and post-harvest fish handling and processing. The
backward values are generated through input demand for fishing and
farming activities, such as gearmaking and other fishing and farmingrelated
inputs and services. Lake resources and its backward and forward
benefit flows generate income and sustain the livelihoods of the millions of
people in and around the Lake and its basin areas. A comprehensive study
of the benefits and values of the Great Lake is yet to be done. Although the
Great Lake occupies the lion share of the inland fisheries in Cambodia that
provides foreign exchange to the government, nutrition, livelihoods and food
security to millions living in the Lake area. However, a precise estimate of
the benefits and values of the aquatic and nonaquatic resources is lacking.
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Keywords : Global Forest Resources Assessment Philippines
Encoded by : Pauline Carmel Joy Eje
