Minorities Choosing Private Over Communal
Though they held out hope for years that they would get communal land titles, hundreds of ethnic minority families in Mondolkiri and Ratanakkiri provinces have now opted to accept individual private land titles under Prime Minister Hun Sen’s new titling scheme. While individual titles offer immediate protection from outside speculators and developers, minority members who have accepted them are disqualified from also receiving communal titles, which designates areas for traditional rotational farming, forest graveyards and “spirit forests.” …
