December 2011: The CGIAR Systemwide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi), an initiative of the 15 centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), has produced a report on a 15-month initiative aimed to strengthen collective action to address conflict in Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake.

Employing the Appreciation-Influence-Control (AIC) model of participatory stakeholder engagement, the initiative aimed to increase understanding of the sources of vulnerability in fisheries livelihoods and to catalyze efforts to support resilience in this socio-ecological system. The report, titled “Catalyzing Collective Action to Address Natural Resource Conflict: Lessons from Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake,” outlines the outcomes of the project, including: shifts in fishery access rights and resource management authority, notably the transfer of a large, commercial fishing concession to community access; and the resolution of a boundary dispute involving community fishery organizations in neighboring provinces. Further to these successes, the main national grassroots network representing fishing communities also modified its internal governance and strategy of engagement to emphasize constructive links with government and the formal NGO sector. The report underscores that the experience demonstrates the potential of an open-ended process of action research to enable collective action and improve natural resource governance, even amidst ongoing resource conflict. It concludes with a set of lessons learned to guide such efforts in practice. [Publication: Catalyzing Collective Action to Address Natural Resource Conflict: Lessons from Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake]