A new short film from the CGIAR Initiative on Asian Mega-Deltas and the CGIAR Initiative on Aquatic Foods documents work to support efforts in Cambodia to delegate the management of water, land, agriculture, fisheries and the environment to the district level.
WorldFish and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) – working closely with Cambodia’s Inland Fisheries Research and Development Institute (IFReDI) – piloted the institutional innovation, which supports the implementation of a decision by the Royal Government of Cambodia in 2019.
It is a departure from the strongly sectoral approach to natural resources management in the country and represents a fundamental policy shift that can enable natural resources planning to better reflect the shared nature of water and land resources across multiple food production systems.
The pilot institution, a District Technical Working Group (D-TWG), was established in May 2024 to facilitate the integrated management of the water resources of Beung Sneh Lake, Prey Veng Province, in Cambodia’s Tonle Sap floodplain and Mekong delta. Representing all relevant levels of local government, environment, water, agriculture and fisheries sectors, and Community Based Organizations (CBOs) mandated to manage local fisheries, agriculture and environmental assets, the D-TWG responds to the multi-scale and multi-sector characteristics of water resources management.