Despite a 2001 law allowing indigenous communities to obtain collective title to traditional lands, land alienation has been a major problem in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia; some villages have been left nearly landless.
[1] The national government has granted concessions over land traditionally possessed by Ratanakiri's indigenous peoples,[1][2][3] and even land "sales" have often involved bribes to officials, coercion, threats, or misinformation.
[1] For instance, a group of Ratanakiri villagers in 2001 were given salt and promises of development by military representatives in exchange for thumbprinting documents that—unbeknownst to them—transferred ownership of their ancestral lands to a military general.
[4] Following the involvement of several international NGOs, land alienation has decreased in frequency.
[6] Community natural resource management initiatives in Ratanakiri have been successful and have served as models for similar programs on a national level.