The River of Life: Changing Ecosystems of the Mekong Region

by Santasombat, Yos

• ISBN13: 9786169005322
• ISBN10: 6169005327
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-01-04
• Publisher: Univ of Washington Pr

Summary

In northern Thailand, Laos, and southern China, marginal fishing communities along the Mekong River and its tributaries are experiencing the adverse effects of changing ecosystems on their fish stocks, local economies, lifestyles, and cultural practices. Transnational mega-projects are causing great environmental degradation and endangering people's livelihoods. While depicting a stark future for less advantaged Mekong communities, this book sees reasons for hope in the communities' capacity to respond to these changes. Using their knowledge and experience to cope with evolving historical realities such as erratic water levels, many local communities have devised conservation measures for fishing. The author advocates bottom-up planning and transnational civil society alliances between local groups and regional and international organizations to bring about more balanced development and sounder natural resource management in the region. Appendixes contain an extensive inventory of fish species, habitat, conservation status, and fishing techniques. Yos Santasombatis professor of anthropology at Chiang Mai University.

Author Biography

Yos Santasombat is Professor of Anthropology at Chiang Mai University. He received Senior Research Scholar Awards from Thailand Research Fund in 2002 and 2006. He has published over two dozen books and research manuscripts on issues pertaining to resource management. Two recent books are Biodiversity, Local Knowledge and Sustainable Development (2003) and Flexible Peasants: Reconceptualizing the Third Worlds Rural Types (2008).

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. vii
Preface	p. xi
Concepts and Rationale
Introduction	p. 1
Transnational Enclosure	p. 5
Situated Knowledge	p. 10
Global Civil Society and Cross-Scale Institutional Linkages	p. 13
The Mekong Basin	p. 17
The Basins Bio-Geographical Zones	p. 20
Natural Resources in the Mekong Basin	p. 23
Transnational Enclosure	p. 31
The Growth-Oriented Development Paradigm as Enclosure	p. 35
Transboundary Impacts of Subregional Development	p. 39
Marginal Communities, Marginal Lives
Lue Villages on the Lancang	p. 51
Manfeilong	p. 53
Household Economy and Trade	p. 65
Changing Ecosystems and Local Resource Management	p. 68
Tourism, Dams, and Rural Communities on the Lancang	p. 75
Riparian Communities in Northern Laos	p. 83
Marginal Communities in Luang Prabang	p. 89
Ban Suan Luang	p. 94
Ban Pak Seung	p. 99
Ban Hat Kho	p. 101
Changing Livelihood Activities	p. 104
The Giant Catfish and Riparian Communities in Northern Thailand	p. 111
Ban Pak Ing	p. 118
Khun Huai Khrai: Upland Fisheries	p. 114
Local Knowledge and Globalization from Below
Situated Knowledge, Located Lives: Adaptive Responses to Change	p. 133
Situated Knowledge and Local Adaptation	p. 134
Local Knowledge and Livelihood Strategies	p. 135
Fish Ecology and Micro-ecosystems	p. 136
Fish Species and Migrations	p. 137
Wetland Fisheries	p. 139
Local Knowledge and Forest Management	p. 141
Local Knowledge and Bottom-Up Development	p. 145
Trans-boundary Environmental Issues and Transnational Civil Society	p. 147
Transnational Enclosure and Transboundary Environmental Impacts	p. 149
Responses from the Grassroots	p. 151
The Formation of Transnational Civil Society in the MekongBasin	p. 155
Concluding Remarks	p. 157
Appendixes	p. 159
Fish	p. 161
Fishing Equipment	p. 171
Fish Bait	p. 175
Fish, Conservation Status, Fishing Techniques, and Bait	p. 177
References	p. 208
Index	p. 217
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