Photo: Steve Griffiths / Photo illustration: Maria Victoria CaramĂŠs
THE TONLE SAP INITIATIVE
FUTURE SOLUTIONS NOW
The Tonle Sap Basin Strategy The Poverty-Environment Challenge of the Tonle Sap POVERTY AND VULNERABILITY Despite the richness of its natural resources, the Tonle Sap provides an inadequate living for most of the inhabitants of the provinces that adjoin it. The indicators of poverty there are more negative than those for the population as a whole or, indeed, other rural areas, and the needs of the poor are acute. Half of the villages have between 40–60% households below the poverty line, about 80% in some areas. Many households have no landholdings and depend entirely on fishing and foraging, with access to fishing areas often under dispute. More than elsewhere in Cambodia, health shocks and chronic illness are major causes of impoverishment. The cycle of poverty, ill health, and high health care expenditure by households (11% of
household income) cripples families. About 45% of people borrow to cover the cost of health emergencies and, all too often, another response to health shocks is to remove children from schools, starting with girls. Since people frequently rely on pond water for drinking, children suffer from repeated attacks of diarrhea. Malaria, dengue fever, acute respiratory infections, and tuberculosis are endemic, and the rate of HIV/AIDS infection is the highest in the region. Half of the children under the age of 5 are malnourished and, for every 1,000 live births, 115 children die before they reach that age. Adult literacy averages 63%. This figure is inflated, however, as it includes the partially literate, and hides wide provincial and gender differences. Disturbingly, about 70% of children do not complete primary school, compared with the national average of 60%. Twice as