Peace like a river, on the river

Editor’s note: In Cambodian tradition, a person’s surname appears first, followed by the given name. 

On a sunny afternoon, water gently laps against a collective of small boats beached on a river island in Cambodia’s Kratié province.

A group of women gathers under the shade of a flowering tree, its dainty white blooms perfuming the air. As the women enjoy fresh-cut watermelon and sweet sugarcane juice, they discuss the health of the river, the Mekong, and their plans to protect it.

The Mekong is Southeast Asia’s longest river. An estimated 15% of freshwater fish caught worldwide comes from there, providing a vital source of income and food for many, including Sor Navy. She lives on the riverbank with her husband and three kids in nearby Vattanak village.

“When we need fish to eat, then we just use the net,” she says. She and her husband can catch what they need, as people in the region have done for generations.

But, she says, in recent years a dip of the net has produced fewer fish, and the ones she’s been able to catch have been smaller. 

Families here have long used traditional fishing methods such as small, simple nets. Recently, however, fishers, including many from other regions, have come in with equipment meant to catch as many fish as possible, such as electrified tools that stun fish. Others use very large nets, which can harm Irrawaddy dolphins, an endangered species that is essential to local, family-run ecotourism operations.

While such methods are illegal, Navy says, poverty may cause fishers to turn to them to boost their profits.

She fears what would happen if people here were no longer able to make a living from the river. She worries that scarcity could increase tensions within and between households, leading to violence, or prompt families to leave Vattanak, with their children dropping out of school at a young age. “That is very hard for me to accept.”

Through an MCC partner, she’s found a way to take action, helping to keep the river healthy and her community intact.

Along with Theum Chan Thou, a cashew farmer and mother of two, Navy leads a team of local women on several multiday patrols a year. They look out for, and address, fishers using illegal techniques.

The women do so as members of the Prey Lang Community Network, comprised of residents from four Cambodian provinces who protect the river and nearby Prey Lang Forest. Through trainings offered by MCC partner Peace Bridges Organization (PBO), residents have learned how to confront illegal fishing and other forms of environmental degradation peacefully.

After their snack, Navy and Chan Thou lead the women back to the boats. The group sets sail, two or three to a boat. Should the women spot people fishing illegally, they will all pull their boats over and approach. The safety of being in a large group, and the conflict resolution trainings they’ve taken, make them feel confident doing so.

Navy says that when she speaks with fishers, she calmly explains to them that local communities depend upon the health of the river, and that unsanctioned fishing hurts their way of life. She reassures them that families can sustain themselves with traditional methods. After all, it’s what she and her husband do. 

It is the immense importance of the river and forest that inspires residents to commit to taking part in the patrols. These patrols often take multiple hours, and sometimes multiple days, out along severely sunny stretches of the river or down rocky, uneven roads. Participants check in with each other regularly and are quick to pull over if anyone has a problem with their boat or motorbike. At night, they set up camp, fish from the Mekong and enjoy a fish dinner, before resting and continuing on their journey. The first patrolling groups formed through the Prey Lang Community Network consisted solely of men. In those early days of the patrols, the participants often used harsh words toward fishers and loggers. Such confrontations left patrollers and their families and communities vulnerable to violent retaliation.

Trainings offered by PBO have helped them to learn and practice more peaceful approaches.

When PBO was founded in the early 2000s, staff first sought to foster peace between the 3% of Cambodians who identify as Christian. But leaders like Som Chanmony, executive director, soon saw that their peacebuilding and conflict resolution trainings could be useful for all in the Buddhist-majority country.

Many community members in this area follow a mix of Buddhist and animist practices. Their deeply spiritual desire to protect the forest and river made them a natural fit for a partnership with PBO, whose staff as Christians also feel called to work for the well-being of the environment. “Part of my faith is to take care of all of this creation that God has entrusted to us,” shares Chanmony. 

In 2021, the first group of female patrollers was established. Chan Thou recalls that at first, there were only about seven members. Men were apprehensive about their wives and daughters joining, knowing that patrolling involved overnight trips and tense interactions with fishers and loggers. At times, Chanmony has sat down with the husbands of new participants to explain how PBO’s trainings help to keep everyone safe. He has often been successful in convincing the husbands.

The successes that the women have seen also change minds.

Chan Thou says that when she joined the group, she had the full support of her husband, who knew how much she loved the river and forest. Her parents, however, were more hesitant. 

But over the past few years, illegal logging has visibly decreased, and fish populations are starting to bounce back. Chan Thou’s parents saw this recovery — and saw how central their daughter’s leadership was to it. “From that time onward, my parents started to support me 100%,” says Chan Thou. “I feel so happy when they support me and they understand about my work.” 

As support for the women’s group has grown, so has membership. There are now about 30 women involved. “Women in the community hear about it and are asking about it,” says Navy. With the group in Kratié well established, the Prey Lang Community Network now plans to establish women’s groups in the other three provinces where it works.

Navy is hopeful that this investment in protecting Cambodia’s eco-systems will continue.

“You know the river is belonging to all of us.”

Sienna Malik is managing editor of A Common Place magazine. Saobora Narin, a freelance photographer in Cambodia, supplied photographs through Fairpicture.

Top photo: A patrolling boat travels down the Mekong River as women’s group members look out for illegal fishing. MCC/Fairpicture photo/Saobora Narin