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 Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

; some villages have been left nearly landless.''The Indigenous World 2004'' (Diana Vinding, editor).

International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs The International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) is an independent and non-profit international human rights-based membership organization, whose central charter is to endorse and promote the collective rights of the world's indigenous ...

(2004)
p. 256
. The national government has granted concessions over land traditionally possessed by Ratanakiri's indigenous peoples,Tyler, Stephen R. ''Comanagement of Natural Resources: Local Learning for Poverty Reduction''.

International Development Research Centre The International Development Research Centre (IDRC; french: Centre de recherches pour le développement international, ''CRDI'') is a Canadian federal Crown corporation that funds research and innovation within and alongside developing regions ...

(2006)
p. 33
. and even land "sales" have often involved bribes to officials, coercion, threats, or misinformation. 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. Following the involvement of several international NGOs, land alienation has decreased in frequency.Ashish Joshia Ingty John & Chea Phalla. "Community-based natural resource management and decentralized governance in Ratanakiri, Cambodia." ''Communities, Livelihoods and Natural Resources'' (Stephen R. Tyler, editor).

(2006)
p. 53
. These NGOs have assisted in the training of provincial government officials, promoting understanding of indigenous community concerns as well as encouraging dialog between the provincial and national governments. Pilot communal land titling projects have aimed to give legal force to traditional land ownership. Community natural resource management initiatives in Ratanakiri have been successful and have served as models for similar programs on a national level.Tyler, ''Comanagement of Natural Resources''
p. 36–37
Vindig, ''The Indigenous World 2002–2003''
p. 264

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