Ian G Baird
Most of my research is focused on mainland Southeast Asia, especially Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, and the peoples who come from there. My interests are varied and include: political ecology, social and spatial (re)organization, upland-lowland relations in mainland Southeast Asia, Indigenous studies, large hydroelectric dams, large-scale economic land concessions, land and resource tenure, protected areas, Hmong studies, Lao studies, Brao studies, 19th and 20th history in mainland Southeast Asia, border and boundaries studies, insurgencies and counter-insurgencies in mainland Southeast Asia, qualitative methods, Champassak, Mekong fish and fisheries, development studies, non-government organizations (NGOs), internal resettlement, Buddhism, Animism, identities and post-colonial studies.
Phone: 608-265-0012
Address: 550 N. Park St., Madison, WI, USA, 53706
Phone: 608-265-0012
Address: 550 N. Park St., Madison, WI, USA, 53706
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political-economic structures have resulted in farmers having little
bargaining or political power and limited access to markets.
political-economic structures have resulted in farmers having little
bargaining or political power and limited access to markets.
in order to advance studies on financialization and rural development in South East Asia. In Thailand, the state remains a large provider of credit to farmers. In Cambodia, most farmers access credit from a globalized, private microfinance industry. Based on qualitative research carried out in 2021 and 2022, we argue that farmer debt has led to divergent outcomes in Thailand and Cambodia due to their opposing systems of rural credit developed over the past half-century. These systems were forged within historically specific conjunctures of international development policies, state–capital relations and domestic politics of debt. Consequently, Thailand’s farmers access credit from the state at significantly lower costs and with more support in various forms. Over-indebtedness is a problem for some farmers, but not because state-controlled financial institutions charge excessive interest rates. In contrast, the cost of private credit is higher in Cambodia, with many farmers facing overindebtedness with little to no support from the government. This article contributes to scholarship on financialization within South East Asia by demonstrating how the legacies and geopolitics of development, alongside the contentious politics of farmer debt, together shape the outcomes of rural credit systems.
especially for a number of Pangasiidae catfish and Cyprinid carps, which is having an adverse effect on local livelihoods. New dams upriver, and continued high dry-season water from existing dams, are likely to lead eventually to the increased degradation and possibly the eradication of the flooded forests along the mainstream Mekong River, unless measures are taken to address the problem.
formalization, and microfinance.
Basin fish biodiversity, and threats to it, we argue that even though no species are definitively known to have been extirpated from the Mekong River Basin to date, hydropower dam development and various other developments nevertheless pose a serious threat to fish biodiversity. Indeed, dams typically significantly block fish migrations and fish larvae distribution, cause river fragmentation, fundamentally alter river hydrology, and change water quality, all factors that have the potential to
intersect with each other and lead to significant species extirpation and extinction, or in some cases, functional extinction, when a small population remains but the important larger population is lost permanently. The circumstances are further exacerbated by the lag time between impact and when that impact becomes evident, cumulative impacts, a lack of consistent data collection, including the collection of base-line data, and insufficient post-project research related to biodiversity. We contend that much more could and should be done to ensure that the Mekong River basin’s exceptional fish biodiversity is not variously diminished and destroyed during the coming years.
contributions to improve fisheries and aquatic ecosystems science, ranging from algae to whales and including management, conservation, ecology, and impact assessment. The challenges are to sustain this knowledge, recognize its value, and to include ILK holders in resource management and decision-making.
political-economic structures have resulted in farmers having little
bargaining or political power and limited access to markets.
political-economic structures have resulted in farmers having little
bargaining or political power and limited access to markets.
in order to advance studies on financialization and rural development in South East Asia. In Thailand, the state remains a large provider of credit to farmers. In Cambodia, most farmers access credit from a globalized, private microfinance industry. Based on qualitative research carried out in 2021 and 2022, we argue that farmer debt has led to divergent outcomes in Thailand and Cambodia due to their opposing systems of rural credit developed over the past half-century. These systems were forged within historically specific conjunctures of international development policies, state–capital relations and domestic politics of debt. Consequently, Thailand’s farmers access credit from the state at significantly lower costs and with more support in various forms. Over-indebtedness is a problem for some farmers, but not because state-controlled financial institutions charge excessive interest rates. In contrast, the cost of private credit is higher in Cambodia, with many farmers facing overindebtedness with little to no support from the government. This article contributes to scholarship on financialization within South East Asia by demonstrating how the legacies and geopolitics of development, alongside the contentious politics of farmer debt, together shape the outcomes of rural credit systems.
especially for a number of Pangasiidae catfish and Cyprinid carps, which is having an adverse effect on local livelihoods. New dams upriver, and continued high dry-season water from existing dams, are likely to lead eventually to the increased degradation and possibly the eradication of the flooded forests along the mainstream Mekong River, unless measures are taken to address the problem.
formalization, and microfinance.
Basin fish biodiversity, and threats to it, we argue that even though no species are definitively known to have been extirpated from the Mekong River Basin to date, hydropower dam development and various other developments nevertheless pose a serious threat to fish biodiversity. Indeed, dams typically significantly block fish migrations and fish larvae distribution, cause river fragmentation, fundamentally alter river hydrology, and change water quality, all factors that have the potential to
intersect with each other and lead to significant species extirpation and extinction, or in some cases, functional extinction, when a small population remains but the important larger population is lost permanently. The circumstances are further exacerbated by the lag time between impact and when that impact becomes evident, cumulative impacts, a lack of consistent data collection, including the collection of base-line data, and insufficient post-project research related to biodiversity. We contend that much more could and should be done to ensure that the Mekong River basin’s exceptional fish biodiversity is not variously diminished and destroyed during the coming years.
contributions to improve fisheries and aquatic ecosystems science, ranging from algae to whales and including management, conservation, ecology, and impact assessment. The challenges are to sustain this knowledge, recognize its value, and to include ILK holders in resource management and decision-making.
are sold for the table; smaller individuals are often processed into a variety of forms including dried products, fish pastes and
sauces. Small, low‐value fishes are also utilized for animal feed (mainly for aquaculture) sometimes after processing. There
are a wide range of potential threats to the inland fishes and fisheries of Asia including dam development for hydropower
and irrigation, overexploitation, pollution, land use change, mining, the introduction of invasive species, and water diversion
for agriculture and other purposes. Fisheries are managed either as open access fisheries or lot fisheries which are assigned to particular groups on the basis of auctions. At present, management at local, national, basin and international levels is not meeting the needs of fish and fishery conservation and urgently needs to be reformed to better protect the fisheries in the face of mounting pressures from other users of the aquatic resource.