Cambodia is one of the countries in the world which experienced the most radical disruption of its land tenure.1 Almost its entire present adult population has been forced at one time or another to leave its lands and houses, whether because of the American bombings (1969-1973)2 which were particularly murderous in the south-eastern part of the country (the bombs’ holes are still visible from an airplane); or on a far greater scale, during the Democratic Kampuchea regime, called the “Khmer Rouge” regime (1975-1979), when the whole urban population was sent to the countryside. A large part of the rural population was also forced to leave its lands and homes in order to take part in the large-scale forced collective labour or to participate in the mobile youth teams (kong chalat). In the years following the breakdown of the Khmer Rouge regime, hundreds of thousands of Cambodians ran away from the Popular Republic of Kampuchea which was supported by the socialist regime of Viêt Nam (1979-1989). The refugees were sheltered in camps built along the Thai border. And year after year, during the dry season, governmental troops launched military offensives against the opposition guerillas (mostly Khmer Rouge soldiers), causing hundreds of additional escapes and destabilizing the northwestern provinces. In addition to these large-scale population movements, smaller, well-established migrations caused by floods or (less often) by drought, regularly occurred. These climatic accidents happen more and more often, almost annually now, and may be due to the massive deforestation in the northeastern provinces.