A challenge in the implementation of wetlands conservation targets lies in translating principles into practice in an array of different biophysical, social and regulatory settings. The interpretation of global protection objectives can become garbled if the institutional arrangements, particularly the regulatory ones, are ill suited to the task. When decision‐making processes are complex and multi‐layered, the regulatory regime can become ineffectual because it fails to take adequate account of the intricate connections between people, place and law. This dissonance compromises the effectiveness of law as a means of regulating human–environment interactions and may threaten the viability of critical wetlands. This paper draws attention to the need for more in‐depth analysis of the effects of legal layering [following Roth et al. 2015 (The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 47 456–75) and the von Benda‐Beckmann tradition] in conservation and environmental protection practice. Based on field data from the Ramsar listed wetlands of the Tonle Sap lake in central Cambodia, closer analysis of legal layering reveals regulations that appear to perpetuate existing power structures and decision‐making dynamics through a process of bricolage (Rusca et al. 2015, European Journal of Development Research 27 777–92). In this context a legal geographical perspective proves a powerful lens to expose the dynamics of environmental use/protection decision‐making.