2004 Green Forum Articles

Poaching by the Military  (4 November)
More abuse of the protected forests  (7 May)
Government Logging: Probably Illegal?  (28 April)
Mekong Dolphins Disappearing  (5 April)
People versus the forests. The forests lose.  (16 February)

4 November 2004

Many of the worst abuses of the environment in Cambodia are linked to the military, according to reports of NGOs and other groups. Illegal logging and poaching of endangered wildlife are two areas espcially vulnerable to illegal involvement of soldiers and their commanding officers. Kirirom National Park is in southwestern Cambodia, the nearest park to the capital Phnom Penh, and recently soldiers have been implicated in illegal logging and hunting there. Even worse the reports describe the use of a landmine and a B40 rocket which were rigged as booby traps to protect illegal snares within the park. Several local people have reported beatings by soldiers in order to intimidate the villagers into not reporting the invasion of the forest lands by the troops. Officials from two NGOs with the responsibility of protecting the wildlife and environment said: "We have definite evidence that the military is poaching there," and that military-orchestrated logging and hunting "is quite well established."

7 May 2004

Two weeks ago, I mentioned what appears to be illegal logging--with full government consent and approval, from the prime minister on down--in one of the southeastern national parks in Cambodia.  Now a second company has received a government concession for an 8,000-hectare sand mine within the same national park.  The mined area would be roughly twice the size of urban Phnom Penh, according to one report.  The Ministry of the Environment oversees the protection of the national forest with funding and assistance from the NGO WildAid.  WildAid has said that it may withdraw funding for the park if the plans are allowed to proceed.

28 April 2004

In less than a month a section of protected national forest has been transformed into an industrial site, with the government's full support.  A Taiwanese company is planning to grow eucalyptus trees there.  Some notes about the operation:

• The concession from the government is for 18,000 hectares although the Basic Land Law prohibits concessions over 10,000 hectares.
• The government-owned land leased to the company is inside a protected national park.
• The company plans to grow eucalyptus trees, a non-native species which has had a devastating effect on the ecology of other Southeast Asian countries.
• There is no management plan for the national forest.
• The government claims the land is in a "buffer zone," but the initial operations are fully inside the protected forest.
• The company has not submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment as required by law.

Asked about the questions concerning the project's legality and the possibility of environmental damage, a Ministry of the Environment spokesman replied: "We know that, but the government has already made its decision."

5 April 2004

1 March 2004

Former Khmer Rouge soldiers who moved illegally into the Roniem Daum Sam Wildlife Sanctuary when the KR forces were integrated into the Cambodian military have had their status legalized by a decree of the king.  This means the official end of forestry conservation in the area, but it had already ended in fact because the soldiers and their families had cut trees, built roads, and cleared the forests for farming since their incursion into the formerly protected area.  The government's argument for destroying the wildlife sanctuary? "If we do not reform the decree, where will the people go to live? The people already deforested for their farms and their villages, so we have to oblige the people so they can live," said one official.  Of course that may not be what officials would say if the villagers were on land that some high-ranking official decides should be his.