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| MP Son Chhay's team from left to right: SRP activist Mardi Seng; Hay, a local villager who helped arrange the trip to Areng River; Keo Phirum, a SRP provincial councilor; MP Son Chhay; CIVICUS Cambodia / acitivist Theary Seng, and Emily Keo who acted as the note taker. |
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| A view of the Areng River |
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| Fishing on the Areng River. The river has plenty of fish. |
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| A civet caught at night time by local villagers |
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| Close up look of the civet |
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| A viper came out at night time |
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| Bo the owner of a logging truck seen on the right. Bo is allegedly involved in illegal logging in the area |
20 April 2012
By MP Son Chhay
After receiving complaints from local
communities in a number of communes in Thmor Bang district concerning
illegal logging activities in the area and the plan for the construction
of a hydro-electric dam on the Chhay Areng River, I took the action of
sending two complaint letters to the government: (1) first on October
10, 2011 regarding the illegal logging activities in the areas near
Tatai Leu, and within the districts of Reusei Chrum , Thmor Daun,
Chupnuap, Chamnar in Thmor Bang district, Koh Kong province, and (2) the
second letter was sent on February 27, 2012 to ask the government to
stop the hydro-electric Dam project which was given to the company by
the name of “Guodian Corporation”, a Chinese state-owned energy company,
which is licensed to build the dam. So far the government has not
responded to any of the letters.
From April 16 to 18, a team of five people visited the area of Thmor Bang district to investigate the situation of illegal logging activities and also to assess the environmental impact on the area should the hydro-electric dam project go ahead.
During these three days, the
team went right up to Chamnar village, located upstream of Chhay Areng
River, to meet with people from different villages and to check the
condition of the forest and wildlife which will be affected by the
planned construction of the dam.
1- Reaction from the local people
The majority of the people
affected are indigenous people known as the “Chaung” people who number
around 1500 members and who still speak some of their own dialect mixed
with the Khmer language. They live in harmony with nature by farming and
fishing from the river.
When asked what they thought
about the hydro-electric dam project, all of them – including the CPP
village chief whom we spoke to – strongly displayed their anger and
disapproval, but they are not willing to protest in public for fear of
facing abuse from the authority. Local villagers along the Areng River
told us that they have been forced out of their land once when the
Vietnamese army occupied Cambodia in 1979. They were forced to resettle
in Chiphat, Botum Sako district, but about 17 years ago, they have
decided to return back to their ancestors’ villages.
We were told by the Chrork
Russei village chief that her village will be relocated to Veal Vong 72
in Areng, however the villagers do not know how much land or
compensation they will receive.
2- Forest and wildlife
Some forests have been logged
mostly by Malaysian companies in the 90s and more recently during the
construction of the Tatai Leu hydro-electric dam. Illegal logging still
exists with small syndicates of loggers cutting down forest around
communes for luxury timber. The timber is then sold to middlemen who are
involved with local military and forestry officials. During the trip we
found pallets of rose wood and luxury timers stored behind military
checkpoints. If preserved, the forests should recover quite well,
however, many companies are looking to obtain forest land concessions
for rubber plantations.
It is amazing that rare animals
and fish can still be found, they are elephants, Siamese crocodiles,
leopards, tigers, great hornbills, as well as hundreds of other animal
and fish species such as the dragon fish, etc... This is one of Asia’s
richest areas in terms of biodiversity.
3- Eco-tourism potential
The area could potentially
attract up to one million tourists per year and this could generate
hundreds of millions of dollars to help the state economy, as well as
creating thousands of jobs for the local people.
4- Impact of the dam construction
An independent report has been produced by an NGO and the results will be available soon.
5- World heritage listing of the Area
This issue will be discussed with UNESCO once the full report is completed.
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