By Kuch Naren
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
In a bid to stop land grabbing and protect indigenous land rights, the Ministry of land Management unveiled plans on Wednesday to register and protect land belonging to Cambodia's ethnic minority communities, officials said on Friday.
The plan was unveiled at a meeting in Ratanakkiri province's Banlung town between the ministry and more than 100 ethnic minority representatives from five provinces: Kratie, Mondolkiri, Preah Vihear, Ratanakkiri and Stung Treng.
Ministry of Land Management Secretary of State Chea Sophara told the meeting that in order to protect minority lands they must be legally registered with the government as either private state land or public state land.
According to a copy of the draft policy paper distributed at the meeting, private state land includes land for home construction and farmland. Public state land includes spirit forests and forest cemeteries, which will be managed by minority communities and cannot be sold.
Each minority village will be allowed to set aside two hectares for spirit forests and five hectares for forest cemeteries, according to the draft. Tim Sinath, director of Ratanakkiri's provincial land management department, said that the amount of land for farmland and house construction will depend on the number of villagers living in a particular area. He added that a registration pilot project will start next week in two villages in two districts in Ratanakkiri province.
Pen Bonnar, provincial coordinator for local rights group Adhoc, who took part in the meeting, said that reaction to the plan was split between those satisfied with the proposal and those who felt the amount of land for spirit forests was tar too small.
Giving more land to ethnic minorities to protect as spirit forests and cemeteries would better benefit the government, Pen Bonnar said. "The government would earn a lot of benefit because the ethnic minorities would actively protect the forest," he added.
The Land Law gives special rights of collective ownership to indigenous communities and states that their lands cannot be sold to those outside the community.
The plan was unveiled at a meeting in Ratanakkiri province's Banlung town between the ministry and more than 100 ethnic minority representatives from five provinces: Kratie, Mondolkiri, Preah Vihear, Ratanakkiri and Stung Treng.
Ministry of Land Management Secretary of State Chea Sophara told the meeting that in order to protect minority lands they must be legally registered with the government as either private state land or public state land.
According to a copy of the draft policy paper distributed at the meeting, private state land includes land for home construction and farmland. Public state land includes spirit forests and forest cemeteries, which will be managed by minority communities and cannot be sold.
Each minority village will be allowed to set aside two hectares for spirit forests and five hectares for forest cemeteries, according to the draft. Tim Sinath, director of Ratanakkiri's provincial land management department, said that the amount of land for farmland and house construction will depend on the number of villagers living in a particular area. He added that a registration pilot project will start next week in two villages in two districts in Ratanakkiri province.
Pen Bonnar, provincial coordinator for local rights group Adhoc, who took part in the meeting, said that reaction to the plan was split between those satisfied with the proposal and those who felt the amount of land for spirit forests was tar too small.
Giving more land to ethnic minorities to protect as spirit forests and cemeteries would better benefit the government, Pen Bonnar said. "The government would earn a lot of benefit because the ethnic minorities would actively protect the forest," he added.
The Land Law gives special rights of collective ownership to indigenous communities and states that their lands cannot be sold to those outside the community.
1 comment:
The problem should be corrected from the top down not top up..AND sure now that all the good land have been taken by the rich CPP... why not creat a system to register land that can't be farmed. That's like declaring the Sahara desert a country.
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