By Elizabeth Tomei and Thet Sambath
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
Samlot village, Samlot district, Battambang province - This remote outpost has not attracted many visitors, and when it has, they have tended to be unwelcome.
The forest, which continues along the Cardamom mountain range through Pailin municipality to the Thai border, was a final refuge for Khmer Rouge soldiers in the 1990s, and is still strewn with landmines.
Rampant illegal gem mining inside the forest during the same decade turned the Sangke River red with dust and pollution.
The river has been rehabilitated in recent years, but park rangers who patrol the 60,000 hectares of forest in the Samlot protected area, which spans Battambang and Pailin, say they still contend with poachers, loggers and land-grabbers.
Poverty among villagers in the area complicates the picture, said Fred Beattie, senior conservation adviser for Hollywood stars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s Maddox Jolie Pitt project, which employs 46 park rangers and 30 community development workers in the area.
Most small-scale poaching and logging, Beattie said, is carried out by poor villagers who have no other means to support themselves.
On Tuesday, Cambodian officials, US Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli and US park officials signed an agreement in Samlot to protect the 60,000-hectare forest that they hope will bring a new breed of visitor to the district—tourists.
Interior Minister Sar Kheng, Minister of Environment Mok Mareth, Tourism Minister Lay Prohas and Jonathan Jarvis, regional director of the US National Park Service, also named Samlot and Sequoia and Kings Canyon parks in California as "sister parks."
Rangers and officials in Samlot, Sequoia and Kings Canyon will share management, conservation, educational and ecotourism strategies for the next five years, officials said.
The MJPs celebrity benefactors were not present at the ceremony, but Stephan Bognar, executive director of the MJP, said that Cambodian officials have warmed to the project's conservation priorities over the past year since the MJP has expanded its community development projects.
School renovations, agricultural training, and the construction of health posts and a soy milk factory to supplement school lunches are all current MJP projects underway in six villages in Samlot district.
As part of the sister relationship, in March and April three Cambodian park rangers will have a chance to shadow US rangers at parks in the US, Bognar added.
Holly Bundock, assistant regional director for the National Park Service based in California said US park officials are hopeful that their Cambodian counterparts will be able to draw on their experiences with illegal loggers and poachers in Samlot to help US officials combat marijuana cartels.
The forest, which continues along the Cardamom mountain range through Pailin municipality to the Thai border, was a final refuge for Khmer Rouge soldiers in the 1990s, and is still strewn with landmines.
Rampant illegal gem mining inside the forest during the same decade turned the Sangke River red with dust and pollution.
The river has been rehabilitated in recent years, but park rangers who patrol the 60,000 hectares of forest in the Samlot protected area, which spans Battambang and Pailin, say they still contend with poachers, loggers and land-grabbers.
Poverty among villagers in the area complicates the picture, said Fred Beattie, senior conservation adviser for Hollywood stars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s Maddox Jolie Pitt project, which employs 46 park rangers and 30 community development workers in the area.
Most small-scale poaching and logging, Beattie said, is carried out by poor villagers who have no other means to support themselves.
On Tuesday, Cambodian officials, US Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli and US park officials signed an agreement in Samlot to protect the 60,000-hectare forest that they hope will bring a new breed of visitor to the district—tourists.
Interior Minister Sar Kheng, Minister of Environment Mok Mareth, Tourism Minister Lay Prohas and Jonathan Jarvis, regional director of the US National Park Service, also named Samlot and Sequoia and Kings Canyon parks in California as "sister parks."
Rangers and officials in Samlot, Sequoia and Kings Canyon will share management, conservation, educational and ecotourism strategies for the next five years, officials said.
The MJPs celebrity benefactors were not present at the ceremony, but Stephan Bognar, executive director of the MJP, said that Cambodian officials have warmed to the project's conservation priorities over the past year since the MJP has expanded its community development projects.
School renovations, agricultural training, and the construction of health posts and a soy milk factory to supplement school lunches are all current MJP projects underway in six villages in Samlot district.
As part of the sister relationship, in March and April three Cambodian park rangers will have a chance to shadow US rangers at parks in the US, Bognar added.
Holly Bundock, assistant regional director for the National Park Service based in California said US park officials are hopeful that their Cambodian counterparts will be able to draw on their experiences with illegal loggers and poachers in Samlot to help US officials combat marijuana cartels.
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