A brief report of the visit to Thmor Bang district in Koh Kong province from April 16 to 18, 2012

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; acitivist Theary Seng, and Emily Keo who acted as the note taker.

A view of the Areng River

Fishing on the Areng River. The river has plenty of fish.

A civet caught at night time by local villagers

Close up look of the civet

A viper came out at night time

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.