Illegal loggers threaten Prey Lang patrol

Villagers are pictured close to the timber they discovered while on a patrol in Prey Lang forest earlier this week. Photograph: Vanessa De Smet/Phnom Penh Post

Thursday, 20 September 2012
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

The Prey Lang community patrol network faced threats from illegal loggers after reporting the loggers’ names to authorities, along with the discovery of more than 120 cubic metres of illegally felled timber and seven chainsaws, a patrol representative said yesterday.

Chheang Vuthy, a community representative from Kampong Thom, said that at the end of the network’s forest patrol, he was forced to flee for his own safety after receiving several phone threats.

“They asked me many times to write a letter saying that my report is wrong, but I cannot do it,” he said. “I dare not stay at my home. I am afraid they will do something to me.”

Murder Case Surrounding Death of Environmentalist Ready for Court

Chut Wutty was a prominent environmental activist whose work to stop illegal logging and deforestation earned him powerful enemies in the lucrative, illicit industry.

Chut Wutty was shot in the western province of Koh Kong, near an environmentally sensitive forest area he had spent much of his career trying to protect.

19.09.2012

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer

PHNOM PENH - Koh Kong provincial court will open a hearing early next month into the shooting death of environmentalist Chut Wutty and a military policeman in April.

One suspect, Rann Borath, the chief security guard for a logging company, has been charged with the accidental murder of Chut Wutty’s alleged killer, in a improbable scenario.

The court, which will open the hearing Oct. 4, says Rann Borath accidentally shot to death a military policeman, In Rattana, who was responsible for shooting Chut Wutty at a checkpoint in a remote forest of the province.

Villagers reveal illegal logging

Illegal logs (File Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

Tuesday, 18 September 2012
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

Villagers have found more than 100 cubic metres of timber and three chainsaws in Prey Lang forest during a six-day patrol for illegal logging, community officials said yesterday.

Scouring the forest on motorcycles and on foot, more than 300 villagers from four provinces found 100 cubic metres of timber and two chainsaws in Kampong Thom province and 20 cubic metres of timber and one chainsaw in Kratie province, said Sim Sean, Kampong Thom’s Prey Lang Community Network representative.

“We will leave the forest tomorrow and submit the evidence of forestry crimes to the government to seek its collaboration in prevention,” Sean said.

Prey Lang patrol left with illegal logging proofs

អ្នកភូមិ​ការពារ​ព្រៃឡង់​ចាក​ចេញ​ពី​ព្រៃឡង់​ជាមួយ​ភស្តុតាង

អ្នកភូមិ​ការពារ​ព្រៃឡង់​ចាក​ចេញ​ពី​ព្រៃឡង់​ជាមួយ​ភស្តុតាង

ថ្ងៃ ចន្ទ 17 កញ្ញា 2012 
ដោយ លាង ដឺលុច
Radio France Internationale

ប្រជាសហគមន៍​ព្រៃឡង់​បាន​ចាក​ចេញ​ពី​ព្រៃឡង់​ជា​បន្តបន្ទាប់​នៅ​ថ្ងៃ​ចន្ទ​នេះ តាម​គម្រោង​របស់​​ពួក​គេ។ ពួក​គេ​បាន​អះអាង​ថា ពួក​គេ​រក​ឃើញ​ករណី​កាប់​ឈើ​ខុសច្បាប់​ជាច្រើន​ករណី ហើយ​ក៏​បាន​រឹបអូស​យក​ម៉ាស៊ីន​កាត់ឈើ​មួយ​ចំនួន​ដើម្បី​ប្រគល់​អោយ​រដ្ឋបាល​ព្រៃឈើ​ផង​ដែរ។ ពួក​គេ​នឹង​ធ្វើ​របាយការណ៍​អំពី​ករណី​ទាំង​នេះ​ជូន​អាជ្ញាធរ​ទៀត។

អ្នក​ភូមិ​ព្រៃឡង់​នៅ​ក្នុង​ខេត្ត​ទាំង​៤​បាន​បញ្ចប់​បេសកកម្ម​របស់​ពួកគេ​ក្នុង​ការ​ទប់ស្កាត់​ការ​កាប់​ព្រៃឈើ និង​អនុព្រៃឈើ​ហើយ​នៅ​ថ្ងៃ​ចន្ទ​នេះ។ អ្នកភូមិ​ប៉ែក​ខាង​ខេត្ត​កំពង់ធំ ព្រះវិហារ ក្រចេះ និង​ស្ទឹងត្រែង​បាន​ចាកចេញ​ពី​ក្នុង​ព្រៃឡង់​ជា​បន្ត​បន្ទាប់ ក្រោយ​ពី​ពួកគេ​បាន​រុក​ចូលព្រៃ​តាម​ម៉ូតូកាល​ពី​ថ្ងៃ​ទី​១៣ កញ្ញា​សប្តាហ៍​មុន។ ក្រុម​អ្នក​ភូមិ​បាន​ជួប​ករណី​បំផ្លាញ​ព្រៃឈើ​មួយ​ចំនួន ហើយ​ក៏​បាន​រឹប​អូស​យក​ឧបករណ៍​មួយ​ចំនួន​ទៀត​ដែរ​។ លោកស្រី​ភោគ ហុង តំណាង​អ្នកភូមិ​សហគមន៍​ព្រៃឡង់​ក្នុង​ខេត្តព្រះវិហារ​បាន​ប្រាប់​វិទ្យុ​បារាំង​អន្តរជាតិ​​តាម​ទូរស័ព្ទ​នៅ​រសៀល​ថ្ងៃ​ចន្ទ​នេះ​ថា អ្នកភូមិ​របស់​គាត់​ចំនួន​៦៤នាក់​បាន​ប្រទះ​ឃើញ​ឈើ​ធ្នុង​ចំនួន​១៥ម៉ែត្រគីប​របស់​ឈ្មួញ ហើយ​​ពួក​គាត់​បាន​ដុត​កំទេចចោល​នៅ​នឹង​កន្លែង ដោយសារ​ពិបាក​ដឹក​ជញ្ជូន​ចេញ​ពី​ក្នុង​ព្រៃ។ ហើយ​ពួក​គាត់​​ក៏​បាន​រឹបអូស​បាន​ម៉ាស៊ីន​កាត់​ឈើ​បាន​មួយ​គ្រឿង​ផង​ដែរ។ លោកស្រី​ភោគ ហុង​បន្ត​ថា អ្នកភូមិ​បាន​ផ្តិត​យក​រូបភាព​នៃ​ការ​កាប់​ឈើ​ផង​ដែរ។

Patrol group to stop illegal logging

Monday, 17 September 2012
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

About 350 members of the Prey Lang Community Network are back in the forest patrolling on motorbikes in another attempt to eliminate illegal logging.

The villagers, from four provinces, began a six-day patrol on Thursday, their fifth expedition in recent times.

Chhim Savuth, forum co-ordinator at the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said the significance of the campaign was to collect evidence of forestry crime.

“Nowadays, illegal activity is widespread in Prey Lang,” he said.“Meanwhile, private companies avoid being caught, despite a series of protests made by the Prey Lang Community Network.” Thai Bunleang, a represent-ative from Kratie province, said the group had already found illegally felled timber.

Elephants scratch their heads on a tiny problem in the Banana Kindgom

Elephants: I don't understand, with such a short trunk, how could he uproot trees in Prey Lang?

ប្រជា​សហគមន៍​ព្រៃឡង់​ចូល​ព្រៃ​ជា​ថ្មី​តាម​ដាន​ការ​កាប់​ឈើ​ខុស​ច្បាប់​

ប្រជា​សហគមន៍​ព្រៃឡង់​ចូល​ព្រៃ​ជា​ថ្មី​តាមដាន​ការ​កាប់​ឈើ​ខុស​ច្បាប់​ (RFI/Leang Delux)

​ថ្ងៃ សុក្រ 14 កញ្ញា 2012
ដោយ លាង ដឺលុច
Radio France Internationale

ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ​​សហគមន៍​​ព្រៃ​ឡង់​មក​​ពី​​ខេត្ត​​ព្រះវិហារ​ កំពង់ធំ ​ស្ទឹងត្រែង​ និង​​ខេត្ត​ក្រចេះ ​បាន​ជួប​ជុំ​គ្នា​ជា​ថ្មី​ទៀត​ដើម្បី​នាំ​គ្នា​ចូលក្នុង​តំបន់​ព្រៃឡង់​ដើម្បី​ប្រឆាំង​ការ​កាប់​ឈើ​ខុស​ច្បាប់ និង​ការ​បំផ្លាញ​បរិស្ថាន។ យុទ្ធនាការ​នេះ​មាន​រយៈ​ពេល​៤​ថ្ងៃ​ដោយ​ចាប់​ផ្តើម​ពី​ថ្ងៃ​សុក្រ​ទី​១៤​កញ្ញា​នេះ​ទៅដល់​ថ្ងៃ​ទី​១៧​កញ្ញា។ ព្រៃឡង់​​ត្រូវ​​បាន​​ប្រជា​សហគមន៍​​ដែល​​រស់​នៅ​​ក្នុង​​តំបន់​​នោះ​​ប្រកាស​​ថា​-​កំពុង​​ស្ថិត​​នៅ​​ក្នុង​​សភាព​​នៃ​​ការ​​បំផ្លាញ​​​ពី​​សំណាក់​​ក្រុមហ៊ុន​​ឯកជន​។ ជា​​ព្រៃ​ឈើ​​ធំ​ជាង​គេ​​បង្អស់​​ដែល​​នៅ​​សេស​សល់​​ក្នុង​​ប្រទេស​​កម្ពុជា​និង​​ក្នុង​​ឧបទ្វីប​​ឥណ្ឌូចិន​។​

ប្រជា​ពលរដ្ឋ​សហគមន៍​ព្រៃឡង់ បាន​ជួប​ប្រជុំគ្នា​ចេញ​ដំណើរ​តាម​ម៉ូតូ​ចូល​ទៅក្នុង​ព្រៃឡង់​សារ​ជា​ថ្មី​នៅ​ព្រឹក​ថ្ងៃ​សុក្រ​ទី​១៤​កញ្ញា​នេះ ដើម្បី​ស្វែង​រក​ការ​កាប់​ព្រៃ​ឈើ​ខុស​ច្បាប់​ពិសេស​ ការ​កាប់​ដើម​ចំបក់​ដែល​ជា​អនុផល​ព្រៃឈើ​ដ៏​មាន​សក្តា​នុពល​សម្រាប់​ការ​ចិញ្ចឹម​ជីវិត​របស់​អ្នកភូមិ។

ព្រៃឡង់​គឺ​ជា​គម្រប​ព្រៃ​ដ៏​ធំ​និង​ក្រាស់​ជាង​គេ​នៅ​ក្នុង​ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា និង​នៅ​ក្នុង​តំបន់​ឥណ្ឌូចិន​នេះ ហើយ​មាន​ព្រំដែន​ជាប់​នឹង​ខេត្ត​ចំនួន​៤​ដូច​ជា ព្រះវិហារ កំពង់ធំ ក្រចេះ និង​ស្ទឹង​ត្រែង។ ប្រជា​ពលរដ្ឋ​ជា​ច្រើន​ម៉ឺន​គ្រួសារ​ដែល​រស់នៅ​រំពឹង​អនុផល​ព្រៃឈើ​នៃ​ព្រៃ​ឡង់​នេះ​បាន​ក្រោក​តវ៉ា និង​ប្រឆាំង​ការ​ឈូស​ឆាយ​ព្រៃ​ពី​សំណាក់​ក្រុមហ៊ុន​ឯកជន​ជា​ច្រើន​ឆ្នាំ​មក​ហើយ។

Prey Lang

05 September 2012
By Mu Sochua

Prey Lang is life and a significant part of our indigenous people's beliefs. Protecting Prey Lang is protecting the rights of the people and communities to take back these natural resources that have been part of their lives for generation.

The current government has put an end to Cambodia's wealth in Kratie, Stung Treng and Kompong Thom provinces. Nothing will repair it but protecting what is left is more than crucial. Chut Wutty's death has not put an end to the people's activism but the scale of deforestation in the area is still of great concern and spreading to other areas. Only by changing the government can protection of Prey Lang begin.

Watch this, share this and be part of the change to rescue Cambodia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZvCylembLk

A Hero remembered

28 August 2012
By Mu Sochua

Another murder of a national hero swept under the carpet of impunity.

The people of Prey Lang continue the watch and have denounced those who continue to rape Prey Lang. Why doesn't our PM make a five-hour speech about saving Prey Lang?

Death of a Forester

Chut Wutty sought to save one of Indochina’s last great ecological sanctuaries. It cost him his life.

Forest activists reveal names

A stack of logs, alleged to have been illegally harvested, in Prey Lang forest earlier this month. Photograph: supplied

Thursday, 23 August 2012
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

Villagers who claim their patrols last week uncovered criminal activity in Prey Lang forest presented the government yesterday with a list of 15 people they say are illegally logging in the area.

Reoun Sopheap, a representative of about 100 villagers from Kampong Thom province’s Sandan district, said the villagers also presented the government with photos and the names of companies and government departments linked to the deforestation.

“We hope Premier Hun Sen will [act] after receiving our evidence. Otherwise, the Prey Lang forest will be devastated completely,” he said, adding that the evidence had been widely distributed to the government and local authorities.

The villagers spent four days last week scouring the forest, which spreads over four provinces, for signs of illegal activity.

Forest patrol has evidence of illegal logging

Friday, 17 August 2012
May Tittharahe
The Phnom Penh Post

Villagers who have spent recent days patrolling Prey Lang forest would file a complaint to the prime minister alleging government officials and private companies are clearing parts of the forest, a spokesman said yesterday.

“Forestry crime has doubled since the death of forestry activist Chut Wutty, and the illegal loggers behind it are all expert officials,” Chheang Vuthy, a representative of residents in Kampong Thom province’s Sandan district, said.

The 70-strong citizen patrol team who scoured the forest this week had evidence proving these officials included soldiers, police and environmental workers – and it was time for Prime Minister Hun Sen and his government to take action against them, Vuthy said.

Watchgroup discovers illegal logging

Prey Lang forest activists set up camp on a patrol conducted last November. Photograph: supplied

Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Mom Kunthear
The Phnom Penh Post

An expedition to expose illegal logging uncovered about 50 hectares of clear-felled forest yesterday that activists from the Prey Lang Community Network have filmed and photographed to lobby government officials, a group representative said.

Chum Yin said more than 60 villagers had travelled to seven villages in three communes of Kampong Thom province’s Sandan district, unimpeded by authorities and police as they documented the alleged forest crimes.

“We stopped at the place about 10 kilometres from the beginning of the jungle because we saw new trees had been cut, but we did not see the wood over there,” he said, adding they did not know which company was to blame, but still collected evidence to send to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

Economic land concessions in Prey Lang rejected [-Will Hun Xen revert this decision tomorrow, as he usually does?]

Deforestation is a growing problem in Cambodia. Photograph: May Titthara/Phnom Penh Post

Monday, 06 August 2012
David Boyle and May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

In a rare victory for those battling to preserve Prey Lang forest, the government has cancelled four economic land concessions in the area totalling more than 40,000 hectares that threatened pristine ecosystems.

Another 3,200 hectare ELC in Koh Kong province has also been cancelled, while two more in Kratie province and one in Mondulkiri province totalling 30,000 hectares have been restricted, according to an unofficial translation of a letter from the Council of Ministers to relevant ministries obtained by the Post.

The letter dated July 2 declares that four ELCs totalling 40,618 hectares have been cancelled in Kampong Thom’s Sandan district because they are located in the middle of evergreen and semi-evergreen forest inside “the largest low-land [contiguous evergreen] forest in Southeast Asia” – Prey Lang.

Kampong Thom Official Arrested for Bulldozing in Flooded Forest

(All Photos: CEN)

 

Authorities say the suspect, Cheat Sivutha, worked with villagers in Sam Proch commune, Stoung district, to bulldoze a portion of the forest.

26 July 2012

Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer

PHNOM PENH - Local authorities have detained the head of Kampong Thom province’s meteorology department and five villagers on charges they destroyed part of a protected flooded forest in the province.

Authorities say the suspect, Cheat Sivutha, worked with villagers in Sam Proch commune, Stoung district, to bulldoze a portion of the forest. Among the arrested was Ngeang Poul, chief of the commune. They were taken into custody by military police on Tuesday.

An estimated 10,000 hectares of flooded forest, which surrounds the Tonle Sap lake in the heart of the country, have been destroyed, despite a government ban. Authorities began a crackdown last month.

Cambodia’s deadly land grab battle

Cambodia is a microcosm of a violent struggle playing out across the globe for control of a shrinking – and therefore increasingly valuable – pool of natural resources. Corinne Purtill reports.

July 24, 2012

Corinne Purtill

China Dialogue

“I [am] really worried about my security but . . . it’s our life, our rice paddy, our forests, our land.”

On 26 April, Cambodian military police shot the environmental campaigner Chut Wutty as he sat at the wheel of his blood-red Land Cruiser. Chut, 46, had just led two journalists through an illegal logging operation in Koh Kong province. As the journalists fled into the bush for safety, they heard two more gunshots behind them.

They emerged to find Chut slumped lifeless in the driver’s seat and military police officer In Rattana lying dead in front of the vehicle. Police initially claimed that the dead officer killed Chut during a heated confrontation, then turned his rifle around and shot himself – twice – in remorse. After a three-day investigation in May, a government panel decreed that a second officer accidentally shot In while trying to disarm him. The case is officially closed.

The murder of Chut Wutty is just one in a string of violent encounters in Cambodia this year between armed authorities and civilians working to protect access to the rapidly diminishing supply of arable land and forest not sealed off by economic concession.

Villagers fight for forest despite warning

Friday, 20 July 2012
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

“I didn’t do anything contrary to the law, I just protect the forest.”

Villagers from Svay Rieng province’s Krasaing commune have vowed to continue their protests to preserve a patch of community forest earmarked for clearing, despite receiving an official warning yesterday.

In a July 13 letter penned by Hen Sakun, governor of the Romeas Hek district, four villager representatives from the commune were ordered to stop any disruptive behaviour “affecting social security and order”.

In 2011, Mittapheap Rubber Tree Company was awarded a 1,230-hectare economic land concession to grow rubber trees in the forest claimed by the Krasaing commune villagers.

Cambodia carve-up under the spotlight [-The wholesale of an entire country by Hun Xen]

(Photo: CCHR)

Hun Xen (L) and Hun Manith (R)

Jul 10, 2012
By Sebastian Strangio
Asia Times Online

According to the local human-rights group Licadho, which monitors land disputes and rights abuses, foreign mining and agriculture firms now control a total of 3.9 million hectares in Cambodia, or 22% of the country's surface area. Industrial agri-business deals, known as economic land concessions (ELCs), now account for 53% of Cambodia's total arable land. Last year alone, the government approved 2 million hectares in concessions for 227 plantation firms.

PHNOM PENH -There were scenes of jubilation in Cambodia's capital last month when a group of 13 imprisoned women - including a 72-year-old grandmother - was set free by an appeal court. The women were arrested in May during peaceful demonstrations against the forced eviction of thousands of families living around Boeung Kak Lake, an area in central Phnom Penh earmarked for a glitzy housing and commercial development.

The company behind the controversial development is known as Shukaku Inc, an obscure firm known to be a front for the interests of Lao Meng Khin, a leading tycoon and senator for the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP). Two Chinese companies are also reported to be investing in the project, which has seen the lake - once ringed by a bustling community of more than 4,000 families - reduced to a massive sand bank in the center of the city. Most families have already left the site in exchange for resettlement or small cash hand-outs, but a robust protest movement continues to resist eviction.

After their arrest on May 22, the 13 Boeung Kak women were charged with illegally occupying private land, and in a swift trial held just two days later - an unprecedented turnaround for Cambodia's poorly resourced court system - were each sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail. One land rights activist told Agence France-Presse at the time that the proceedings were "a show trial - a complete charade".

Bab Kor Thveu, Chheu Kor Kab - By Sam Vichea

Rights Group: Indigenous Peoples Exploited in Rush for Resources

Boonrian Chinnarat holds a net he once used to catch giant catfish at his house in Chiang Kong district of Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand, Feb. 7, 2011. He blames the disappearance of the fish partly on China's upstream dams. (Photo: by Ron Corben, VOA)

Friday, 29 June 2012
Ron Corben, VOA | Bangkok

“In Cambodia’s Prey Lang Forest region, home to the Kuy indigenous people, official land grants of tens of thousands of hectares of forest for mineral extraction, timber and rubber plantations have forced many people to give up traditional livelihoods."

BANGKOK -- Human rights organization Minority Rights Group International says unprecedented demand for natural resources globally, but especially across Asia, is leading to ethnic conflict and displacement of indigenous communities.

In its annual report released Thursday, the group says the demand for resources covers such areas as logging and dams, oil, gas or mineral extraction, coastal tourism, commercial fisheries, conservation parks and large scale agriculture.

Carl Soderbergh, a spokesperson for Minority Rights Group International, says the global economic downturn, pressures to boost revenue sources, the emerging bio-fuel market, and resource exploitation has created a "perfect storm" in which minorities and indigenous peoples bear the brunt of demands.

Flouting moratorium, [Hun Xen's] Cambodia approves four land concessions in protected areas

June 27, 2012
Jeremy Hance
mongabay.com

A month-and-a-half after Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen, declared a moratorium on on new economic land concessions, the government has announced four new concessions, each located in protected areas. Economic land concessions have come under the microscope in Cambodia after large-scale protests by local people and the recent murder of forest activist Chut Wutty. Critics say the concessions, which last year totaled two million hectares (4.9 million acres) sold off to foreign corporations, have resulted in local land conflict and environmental degradation.

According to the Phnom Penh Post, the Cambodian government has granted 35,000 hectares (86,400 acres) of economic land concessions to four companies: 8,200 hectares (20,200 acres) in Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary; 9,688 hectares (23,939 acres) in Kirirom National Park; 9,068 hectares (22,407 acres) in Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary; and 9,000 hectares (22,200 acres) in Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary.

However, Hun Sen has denied breaking the government's moratorium by signing the economic land concessions, reports Voice of America. Instead the Prime Minister said that the concessions were agreed on before the moratorium was declared on May 7th.