Cambodian wildlife endangered by land concessions

Land is being sold off for agricultural purposes

Environmental activist Chut Wutty was shot dead in April, 2012

22.08.2012
By Chheng Niem
Editor Sarah Berning
Deutsche Welle

In Cambodia, land concessions and poaching are threatening wildlife and biodiversity, according to experts. The biggest problem thereby is government policy.

Experts say wildlife and biodiversity throughout the world are rapidly decreasing. Many countries are experiencing problems caused by illegal hunting and also a loss of habitat.

However, Cambodia has a unique story. While the government is cracking down on wildlife crimes, it has also been selling off protected wildlife sanctuaries to private agro-industrial firms.

Land concessions

Cambodia has two main areas for the protection of tigers and biodiversity - the Cardamom Mountain range and the Eastern Plains. However, the tranquility of these areas is now threatened. Recently, the government opened 23 national parks and wildlife sanctuaries in 13 conservation areas to bidding by investment firms, according to a report by Licadho, a Cambodian human rights group.

Safari park plan draws fire

02/01/2008
Radio Australia
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

The Cambodian government is considering a Spanish company's plan to create a hunting park in the country. The Madrid-based safari company wants to use 100,000 hectares of jungle in northeast Cambodia for hunting wildlife.

HOLLAND: For 38,000 US dollars big spenders can join Nsok Safaris in Africa for two weeks and hunt elephants, buffaloes and a range of other species. The company has been operating hunts in Cameroon for 30 years, now they're hoping to do the same in Cambodia.

Mark Gately is based in Cambodia and works for the Wildlife Conservation Society. He says safari parks can be environmentally sustainable if they're operated under the right conditions.

GATELY: The key thing is you need to have very detailed information on variables such as the population size, the population structure, growth rates and so on, so that you can monitor the impact of the hunting on the wildlife that's involved.

HOLLAND: Tourism is now a major earner for Cambodia, and high price hunts for foreign tourists will mean more cash for the country. Mr Gately believes the extra money could help to protect the country's wildlife.

GATELY: It is possible for example for these operations to provide a significant amount of funding for conservation activities in the area. So for example I mean these companies are often, it's obviously in their interests to protect the wildlife in the area that they're operating in so that there's actually something there for their clients to shoot.

HOLLAND: Deputy Director of the Wildlife Protection Office of Cambodia's Agriculture Ministry; Dany Chheang, says 30 types of animals including deer, wild boar, reptiles and birds could be shot for sport if the plan goes ahead. But he says tigers would be protected. In Africa, where hunting safaris continue to attract wealthy adventurers, environmentalists remain opposed to killling animals for entertainment.

CHHEANG: The negative press we've received in recent years has been quite disgusting.

HOLLAND: Nick deSouza is the World Society for the Protection of Animals regional director for Africa.

DESOUZA: There are pictures of young cubs being maimed by the actual hunters by their dogs, by the negative impact of them having had their mother killed. There are pictures of them having their cubs, particularly in one case where a litter of cheetah cubs were exported on a private jet to Saudi Arabia and all ended up dying.

HOLLAND: Mr deSouza says there are no positive benefits that can justify safari hunting.

DESOUZA: It's inherently cruel in that there is no way to humanely kill an animal from a distance. Error will always creep in and the animal is very likely to suffer extensive injuries that will not kill it off immediately.

HOLLAND: It's hoped that if the park opens in Cambodia's Rattanakiri province money brought in by the hunters will benefit poor people in the area. But deSouza says his experience tells him wealthy companies offering safaris rarely fulfill such noble promises. And while Mr Chheang from Cambodia's Agriculture Ministry says setting up hunting safaris in Cambodia fits with the government's plans to diversify options for eco-tourism in the country, the government must also consider the negative consequences.

Presenter - Steve Holland; Speaker - Mark Gately, Wildlife Conservation Society in Cambodia; Dany Chheang, Deputy director of the Wildlife Protection Office of Cambodia's Agriculture Ministry; Nick deSouza, World Society for the Protection of Animals regional director for Africa

For the love of money, the so-called Phnom Penh "Buddhist" State promote the killings of wild trophy animals

Trophy photo from the NSOK Safaris website

Cambodia plans hunting safaris for VIP tourists

Tue 11 Dec 2007
By Ek Madra

PHNOM PENH, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Cambodia is considering laying on hunting safaris for well-heeled foreign tourists in its remote jungle-clad northeast, to the consternation of green groups who say it could be a recipe for disaster.

Officials said on Tuesday a Spanish firm called Nsok Safaris had already drawn up plans for a five-star jungle camp to house hunters after trophies on a list of 30 mammals, birds and reptiles in a 100,000-hectare (250,000-acre) forest reserve.

The area, in Mondulkiri and Rattanakiri provinces, is home to several indigenous hill-tribes whose first main contact with the outside world was during the Vietnam War when their territory was crossed by the myriad paths of the Ho Chi Minh trail.

Dany Chheang, deputy director of the Agriculture Ministry's Wildlife Protection Office, said allowing foreigners to pay to shoot game was far better for conservation than having poachers take it illegally.

"Illegal hunters are burning dollars every day," he told Reuters. "We have not explored all the potential of our natural resources. Now is the time to do so."

"The money we net will be invested in preserving the animals and forest. It is better for sustainable development than letting local hunters deal with cheap black markets."

He did not say what the 30 approved species were. The forest area is thought to be one of southeast Asia's last wildernesses and is home to wild elephants and tigers.

Environvmental group WWF, which has been promoting wildlife conservation in war-scarred Cambodia since 1998, said it was concerned about the plan, which has been in the pipeline for two years but which has remained shrouded in secrecy.

WWF's Cambodia programme manager, Bas van Helvoort, said little was known about animal population numbers in the two provinces, and so allowing them to be hunted could be disastrous.

"Putting species up to be hunted is not going to contribute to making them safe," van Helvoort said. "This has been done in Africa but it is very carefully selected and very controlled."

So far, Phnom Penh -- which is routinely accused of allowing rampant illegal logging -- appears oblivious to the concerns.

"These are our natural resources. We do not need permission from wildlife conservation experts to run our business," Dany Chheang said.

The Finance Ministry was still working with agriculture officials on the finer points of the plan, such as trophies and fees, he added.

Madrid-based Nsok Safari's Web site advertises hunting expeditions in Cameroon and Tanzania.

(Editing by Ed Cropley and Roger Crabb)

How about some wildlife killings to go with that visit to Angkor Wat ... " to help protect the animals and the forest"?

12-11-07
Spanish Company Mulls Game Park In Cambodia: Official

PENH (AFP)--Cambodia is considering allowing a Spanish company to set up a game park with five-star facilities for well-heeled hunters in a remote northern province, officials said Tuesday.

Madrid-based NSOK Safaris has proposed opening the game reserve on more than 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) in Ratanakkiri province, according to senior wildlife official Chheang Dany.

"This is high-class eco-tourism...The plan is to accommodate VIP guests," said Chheang Dany, deputy director of the Forestry Administration's wildlife protection office.

The proposal, which is being studied by the agriculture ministry, would help diversify Cambodia's tourism offerings beyond the famed Angkor Wat temple complex.

"After visiting Angkor Wat, tourists can go to the beach and then to see the forest and go hunting," he said.

Experts are considering allowing 30 species to be hunted including, wild cattle and pigs, as well as deer and guars, he added.

Many of the animals are already being lost to poachers, and Chheang Dany said the game reserve would be a way of regulating hunters.

"This is a good way to protect the animals and the forest," he added.

Enrique Maestre, speaking on behalf of NSOK Safaris, told the English-language Cambodia Daily that the company wouldn't allow hunting of endangered species.

"Please do not forget that our project is a community development one and is ecologically sustainable," he said in the paper.

The government is trying to persuade tourists to stay longer and see sights other than the World Heritage-listed Angkor temples, tapping into a number of other areas such as eco-tourism.

Tourism is one of the few sources of foreign exchange for impoverished Cambodia.