Cambodia: Stop the flooding of the Cardamom Forest!
This is what’s at stake: rainforest as far as the eye can see (Photo: Luke Duggleby)
China Guodian Corporation, a state-owned power company, plans
to build a hydroelectric dam on the Areng’s upper reaches in Cambodia.
The Cheăy Areng dam would spell catastrophe for the rainforest
dwellers by inundating their habitat. Just a few hundred of the
highly-endangered Siamese crocodiles remain worldwide – and most of them live in the Areng Valley.
The indigenous peoples would lose their homes and have to be relocated.
From an economic point of view, the project makes little sense, as its costs would exceed its benefits for the country:
- 20,000 hectares of rainforest are to be flooded; half of them in the Central Cardamoms Protected Forest.
- The lost habitat is one of the most important biologically diverse areas in Cambodia, with more than 277 animal species recorded in the valley, of which 31 are globally threatened. Among these are the Asian elephant, the clouded leopard, the Siamese crocodile, the dragon fish and the white-winged duck.
- Development of the densely wooded river valley would pave the way for illegal logging and poaching.
- Nearly 1,000 indigenous Khmer Daeum people face forced relocation from their ancestral homelands that they have sustainably managed to date.
Other energy companies have studied the project but turned it down –
in addition to the environmental damage, the costs for the dam would be
very high in view of the plant’s low capacity. Its projected output of
only 108 MW would not meet Cambodia’s rising energy needs.
China Guodian Corporation, however, now wants to sign an agreement on
the construction and operation of the dam with the Cambodian
government.
Please sign the petition which the Cambodian
environmentalists will be submitting to China Guodian Corporation. It
will also be addressed to the Cambodian government at a later date.
Start of campaign: Jun 7, 2013
5 comments:
If you stop this action from China, then next month comes company from VN. Until now the forest in Pheak Vihear, Siemreap, Stung Treang,Mondul Kiri... are Sahara. The protest is not effective. You must stop this Hun's Government.
If you stop all
CPP and CNRP ................ ?
So far, enough damages have been done. We must find out why our people are so sad? First, we have to know this perspective e.g everything is being connected and everything has its own spiritual nature of it, as well.
e.g normally, before we do thing, we have to 1)made certain agreement between public and gov't 2) letter of approval 3)make certain ceremony to allow people to use that land and giving reason to it 4) asking nature to forgive before it can be developed into whatever it is.
In America, there was this place known as the 'land of Indian tribe', and then, people decided to clear them up and build housing on them, but then, the souls of the dead did not let them live in peace, all died one by one, plus they been cursed by them spirits by allowing 'tornado' to run through it, to claim more lives.
Therefore, we have to look into the past and then, we will see the future. e,g indigenous people believed in tree spirits as well e.g if you cut them down, they will make you sick or even cause death or war or other conflict behind our existing, because you take their lives and so, they would do the same to us as well.
So, trees and rainforest are known as 'sacred' and because they are also a source of our lives, e.g they produce oxygen and we depend on oxygen to live on and so on. Everything is co-existed and so, we have to stop from ruining us and our country now, before it is too late. So, please tell them (outsiders) to get out of our country, right now!, before it is too late. Our rivers, trees, rainforest and dams are our souls and we have to protect them at all costs, thank you.
We can't stop this revolution by forces. But we still find the resolution to preserve & promote the rest of our national forest by communicating and discussing with the responsibilities from all parties.
The jungle forest of our country can only preserve and protect, when all of us, not just the poor Khmer people but also the rich foreigner companies have a better understanding, how important the jungle forest for our country and the Khmer civilization.
calm down, the dam won't flood the entire cambodia forest like this, you know. how else cambodia suppose to solve our electricity problem, can't keep on depending on importing supply from neighboring countries forever, you know. if you have better solution, why don't you help cambodia to solve electricity problem, unless you like frequent black out, then we know where you come from, really!
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