There's more than casinos on Koh Kong

Monday September 22, 2008
ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT
Bangkok Post

"Mr Thaksin has shown interest in leasing Koh Kong Khrao, an 80 sq km island off Koh Kong, to develop an entertainment complex..."

Thai tourists are being reminded that the Cambodian border province of Koh Kong offers much more than just the casinos for which it is famous.

Mayuda Mang, deputy chief of the Tourism Department of Koh Kong, said at the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) workshop on biodiversity conservation and tourism development in Bangkok that the 11,000 sq km province has a wide variety of tourist attractions.

"Koh Kong is home to the country's largest mangrove areas and we still have several small pristine islands eligible for ecotourism development," said Ms Mayuda.

She said that no matter how volatile relations between the two countries have been in recent months, Koh Kong and the opposite province of Trat have remained on good neighbourly terms.

Trat has sent experts to help Koh Kong villagers preserve mangrove forests, said Ms Mayuda, adding: "We appreciate that cooperation and would like to see deepened collaboration on nature conservation in our country."

However, she conceded that Road No 48, which was jointly opened by then-deputy prime minister Somchai Wongsawat and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, with a bridge linking the Thai border to Koh Kong and on to Phnom Penh, would inevitably attract all kinds of investors, traders and gamblers to Cambodia.

The Thai government gave financial support to build the road.

It takes about one hour to drive from Trat to Koh Kong and another three hours to go on to the capital Phnom Penh.

The owners of the casino projects are Thais and Cambodians and gamblers come not only from Thailand, but also from China and Taiwan, as well as a few locals.

Asked how much progress Thailand's former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra had made in his reported investment in Koh Kong, Ms Mayuda said he had taken 10 interested parties to meet Hun Sen last April, but none of them, including Mr Thaksin, had yet confirmed they had initiated any projects.

"The picture will become clearer after Hun Sen's new government is up and running. Until that time, probably only two or three investors might seriously want to pursue business in Koh Kong," Ms Mayuda said.

Mr Thaksin has shown interest in leasing Koh Kong Khrao, an 80 sq km island off Koh Kong, to develop an entertainment complex, but she did not know how negotiations were progressing.

She also said that a South Korean company had been given a 99-year lease to develop hotel, entertainment and eco-tourism businesses on Koh Yo, another small island off Koh Kong.

And a Kuwaiti investor has pledged US$15 million (511 million baht) to help transform Cambodia into an agro-business hub.

Koh Kong's efforts to lure different kinds of tourists is part of Cambodia's wider strategy to develop the industry nationwide so that the impoverished country will not continue to rely on its top drawing card, Angkor Wat.

Anne-Maria Makela, senior tourism adviser for the Netherlands Development Organisation, said at the workshop that too much focus has been placed on Angkor Wat and Siem Reap, and the country should bring more communities into the tourism picture.

Managing Cambodia's mangroves

05-06-2008
Story and photos by Dave Kattenburg
Radio Netherlands (Holland)

Beyond the bustling town of Koh Kong, off the coast of southern Cambodia, lie 45,000 hectares of mangrove forest. They're among the most pristine in Southeast Asia and, like others around the world, they're under threat.

Mangroves form a transition zone between land and sea. Like all transitional ecosystems, they are diverse. Mangrove foliage provides rich bird habitat. Fish, crabs and molluscs hide and breed in their dense, aerial root system, which is adapted to salty water.

As if these ecosystem services weren't enough, mangroves stabilise soil, moderate the force of wind and waves, recycle nutrients and sequester carbon.

Khmer Rouge
Ironically, Cambodian mangroves prospered under the Khmer Rouge, which preferred to herd its citizens into the middle of the country. With their downfall, and the emergence of a market economy in the 1990s, powerful entrepreneurs - with military or government links - began clearing the mangroves for shrimp farms and charcoal. Local middlemen joined in, along with inland Cambodians and foreign fishermen attracted to the region's rich mangroves.

Alarmed by resource decline - and encouraged by international NGOs - the Cambodian government began cracking down. Conservation and poverty reduction could both be promoted, the government reasoned, by empowering local communities. Commune elections were held for the first time in 2002, followed by a community fisheries law. For the first time, mangrove communities began managing their own resources.

Management committees
With help from the UN Development Program and Canada's International Development Research Center, Cambodia' Environment Ministry launched its Participatory Management of Coastal Resources Project in 1997. Community workshops were held on mangrove ecology and management.

In 2001, the first village management committees were formed within the boundaries of Peam Krasaop Wildlife Sanctuary, deep in Koh Kong's mangroves. Villages outside the sanctuary, around Chrouy Pros Bay, have been invited to participate, in order to reduce fishing conflicts.

Success
Community management has been a success. Villagers have protected local sea grass beds, which are linked to the mangrove ecosystem and add fish spawning habitat. In the mangroves themselves, community patrols do their best to control illegal cutting and fishing practices. Mangroves have been successfully regenerated.

On the down side, government support for enforcement is limited and inconsistent and, outside the confines of community areas, illegal practices continue, such as the use of "light" boats armed with powerful lamps that attract fish. Some fear that commercial dredging of the Koh Kong River - led by powerful Cambodian interests - will damage the mangroves.

As elsewhere in the world, mangrove villagers and their international supporters realize that tourism may be the greatest force for mangrove protection. At least one villager in the area is planning an ecotourism initiative.