Cambodia approves rubber plantation—in national park

A portion of Virachey National Park as seen by Google Earth

March 13, 2011
Jeremy Hance
mongabay.com

The Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen, has approved a 9,000 hectare (22,200 acre) rubber plantation in Virachey National Park despite its status as a protected area, reports the Phnom Penh Post. The park is also listed as an ASEAN Heritage Park.

Spanning 332,500 hectares in Ratanakkiri province, Virachey National Park, is Cambodia's largest.

The concession to clearcut the forest and establish a rubber plantation was awarded to Srun Sovannaphoum Investment Co Ltd.

"It is good because that area is uninhabited, so when the company comes to invest they will also construct a road,” Ratanakkiri provincial governor Pav Hamphan told the Phnom Penh Post. Villagers in another region of Cambodia are protesting the loss of their forest, known as Prey Lang, to rubber plantations.

Angry queen ant [at Virachey Nat'l Park] photo from Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition

29/09/2008
By Paul Eccleston
The Telegraph (UK)

A Queen Ant glares menacingly into a camera lens.

With a fixed beady stare the griffon vulture contemplates its next move
She may have the comical look of a character from the animated film Shrek but she is deadly serious.

Her raised abdomen is a clear warning signal that she is about to unleash a burning spray of formic acid.

The picture, Angry Queen, taken by Polish photographer Piotr Naskrecki, has been highly commended in the prestigious 44th annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition.

Armoured ants get their name from tough exoskeletons complete with sharp spines on the abdomen which makes them a fearsome warrior of the insect world.

Piotr spotted the Queen - newly mated and ready to establish her own colony - making her way through leaf litter in Cambodia's Virachey National Park.

Reported mineral exploration in national park raises concerns

Thursday, 05 June 2008
Written by Cheang Sokha and Tracey Shelton
The Phnom Penh Post

An Australian company exploring for minerals in Virachey National Park is reported to have asked villagers to build helicopter landing pads in the forests of the ecologically rich, ASEAN heritage-listed site, highlighting fears that Cambodia's nascent mining sector will undo conservation efforts in the country's fragile environment.

Yang Ke, 48, a member of the Proeu minority, said the request was made last month as he guided representatives of Indochine Resources Ltd., on a visit to the park, which straddles the borders of northeastern Ratanakkiri and Stung Treng provinces.

"We spent two nights traveling in the jungle from my home to the exploration site," Ke told the Post in an interview at his bamboo house in Taveng district, about 50 kilometers from the Ratanakkiri provincial capital, Banlung.

He said the company officials had asked villagers to clear four different landing sites for helicopters because of the difficulty of traveling through the thickly forested park.

An Indochine Resources spokesman, who asked not to be named, said the exploration work was taking place under a permit granted by Ministry of Industry, Mine and Energy in 2007, and with the permission of the Ministry of Environment.

The spokesman said that while he could not say when mining operations might begin, partly because of the difficulty of access, the company recognized that the project would affect the environment.

"But we will try to minimize the impact and our project is strictly monitored by officials at the park."

Environmentalists, however, worry that mining in the park could seriously damage the Se San River and its tributaries.

“The river system in Virachey is one of the most pristine and unique in all of Cambodia,” said David Emmett, the deputy regional director of Conservation International, which has conducted surveys in the park for the last three years.

"The river contains species that don’t exist anywhere else on earth," he said.

"If runoff from mining was to change the water's pH level the whole ecosystem could collapse.”

Emmett said camera traps and surveys have identified populations of rare otters, turtles and frogs, endangered water lizards and pythons and fish species previously unrecorded in Cambodia.

Bananas head for jungle in Cambodia

July 25, 2007
Jamie Freed
The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)

JETSETTING Jupiter Mines directors David Evans and Jeremy Snaith certainly get around.

The pair - dubbed "bananas in pyjamas" after inappropriate antics in first class on a flight to Abu Dhabi earlier this year - have turned their attention to the Cambodian jungle.

Through a private company called Indochine Resources - in which Jupiter is a shareholder - Mr Evans and Mr Snaith have gained rights to roam among elephants, tigers and leopards as they pick up rock chip samples in the ASEAN heritage-listed Virachey National Park.

One of their fellow Indochine directors is Robert Coghill, a fellow first-class passenger on the infamous Etihad Airways flight. He provided an affadavit in support of Mr Evans and Mr Snaith.

Last month their lawyer, Ross Hill, said he was "unaware of any connection" between Mr Coghill and his clients. But last night Mr Hill could not reach Mr Evans to confirm.

The fourth and final Indochine director is Chris Eddy, an Australian based in Dubai.

Mr Evans and Mr Snaith were on their way to Dubai when they were arrested at the Abu Dhabi airport. Mr Hill said the visit was in part to attract investors to Indochine. It is believed Mr Evans and Mr Snaith have both travelled to South-East Asia since receiving suspended sentences from an Abu Dhabi judge.

The Cambodia Daily recently reported Indochine - previously named Battle Mountain Minerals - had signed a memorandum of understanding to search for minerals in Ratanakkiri province.

A geologist at Perth's Great Australian Resources, which has exploration projects in Cambodia, said a MOU would allow a company to survey an area and take rock chip samples but the concession would have to be converted to an exploration lease before drilling could take place.

The World Bank has been pushing for the Virarchey National Park to be protected from mining, having provided $US1.91 million ($2.16 million) in loans and $US2.75 million in grants to an environment ministry program since 2000.

World Bank spokeswoman Pichaya Fitts said the Cambodian government was expected to pass a law imposing a strict ban on mining in core areas of the park later this year.

Because very little minerals exploration has been conducted in Cambodia it has been deemed a highly prospective region.

Oxiana hit 33 metres at 9.9 grams per tonne of gold at an exploration project there and its annual report said "field assessment of other areas and projects of interest is ongoing".

Acting Jupiter chief executive Rob Benussi said his company previously had a direct investment in some of the Indochine leases but had converted the holding to shares in the unlisted company. In its March quarterly report, Jupiter said it had invested $120,000 in seed capital.

Meanwhile, Mr Snaith has sold another $28,000 of Jupiter shares. Jupiter is holding a meeting to vote on ousting Mr Evans and Mr Snaith as directors next month.