Companies granted wildlife land [-Corruption! Corruption! Corruption!]

Tuesday, 03 January 2012
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

Unnamed companies were last month granted more than 26,000 hectares of land in two wildlife sanctuaries for agro-industry projects, the latest Royal Book reveals.

According to the publication, which lists all sub-decrees issued by the government, Prime Minister Hun Sen last month signed over 25,729 hectares of land in the Kulen Prumtep Wildlife Sanctuary protection area in Preah Vihear, Siem Reap and Oddar Meanchey, and 760 hectares of land in the Boeung Per Wildlife Sanctuary in Preah Vihear and Kampong Thom.

Von Theoun, director of the Boeung Per Wildlife Sanctuary, said 14 companies were already developing about 150,000 hectares in the area.

The government had provided the latest land as economic land concession, but had not allowed the conservation area to be developed, he said.

Families get titles in sanctuary

Tuesday, 13 September 2011 15:01
Tep Nimol
The Phnom Penh Post

A 1,500-HECTARE area of land in Banteay Meanchey’s Daun Roneam Daun Sam wildlife sanctuary has been reclassified for residential housing and agricultural development.

The land in Malai district’s Tuol Pongro commune was demarcated in a sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen last Friday, following a 2009 request by provincial authorities.

Some 528 poor families had been living in the sanctuary without land titles since the 1970s but would now be given legal permission to reside there, Banteay Meanchey provincial office spokesman Ouk Keo Ratanak said. The families from four different communes in Malai district would be granted two hectares of land for farming each and incorporated into efforts to curb illegal logging.

Cambodia to create wildlife sanctuary in Takeo

September 17, 2007

The Cambodian Council of Ministers has approved a sub-decree to establish a protected area of around 8,000 hectares of wetlands in Takeo province for endangered cranes and other wildlife, local media said on Monday.

The sanctuary, which will be created around the Prek Lpov Lake in Borei Cholsar and Koh Andaet districts, aims to preserve cranes, other bird species, aquatic animals and plants that are critically endangered, said Cambodian-language newspaper the Kampuchea Thmey.

The sanctuary will be divided into a "core zone," to which access is highly restricted, and a "buffer zone," said Agriculture Secretary of State Chan Tong Yves, reported English-language newspaper the Cambodia Daily.

However, Yves said that he did not know when the approved sanctuary will be established.

The area's ecological balance and biodiversity levels, local villagers' livelihoods and the development of local rural economies are all hoped to be impacted upon beneficially through the establishment of the sanctuary, reported another Cambodian- language newspaper the Koh Santepheap.

Source: Xinhua