December 23, 2020
People gather on the shore of the Tonle Sap river in Kandal province’s Ponhea Leu district for prahok season on December 23, 2020. (Michael Dickison/VOD)

Bustling, Ephemeral Prahok Economies Sprout on Banks of Tonle Sap

For less than two weeks, hundreds of people will cram into markets now sprouting on the banks of the Tonle Sap, chopping and raking fish heads, heaving and weighing large baskets of small fish, and haggling over prices every step of the way.

The Laos-Cambodia transmission line’s planned path through the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary. Orange dots mark deforestation in 2019 and 2020 detected by the University of Maryland's Global Land Analysis and Discovery. (Danielle Keeton-Olsen/VOD)

Power Line to Cut Through Prey Lang, Troubling Conservation Partners

Cambodia’s state electricity provider is pushing ahead with the construction of a transmission line through the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary, a plan that has caused concerns for representatives of three multimillion-dollar conservation projects as well as officials in the environment and forestry ministries.