Koh Kong
Meah Ream, 58, second from left, stands with four members of her family on the platform left of their house after Union Development Group guards allegedly destroyed it in late June, in Koh Kong's Kiri Sakor district on June 28, 2021. (Danielle Keeton-Olsen/VOD)

On Huge Resort’s Land, Villagers Live Under Threat of Demolition

Families who built their stilted homes on Kiri Sakor district’s estuaries decades ago say their lives revolve around the antics of the Union Development Group, locked in a stalemate as they repeatedly rebuild the structures that the company’s guards dismantle.

Hong Sok, 48, a farmer in dispute with Heng Huy Agriculture Group over his family's farmland, stands in front of an area that he says was cleared, in Koh Kong province's Sre Ambel district on June 29, 2021. (Danielle Keeton-Olsen/VOD)

Weary From Sugar Conflicts, Koh Kong Residents Brace for More Clearing

Sre Ambel residents have long dealt with land issues related to infamous sugarcane plantations nearby. Activity on those plantations appears to be waning, but they are now bracing for more problems as an opaque state program privatizes swaths of protected areas across the province.

A dump truck travels across a construction site in Koh Kong province's Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary on June 27, 2021. (Danielle Keeton-Olsen/VOD)

Koh Kong’s Mass Land Privatization Elicits Doubt, Laughter From Villagers

As part of a massive government campaign to privatize land, ostensibly for poor families, Cambodia has cut off nearly 127,000 hectares from Koh Kong’s protected parks. In part one of reports from the province, Tuol Koki commune residents laugh off the prospects of benefiting from the campaign.