Greed for Land Consumes Lakes, Forests: Environment 2022
An insatiable craving for land uprooted several communities in 2022, not to mention the ecosystems destroyed in its path.
Danielle Keeton-Olsen Dec 27, 9:46 am
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An insatiable craving for land uprooted several communities in 2022, not to mention the ecosystems destroyed in its path.
The government will take nearly 1 million hectares out of protected areas across the country to create “community zones” with land titles, but the exact locations of these areas — and who will get titled land — are still unclear.
A wildlife protection group says it is concerned by potential plans to clear hundreds of hectares of forest in a wildlife sanctuary for development.
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.
An under-construction resort in Banteay Meanchey province allegedly began clearing an adjacent protected wetland and its flooded forests — designated as shelter for breeding fish — leading to the arrests of 11 workers, local police said.
Illegally felled timber is still flowing through provinces despite travel bans and increased scrutiny of traffic due to the Covid-19 outbreak, activists alleged, raising suspicions of officials’ involvement in the trade.
The first of 10 Mondulkiri public officials implicated in illegal land grabbing in the province has been transferred from his position — a warning to others, according to a government spokesperson, but for local rights monitors a sign of continuing impunity over imprisonable crimes.
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