Who is Ouch Leng ? He is a noted Cambodian environmental activist dedicated to saving what is left of the forests in Cambodia.

newsworthy/cambodian-forest-activist-re ... 16150.html

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote: ↑Wed Dec 11, 2019 7:42 pm It's ridiculous. Of all places, "planting trees" in areas where trees are already present... I agree it's shitty if you've been granted a concession to what you thought was a legitimate are, but if concerns are raised over the concession, it makes sense to renegotiate something with the government and local communities.

I’m sure they knew what they were getting into. It only takes a 5 minute look at google maps to see where the forests are.

daeum_tnaot wrote: ↑Tue Mar 17, 2020 12:12 pm

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote: ↑Wed Dec 11, 2019 7:42 pm It's ridiculous. Of all places, "planting trees" in areas where trees are already present... I agree it's shitty if you've been granted a concession to what you thought was a legitimate are, but if concerns are raised over the concession, it makes sense to renegotiate something with the government and local communities.

I’m sure they knew what they were getting into. It only takes a 5 minute look at google maps to see where the forests are.

I think the issues include
a/ Concessions are often given inside protected areas corruptly - the company is culpable, not innocent victim of changed rules.
b/ Concessionaires often expand beyond their allotted area.
c/ A BIG one. The concessionaires often/usually use their legit operations as a cover to log, or buy from local operators, timber illegally harvested from surrounding protected areas.

This "may" be the situation here, (i am trying to be fair-minded. Not sure why tho'.
The local Prey Lang community does not risk everything every day on ghosts)

SternAAlbifrons wrote: ↑Tue Mar 17, 2020 1:32 pm

daeum_tnaot wrote: ↑Tue Mar 17, 2020 12:12 pm

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote: ↑Wed Dec 11, 2019 7:42 pm It's ridiculous. Of all places, "planting trees" in areas where trees are already present... I agree it's shitty if you've been granted a concession to what you thought was a legitimate are, but if concerns are raised over the concession, it makes sense to renegotiate something with the government and local communities.

I’m sure they knew what they were getting into. It only takes a 5 minute look at google maps to see where the forests are.

I think the issues include
a/ Concessions are often given inside protected areas corruptly - the company is culpable, not innocent victim of changed rules.
b/ Concessionaires often expand beyond their allotted area.
c/ A BIG one. The concessionaires often/usually use their legit operations as a cover to log, or buy from local operators, timber illegally harvested from surrounding protected areas.

This "may" be the situation here, (i am trying to be fair-minded. Not sure why tho'.
The local Prey Lang community does not risk everything every day on ghosts)

Yes I agree with a, b, c, good analysis.

I’m surprised the Korean Embassy is defending this company.

Court releases forest activists accused of trespassing
Soth Koemsoeun | Publication date 17 March 2020 | 00:23 ICT
The Kratie provincial court on Monday released four forest activists after protesters outside the court demanded their release.

Activist Ouch Leng and three members of the Prey Lang forest community – Khem Sokhy, Srey Thei and Mein Math – were arrested on Friday after Think Biotech (Cambodia) Co Ltd accused them of entering its premises without permission.

Heng Sros, also a forest activist, welcomed the decision.

“This is the right decision, but I also regret that they were detained for three days without any evidence in the first place.

“This shows that what the police want is to break the spirit of forest activists so that people don’t dare to fight for the forest,” he said.

Sros spoke to The Post as he held a sign that read: “Loggers are allowed to walk free but those that protect the forest are arrested.” The sign showed images of the four activists released on Monday.

“The investigative judge and the Kratie provincial prosecutor decided to free the activists but the court has placed them under supervision,” Sros noted.

Neither Kratie provincial court spokesman Tiv Vuth Then nor provincial court deputy prosecutor Chea Sopheak could be reached for comment on Monday.

Leng, a well-known activist and recipient of the Goldman Prize, is also the president of the Cambodian Human Rights Task Force.

Sros said the four activists were arrested during a forest patrol. They went to a store located on the company’s property to buy water when company security guards arrested them, using violence against at least one of them.

Rights group Adhoc spokesman Soeng Sen Karuna said on Monday that the court is now investigating the guard who used violence against the activist.
Neither Think Biotech director Lu Chu Chang nor company representative Lach Phanno could be reached for comment on Monday.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ ... respassing

Korean Company Think Biotech Ltd Should Answer for Illegal Detention and Assault on Forest Protectors
The conditions of the detention and assault of the four environmental activists by private security guards working for Think Biotech company are described in the following pdf. Date: March 14th 2020.

Joint Statement onthe Detention of Mr. Ouch Leng, Head of Cambodian Human Rights Task Force,and Three Other Environmental Activists

The undersigned environmental activists, associations and non-government organizations working on human rights and environmental issues strongly condemn the company Think Biotech Co., Ltd for using private security guards in the detention without reason of four environmental activists, including,Mr. Ouch Leng, head of the non-government organization Cambodian Human Rights Task Force. Mr Ouch was awarded the 2016 Goldman Environmental Prize.
The other three activists are Mr. Khem Soky, Mr. Srey Thei, both from the Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) and Mr. Men Mat, who was physically assaulted by company workers while inside the company compound.

The four were held inside the company compound before being sent to the police inspectorate at Sambor district, Kratie province.Around 9 am, March 13, 2020, all four were detained by Think Biotech security guardsand brought into the company at a site called ‘Dombouk Sor’, in Romoul village, Sambor district, Kratie province. They were questioned and were not allowed to leave or to have any contact with anyone. It wasn’t until 4:00 pm that we were informed how the fourof them had already been handed over to the police inspectorate at Sambo District.

The day before, all four of them above travelled by motorbike to monitor and investigate illegal logging in Prey Lang forest, Kratie province. That same evening, they decided to spend the night in the Dombouk Sor community, Romoul village, next to a gate belonging to Think Biotech. The next morning, on March 13, around 9am, a group of company-linked security guards approached them and brought the four of them into the company. In addition, environmental activist Man Mat is reported to have been physically assaulted by two company workers.

The detention of the four environmental activists through the use of Think Biotech security guards represents an abuse of power, that the detention of the four activists goes contrary to Cambodia’s code of criminal procedure, and that the company must be held responsible forthe use of violence against Mr. Man Mat.
More here: https://www.business-humanrights.org/si ... ts-ENG.pdf

From Human Rights Watch news site
March 20, 2020 9:00PM EDT
Cambodia: Environmental Activists Harassed
Cease Using Abusive Investigations, Laws to Silence Critics

(Bangkok, March 21, 2020) – Cambodian authorities should end the politically motivated investigations of four environmental activists looking into illegal logging in Kratie province, Human Rights Watch said today, the International Day of Forests. The authorities should investigate a Taiwanese-Cambodian company whose employees allegedly detained the activists, including the prominent environmentalist Ouch Leng, and assaulted one of them.

On March 13, 2020, security guards allegedly from the company Think Biotech took into custody Leng, director of the Cambodian Human Rights Task Force (CHRTF), his associate Man Mat, and Khem Soky and Srey Thei of the Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN), while they were investigating alleged illegal logging. The security guards held the activists incommunicado overnight. The police questioned the four and released them on March 16, saying they would continue to investigate the activists for criminal offenses.

“The Cambodian authorities should end their abusive investigation of four environmental activists who for years have confronted illegal logging activities at great personal risk,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should stop using politicized courts and repressive laws to silence activists and to protect corrupt officials and businesses.”

At about 9 a.m. on March 13, at least a half dozen security guards who said they worked for Think Biotech detained the four activists near the company’s sawmill compound within the company’s concession, which borders the protected area of the Prey Lang forest south of Stung Treng province. The guards questioned them and did not allow them to leave or contact anyone. They then transported the four to another compound owned by the company that is locally known as Dombouk Sor in Sambor district, Kratie province, holding the activists there overnight.

Witnesses alleged that the security guards physically assaulted Man Mat at the company compound, causing a bleeding head injury.

Human Rights Watch sent a letter to Think Biotech on March 18, seeking their response to the incident and any steps they may have taken to address the situation. The company has not responded.

On March 14 at about 3 p.m., the police arrived at the compound and took the four activists to the Sambor district police station, holding them overnight. On March 15, the Kratie provincial prosecutor questioned Ouch Leng, and the next day questioned the other three activists.

The provincial prosecutor ordered the four men released on March 16 without charges but indicated he would continue investigations into unspecified crimes they allegedly committed
On March 14 at about 3 p.m., the police arrived at the compound and took the four activists to the Sambor district police station, holding them overnight. On March 15, the Kratie provincial prosecutor questioned Ouch Leng, and the next day questioned the other three activists.

The provincial prosecutor ordered the four men released on March 16 without charges but indicated he would continue investigations into unspecified crimes they allegedly committed.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/20/cam ... s-harassed

Authorities Threaten to Arrest Activists Monitoring Illegal Logging in Cambodia’s Prey Lang Forest
2020-04-23

Environmental activists patrolling Prey Lang forest in Cambodia’s central plains said Thursday that authorities interfered with their work and even tried to arrest them after they documented a local company conducting extensive illegal logging in the protected area.

A group known as Lovers of the Environment, which is mostly comprised of youth activists, launched a campaign on Wednesday to drive their motorbikes through Prey Lang’s wildlife sanctuary areas of O’Anamai, O’Romany, O’Krak, O’Sgnuot, and Red Mountain over the course of five days to monitor for illegal logging activities.

Heng Sros, one of the group’s campaigners, told RFA’s Khmer Service on Thursday that over the course of just two days he saw “hundreds of people” in the forest illegally cutting down old-growth trees and transporting them to sawmills run by Think-Biotech Co., Ltd. on the outskirts of Prey Lang, where they were processed and sold for around U.S. $225 per cubic meter.

Meanwhile, felled logs lay unprocessed and awaiting transport throughout the areas the group monitored, he said.

But while Lovers of the Environment worked to document the illegal logging, according to Heng Sros, local authorities followed the group throughout the forest closely watching its activities and seemingly working in conjunction with forestry officials to try to arrest its members.

“The authorities not only didn’t stop the illegal loggers, but they tried to stop our activities and attempted to arrest us, even though we are defenders of the environment who have been working hard and sacrificing our lives to prevent Cambodia’s forests from disappearing,” he said.

“They should be ashamed. The authorities must guarantee that no one can cut down the supposedly ‘protected forest’ areas of Prey Lang.”

In two days, he said his group located “more than 2,000 felled old-growth logs” in five different locations that it documented with photos and video—most of which are resin-producing trees that local residents rely on for their livelihood.

“We were looking specifically for giant trees aged hundreds of years old,” he said, adding that hired workers “used 100–200 trucks to transport the logs.”

“I interviewed the workers and they told me that they transport the logs to sell to Think-Biotech Co., Ltd. They said if they didn’t sell the logs to Think-Biotech, the authorities and forestry officials would seize them and they would have to pay a fine.”

Heng Sros suggested that authorities are “receiving bribes” from Think-Biotech to shadow his group and threaten them with arrest.
Full article: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambod ... 72540.html

are dredgers still taking sand from the river to sell to singapore companies?

i saw 3 early this morning running

Breaking news:
Award-Winning Environmentalist, Four Others Arrested in Kratie
1 min read

Tran Techseng
| Fri Feb 5, 2021 8:39 pm
UPDATED — Prominent environmentalist Ouch Leng and four other forestry activists were arrested by Kratie provincial environment officers Friday afternoon, local officials said.

Leng and fellow activists Heng Sros, Men Math, Heng Run and Choup Cheang were taken to the Kratie city district police station, said Soeng Senkaruna, spokesperson for human rights group Adhoc.

The director of the Kratie provincial environment department, Duong Savuth, confirmed the arrests Friday evening but declined to give details.

“Authorities are questioning them. I can only tell you this. I don’t have more to say,” Savuth said.

Provincial police chief Lon Sophat said he had also been notified about the arrests, but they were carried out by environment department officers, not police, and he did not have further information.

Leng, president of the Cambodia Human Rights Task Force, was also detained by a timber company’s guards in March last year before being questioned by the provincial court and released.

Leng, a 2016 Goldman Environmental Prize recipient, said at the time that he and three others had been patrolling protected forest in the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary when they were held by guards from Think Biotech.

The Environment Ministry had shut down community patrols of Prey Lang just a month prior, despite satellite analyses showing ongoing illegal deforestation in the 430,000-hectare sanctuary.
https://vodenglish.news/award-winning-e ... in-kratie/
Additional reporting by Matt Surrusco
Updated at 9:23 p.m. with comments from Soeng Senkaruna.

On the same topic, see also: newsworthy/cry-alarm-prey-lang-wildlife ... 38150.html