Asian demand for cement destroys stunning cliffs in Cambodia

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that genius
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Re: Asian demand for cement destroys stunning cliffs in Cambodia

Post by that genius »

This picture defines nouveau riche.

Fucking ugly car for that much dosh, way better-looking options available.

In around 2008 I visited a villa with 2 swimming pools, 8 bedrooms...and there were chickens at the back of the kitchen, wandering in and out of the house
DrDisFunkShunAll
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Re: Asian demand for cement destroys stunning cliffs in Cambodia

Post by DrDisFunkShunAll »

That limestone quarry is place near Kampot with a dark cloud over them.

What was once a lovely tourist site is being ground to rubble.

Yes, we need more heat-storing, pretentious concrete buildings, at ANY cost.

Yeah, let's reduce another nice day trip from Kampot to rubble.

Isn't that one of those "guarded" installations, with security guards that don't want foreigners around?

I remember, guards, gates, bars, and forcibly shoving hospitality out of Cambodia.

Name and shame these destructors to the environment.

I mean, unless if they used the concrete for a dam, and created a pristine, thriving lake open to picnickers ... ok, worth it.

But if they're a bunch of earth-gouging, hill-blasting polluters and nature rapists ... maybe we need an Erin Brockovich.

The natives are helpless to these pricks.
Yes, the Doctor is IN — Doctor DisFunkShunAll!

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Duncan
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Re: Asian demand for cement destroys stunning cliffs in Cambodia

Post by Duncan »

that genius wrote: Sat Jul 07, 2018 11:18 am This picture defines nouveau riche.

Fucking ugly car for that much dosh, way better-looking options available.

In around 2008 I visited a villa with 2 swimming pools, 8 bedrooms...and there were chickens at the back of the kitchen, wandering in and out of the house
Hope they all had their clothes on, or was it while a porn movie was being made.
Cambodia,,,, Don't fall in love with her.
Like the spoilt child she is, she will not be happy till she destroys herself from within and breaks your heart.
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Re: Asian demand for cement destroys stunning cliffs in Cambodia

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Cambodian construction boom turns karst mountains to cement
Limestone mountains are being devoured to meet demand from the construction industry, with little thought to the undiscovered species that may be lost
Danielle Keeton-Olsen, Roun Ry
November 17, 2020
Image
The Thai Boon Roong cement factory at the foot of Phnom La’ang (Image: Roun Ry / China Dialogue)
Nuon Oun, a resident of Tropaeng Thmor in southern Cambodia, watched this summer as a cement company started obliterating the side of the mountain facing his village. A gash runs for hundreds of metres from the top of the southernmost face of Phnom La’ang to the base, with diggers and dump trucks biting into the mountain’s flank like flies.

“There were three explosions this morning,” said Oun from a small dry goods shop and hair salon where residents gather on a Sunday afternoon in late July.

Oun used to climb high into the mountain’s side, collecting wood and selling it in the village. He would encounter wild boar, monkeys, chickens and snakes. There were rumours of tigers too. Now, even the village cows won’t get close, scared off by explosions that have been known to shake people off their motorbikes.

“When they started to bomb it got quiet and the animals disappeared,” said Oun.

Thai Boon Roong, a company backed by Chinese investors and the legacy of an eccentric and well-connected Cambodian tycoon, has claimed the mountain as its limestone repository for more than two decades. Phnom La’ang is a karst, or limestone formation, covering more than 500 hectares in Cambodia’s Kampot province. The company’s long-held plans to build a cement factory at the base of the mountain have now been realised, and it started blowing up the side of Phnom La’ang last year.

Cambodia received a record number of investments in the last quarter of 2019, with nearly 1,500 projects approved, worth almost US$5 billion. The country’s limestone mountains, like its sandy coasts, are being devoured to meet demand from the construction industry, with little thought to what is being lost.

This is despite warnings from conservation biologists that the karst landscapes hold undiscovered species.

Neil Furey, a bat expert based in Cambodia, said karsts have been neglected by local and international researchers, so an understanding of their importance is just starting to emerge.

“Recognising these karsts support highly unique, narrowly endemic assemblages of life is something that’s been missed,” he said.
Full article: https://chinadialogue.net/en/business/c ... to-cement/
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Re: Asian demand for cement destroys stunning cliffs in Cambodia

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

Why is the preservation of this unique ecosystem so important ?
Image
For example:
New plant survey finds unique flora in karst hills of southeast Cambodia
Thu, 14 Jul 2016
In June, a team led by American botanist Andrew McDonald set out into the karst hills of southeast Cambodia to survey the rare and endemic plants that grow in this unique environment. The team has already identified at least one plant species previously unknown to science belonging to the Amorphophallus family known for their large phallic-shaped flower.

This discovery illustrates why IUCN chose to prioritize this botanical survey: the karst landscapes of Cambodia are a largely unstudied ecosystem characterized by the survival of highly specialized life forms that don't exist anywhere else on the planet.

The plants and animals on these hills have to cope with extreme conditions: very thin or no top soil, substrate that is rich in calcium and iron but with very low general fertility, very little standing or running water, and often low shade on the karst surface. In shallow depressions, conditions may be more favorable, but in deep crevices and inside caves, low light levels and extreme scarcity of food are determinants for survival and adaptation.

Given the geographic isolation of the karst hills, which are located hundreds of kilometers from the karst landscapes in Laos and Vietnam, it is only a matter of time and natural selection that drives the evolution of new species. Team member Nguyen Quoc Dat from the Southern Institute of Ecology in HCMC, who specializes in the karst flora of Southeast Asia, noted that he saw many similarities between the flora on these hills and those in neighboring Kien Giang Province in Vietnam but that there were also differences.

“After no more than a few days of collection, it is likely that we have encountered more than a handful of plant species unknown to science, and this is rare, even for a seasoned collector,” said Dr. McDonald, making clear that there is much more to be found in these mountains.

Despite their biological importance and threat level, karst rarely features in discussions about biodiversity conservation in Cambodia. Dr. McDonald sees an immediate need to protect of this small but important piece of Cambodian natural history: “Cambodia has never included a karst formation in its conservation, and that needs to change - it’s that simple".
Full article: https://www.iucn.org/news/cambodia/2016 ... t-cambodia
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