Alleged gov’t-linked land grabs threaten Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains
by Chris Humphrey on 1 December 2020
Mongabay Series: Forest Trackers

The Stung Proat river winds through the Cardamom Mountains. Image by Andyb3947 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
The Cardamom Mountains sit off the Gulf of Thailand in southern Cambodia and provide important habitat for a multitude of plant and animal species, many of them already threatened with extinction.
Due to Cardamoms’ remoteness, they had largely been spared the human encroachment that has razed much of the rainforest across the country – until infrastructure development in 2020 opened up the area to loggers, poachers, and others seeking to exploit the region’s forests.
Satellite data show deforestation is continuing to surge in the Cardamoms despite most of the range being formally demarcated as protected land.
Sources familiar with the issues say the HE government is encouraging land-grabbing in protected areas in a bid to build public support ahead of the 2022 election season, and that Cambodia’s systemic corruption is enabling timber and plantation companies to move in and clear forest.
Article: https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/alleg ... mountains/

Good report (mostly)
Excellent to get this story out.
Most of it describes the dynamics very well.
BUT..

There is definitely a big political motive and slant to this story, imo, which diminishes the whole report.
The political stuff, "an attempt to galvanize support for HE pre election" is pure baloney.

Source? usual suspect - Sophal Ear.
This analyst, "expert" and perennial bad-mouth commentator of Cambodian affairs has never written an objective report in his life. imo

(Sorry Professor. I know this is your job. Mine is to call it out.
Don't try to hijack this very real issue with your politics and propaganda. You have never demonstrated a flicker of genuine concern for your former homeland's environment. And your theory here is pure party political crap.
Imo only of course )

Sources say this increased clearance may be spurred by government-encouraged land grabs aimed at increasing voter confidence in the current administration of Prime Minister HE ahead of national elections in 2022.

Sophal Ear, Associate Professor of Diplomacy & World Affairs at Occidental College, Los Angeles, said that with nationwide Cambodian elections coming up in 2022, he believes the move to assign land rights is political, an attempt to galvanize support for HE’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) from disaffected, poor Cambodians who wouldn’t normally vote – including in the Cardamoms.

You offer "i believe" as evidence. Anything more you would care to share?

B(F)S - its all about money - as the rest of the story describes.
The "voter" numbers of new settlers is relatively minute.
And the Gov does not need to worry about loosing elections these days. At all.

Also, for the record
only a glaring mistake maybe - but one that further diminishes this report's cred.
No half informed anybody would claim there are Tigris panthera in this area.
nor in this whole country since pre 2008.

I am going to file this one - 'nearly binned it,
but the stuff on the increased settlement, and the finances and actors behind it, is actually quite good reporting.
- and an important story.

There was talk in the time of the last election that illegal logging was a source of the governments involvement to raise its capital, at the time too I could not believe none of the authorities saw nothing. If it's so, I can't believe it won't happen again even though there is no opposition.

Yeah. Andy ^^
Politics is always involved, with everything.
But that is situation normal stuff.

NB, to be clear, the Gov does feel pressure to find land for the disposed. True.
Giving away national park land is a cheap and convenient way out.
So yes, that does become an electoral factor countrywide. True.
But don't overstate it. As this report did. particularly in this example.

And don't try to hijack other peoples wars as proxies for your own. Bad manners.

Look, just me,
but opposition party political hacks are always trying to hijack valid social and environmental efforts.
Not a good idea. especially in Cambodia. terrible idea.
But they don't give a flying flock. We are just political fodder for their party wars.

This Trojan Horse job is blindingly obvious to me, i know the particular field.
And our Prof Ear is particularly incorrigible in his putting out his SRP/CNRP/***/USAbranch interps on everything.
.
I see this crap is starting to play out over at Botum Sakor nowadays too, big time
- boosted by *** probably.
It totally takes away from the original, genuine, cause.

just my view

I was actually just making a small reply, I have not read the article has of yet, but also agree with your part of what you are saying. Then again you say that the government have pressure replacing the people, but also not by turning them off the land that they want, or some big investors may put in the offer. Again we never know the full extent of the stories, but I believe you may have seen the damages like myself on a first hand account.

Please.

Hey Professor. i have been very critical at times but happy to start from zero again and have an open discussion.
'respectfully, Stern.

Regards the voting, if a Cambodian did not get themselves a new up to date ID card, that has a chip and pin reader inserted I understand, and also the authorities have a backlog on this (what was then a free service) but now I understand at the individuals cost, would not be recognised nor eligible to vote.