willyhilly wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 5:28 pm Crikey doesn’t HS know who these high ranking people are? Obviously too little too late. They will never spend enough to revegetate the land.
And what of the families who bought land and lost their money?

That's a good point. I can't imagine it would be easy to scoop out all the backfill and regrow the mangrove type things. So they probably won't.

As a general principal, you don't need to regenerate this kind of forest (or coastal mangroves).
You just let nature do its work, stand back, and be amazed.

Sometimes, some plantings and weeding are necessary - if there is in none/little of the original vegetation in surrounding areas to recolonise - but both these kinds of flooded forests probably just need to left undisturbed and they will naturally regenerate themselves.

The big value of replanting exercises is mostly for community support-building and environmental education, rather than from any real need to physically intervene. Especially here.
More arid ares are different.

Officials told to testify over Tonle Sap wetland clearing
Long Kimmarita | Publication date 14 February 2022 | 21:17 ICT

The Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court has summoned the Preah Netr Preah district governor and Prasat commune chief to testify next month in cases concerning the clearing of three forest areas near the Tonle Sap Lake.

According to two separate letters from prosecutor Keut Vannareth dated February 9, Prasat commune chief Meas Heuk has been summoned to appear on March 3, and Preah Netr Preah district governor Khou Pov on March 21.

The letters stated that the summons were issued for purposes of “enquiring about the people involed in the clearing and encroachment of flooded areas in Zone 3 of the Tonle Sap Lake in Prasat and Phnom Leap communes of Preah Netr Preah district.”

When contacted on February 13, Pov declined to comment, saying he was “busy”, while Huek could not be reached.

Provincial prosecutor’s office spokesperson Samrith Sokhon told The Post on February 13 that the summons was just to seek further information from the two officials about those involved in the encroachment into Zone 3. He stressed that both of them have not been found to be involved in the criminal activity so far.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ ... d-clearing

Not so fast, says HE:

PM Advises Authorities to be Flexible over Tonle Sap Issue
AKP Phnom Penh, May 27, 2022 --

Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo HE has advised competent authorities to be flexible over the Tonle Sap Lake issue.

In his special statement on the Tonle Sap Lake broadcasted live on the National Television of Cambodia (TVK) this morning, the Premier ordered relevant ministries and institutions and authorities of provinces surrounding the Tonle Sap to examine each geographical area and to cut, if needed, some areas from Zone 2 to 1 or from Zone 3 to 2, allowing local people to continue to live and do their cultivations permanently because some people have lived there before the zoning of Tonle Sap.

Tonle Sap area has been divided into three zones – Zone 1 for residential area, Zone 2 is between Zones 1 and 3, and Zone 3 is protected area.

The measure concerned those who have lived in the said areas for long time, around 10 years at least, he underlined, calling on people to stop land encroachment.

Samdech Techo HE also urged for area modification, sub-decree amendment and border post relocation of the three zones. He thus commissioned H.E. Chea Sophara, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction to work on this matter with concerned ministries and institutions, particularly the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology and the Tonle Sap Authority, and local authorities.

Moreover, he asked the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to cooperate with the provinces bordering Tonle Sap in the lake rehabilitation to ensure fish abundance.

The above recommendations must be carried out as soon as possible without delay, stressed Samdech Techo Prime Minister.

The provinces surrounding the Tonle Sap Lake include Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Thom, Siem Reap, Battambang, Pursat, and Banteay Meanchey.
By C. Nika

PM HE Strongly Opposes the Invasion of Land in Tonle Sap Lake under the Pretext of People’s Livelihoods
27 May 2022

Phnom Penh (FN), May 27 – Cambodian prime minister HE strongly opposed land encroachment surrounding Tonle Sap Lake by powerful people under the guise of citizens.

"We strongly oppose the use of the power to encroach the flooded lands [Tonle Sap Lake area] under the guise of people for their own benefits."

However, prime minister announced his support to allocate lands for people with land titles in the case that they have settled their residences at those areas for over 10 years.
=FRESH NEWS

Farmers feel the pressure after conservation crackdown around Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake
by Danielle Keeton-Olsen, Ly Vouch Long on 20 July 2022

Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake is surrounded by a conservation area that consists of three zones: Zone 1 and 2, where farming is allowed, and Zone 3, which is closest to the lake and where agriculture and fishing are officially banned.
The conservation area was enacted in 2011, but farmers and fishers largely had unfettered use of Zone 3 land until 2021, when Prime Minister HE ordered a crackdown on all clearing and agricultural use of flooded forest land.
The ban opens an opportunity for the government to restore Tonle Sap’s unique forests, and satellite data already show a drop in deforestation activity in 2022.
However, farmers living around the lake say they’re hard-pressed to survive without the agriculture they’ve depended on for years.

PREK TABAEK, Cambodia — Bat Savoeun claims he has Prime Minister HE’s signoff to farm his 2 hectares of land in Prek Tabaek village, on the edge of the swelling Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia’s Pursat province.

Sitting at the drink shop next to a disassembled bridge crossing one of the lake’s skinny tributaries in April, Savoeun said he can’t produce a permit, but he claims Pursat province residents had petitioned in Phnom Penh in 2010 to farm the flatlands surrounding Tonle Sap and that Prime Minister HE had agreed. Regardless of that petition’s claims, the 32-year-old farmer and resident said the area had been rice fields for most of his life.

“It was similar to this,” he said, looking out into the field now covered in a spiny weed that grabs the pantlegs of passing motorbike drivers who get too close. “It already looked like a rice farm, we’ve been doing farming for a long time.”

But Savoeun said he and his family haven’t touched the land since late last year, after the same premier banned all farming in his village.

Cambodia’s great lake is surrounded by a conservation area that consists of three zones: Zone 1 and 2, where farming is allowed, and Zone 3, which is closest to the lake and where agriculture and fishing are officially banned. However, farmers and fishers largely had unfettered use of Zone 3 land until last year, when HE suddenly ordered a crackdown on all clearing and agricultural use of flooded forest land. The ban opens an opportunity for the government to restore Tonle Sap’s unique forests, but farmers living around the lake say they’re hard-pressed to survive without the agriculture they practiced for years.
https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/farme ... -sap-lake/

CEOCambodiaNews wrote: ↑Wed Dec 08, 2021 1:40 am December 7, 2021
The former governor of Kampong Chhnang province and current Rural Development Ministry undersecretary of state Chhour Chandoeun is currently facing an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Unit for his alleged crimes.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50983743/g ... d-forests/

^^
UPDATE on this
Former Kampong Chhnang provincial governor returned 22 parcels of land to the state: ACU
Orm Bunthoeurn | Publication date 23 July 2022 | 14:43 ICT

Officials from the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) have announced that former Kampong Chhnang provincial governor Chhuor Chandoeun has returned 22 parcels of land to the state as a result of the the ACU’s investigation against him, which came after Prime Minister HE instructed the government to take strict action against those involved with flooded forest encroachment around Tonle Sap Lake.

Head of the ACU Om Yentieng revealed this in meetings with the current Kampong Chhnang provincial governor, Sun Sovannarith, and other provincial officials on July 20-21.

The meetings were held at the provincial administration offices to discuss the corruption complaints against Chandoeun.

The ACU did not say how large the total area of the 22 parcels of land are together in total.

Last December, HE ordered the ACU to probe the involvement of any government officials implicated in these crimes and he named Chhour Chandoeun as a probable guilty party in the illegal usurpation of more than 2,000ha of land belonging to the state, though Chandoeun has vigorously denied the allegations.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ ... -state-acu

UPDATE: 4 Years Prison for a former Deputy Police Commissioner of Kampong Chhnang Province

Cambodia News (Phnom Penh): On the morning of 4 August 2022, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court announced the verdict against a former Deputy Police Commissioner of Kampong Chhnang Province, Brigadier General Sum Socheat, and sentenced him to 4 years imprisonment, levied a fine of KHR 50,000,000 and confiscated his property.
The court decided that former Deputy Police Commissioner owed the State national property worth nearly USD 600,000 in connection with the illegal occupation of more than 200 hectares of flooded forest in the restricted area of the Tonle Sap Lake area in the Kampong Chhnang province between 2011 to 2021.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge Ly Sokha stated that that former Deputy Police Commissioner alias Ngoy was prosecuted on charges of vandalism and illegal clearing of forest cover on flooded forest land, non-declaration of assets and liabilities, and money laundering.
The crimes were committed in the three areas around the Tonle Sap Lake region including the area of Kang Kep and Thlok villages located in Chronok commune, Kampong Leng district, Kampong Chhnang province. He was punished in accordance with the provisions of Article 608 of the Penal Code, Article 88 of the Law on Fisheries, Article 32, Article 38 of the Law on Anti-Corruption and Article 3 (new), Article 28 (new) 1 of the Law on the Amendment of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing.

The defendant was arrested on 16 December 2021 by the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) and is currently being held in Prey Sar Prison, Phnom Penh.

June 6, 2023
PM orders officials to beef up crack down on rising land grabbing in Tonle Sap
Prime Minister HE today instructed the Cambodian armed forces and provincial authorities to crack down on illegal land grabbing at the Tonle Sap Lake.

During the inauguration of the new building of the Royal Academy for Justice of Cambodia at Prek Leap District, Prime Minister HE said this morning that the people are back to grabbing the Tonle Sap Lake when the government is busy with the upcoming General Election.

Mr HE added that General Sao Sokha, the deputy commander of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), and provincial officials have to collaborate with each other to crack down on it and arrest the people who commit this offense, no matter who they are.

“Don’t think that officials will forgive you due to the up-coming election,” said Mr HE. “But don’t shoot at them; we just arrest those who are involved with this illegal.”
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501303181/ ... tonle-sap/