Private profit from public lands: How a Cambodian elite with military ties claimed a community forest

Private profit from public lands: How a Cambodian elite with military ties claimed a community forest

The Phnom Chum Rok Sat community forest used to support local and Indigenous groups in Cambodia's Stung Treng province, as well as a thriving local ecotourism venture, but that all changed this year when mining company Lin Vatey privately acquired roughly two-thirds of the land and began clearing the forest.

Mongabay features writer Gerry Flynn investigated how this happened with freelance reporter Nehru Pry, and speaks with co-host Mike DiGirolamo about how the 10 individuals behind the land grab, many of whom have connections to powerful Cambodian military officials and their families, managed this land grab. Local community members who have resisted currently face legal intimidation and arrests.

While community forests, such as Phnon Chum Rok Sat, are supposed to belong to the public, this kind of corporate acquisition of land is commonplace in the nation, Flynn says.

"As we see a lot in Cambodia, it's public forests being turned into private fortunes."

Like this podcast? Please share it with a friend and help spread the word about the Mongabay Newscast.

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website, or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones.

Image Credit: Lin Vatey's original mining site inside Phnom Chum Rok Sat threatens to consume the entire forest according to documents seen by Mongabay. Image by Gerald Flynn/Mongabay.

---

Timecodes

(00:00) Introduction

(02:56) A once vibrant community forest

(06:04) Cordoned off from the land

(08:48) Liv Vatey moves in

(17:03) Letter number 1456

(26:24) Arrests and intimidation

(30:06) Ecotourism efforts shut down

(34:14) The 'mental gymnastics' of a government spokesperson

(37:12) Credits

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(360)

A 'coalition of the willing' to urge the world to drop fossil fuels

A 'coalition of the willing' to urge the world to drop fossil fuels

A group of 57 nations mostly from the Global South, describing themselves as "coalition of the willing" intent on making the Transition Away From Fossil Fuels, or TAFF, convened in the Colombian city ...

2 Juni 33min

Australia claims it's 'on track' to meet its environment targets. Scientists disagree

Australia claims it's 'on track' to meet its environment targets. Scientists disagree

Australia is one of 17 "megadiverse" countries that account for 70% of Earth's biodiversity. However, Australia is unique in having the highest mammalian extinction rate in the world. That makes cons...

26 Maj 42min

The world must address pandemic threats urgently, says former CDC officer

The world must address pandemic threats urgently, says former CDC officer

"[The]cruel irony here [is] that the world cannot get its act together to address these threats … people are dying, animals are suffering, we're losing rainforest … these are all interconnected threat...

19 Maj 35min

Protest works, but it needs your help now more than ever, veteran activists say

Protest works, but it needs your help now more than ever, veteran activists say

"We are experiencing what some people call sort of a shutdown of the public square in the United States and around the world," says veteran environmental activist André Carothers. Along with the forme...

12 Maj 51min

A new Netflix documentary captures rare mountain gorilla behavior

A new Netflix documentary captures rare mountain gorilla behavior

"That might be something that you see in a decade, not in two years of filming," Tara Stoinksi, CEO of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, tells me. The behavior she's referring to occurs in mountain gorill...

5 Maj 38min

Centering an Indigenous approach to forestry through reciprocity, not extraction

Centering an Indigenous approach to forestry through reciprocity, not extraction

Forester and scientist Suzanne Simard is well known for her landmark 1997 paper, which demonstrated that two distinct species of trees could share resources. At the time, it turned traditional Western...

28 Apr 41min

Across oceans, seabird flyways gain recognition — and a chance at protection

Across oceans, seabird flyways gain recognition — and a chance at protection

The routes taken by migratory birds, known as flyways, often cross vast expanses of ocean. Six of these marine flyways have now been formally recognized by the U.N.'s Convention on Migratory Species,...

21 Apr 28min

The coyotes next door: What we get wrong about America's 'song dog'

The coyotes next door: What we get wrong about America's 'song dog'

Coyotes are now present in almost every major urban-metropolitan area in the United States, yet conflicts between the canines and humans are exceptionally low. Between 1960 and 2006, only 146 docume...

14 Apr 44min

Populärt inom Vetenskap

p3-dystopia
dumma-manniskor
allt-du-velat-veta
kapitalet-en-podd-om-ekonomi
rss-ufobortom-rimligt-tvivel
svd-nyhetsartiklar
rss-vetenskapsradion
det-morka-psyket
rss-spraket
paranormalt-med-caroline-giertz
sexet
halsorevolutionen
rss-vetenskapsradion-2
rss-odla
rss-broccolipodden-en-podcast-som-inte-handlar-om-broccoli
medicinvetarna
dumforklarat
rss-ronden
rss-italiensk-dagbok
vetenskapsradion