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Global Campaign to Save the Prey Lang Forest

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Meet Pok Hong, Indigenous Kuy Activist

Pok Hong is an indigenous Kuy activist who has been instrumental in the campaign to save the Prey Lang Forest. EarthAction recently sponsored her visit to the United States as a delegate to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York. She is currently continuing her tour of the U.S. and meeting with officials in Washington D.C. If you would like invite Hong to speak at your meeting, event, or for a media publication, please email contact[at]earthaction.org. Read the interview below to get to know Hong and why she's fighting to save the Prey Lang.

Thank you to the Prey Lang Network for sharing this interview with us.

Image Left: Pok Hong, Indigenous Kuy Activist

 

Why is PL important to you?

Prey Lang forest is life itself. It is central to the lives of indigenous people. If we lose the forest, we lose the lives of all of us who are part of the forest. Prey Lang is full of bio-diversity. When we lose the forest, we lose life itself. We can never get back what is destroyed when the forest is lost.

Why is PL important to the Cambodia?

The loss of Prey Lang would contribute to climate change, floods, droughts and food shortages. Many Cambodians depend on Prey Lang to survive. We look for food in the forest, where no chemicals or pesticides have been used. The forest provides us with medicine which we could otherwise not afford and resins and other non-timber forest products which we sell for profit. Without the forest, many of us have no livelihoods.  Like many forests Prey Lang is a rainmaker. All around the country we have noticed that when we lose forests, we lose critical rain particularly in the dry season. Then when rainy season comes, deforested areas tend to flood and have been badly affected by storms. Prey Lang is important in local climate regulation and for our water and food security.

Why is Prey Lang important to the world?

Prey Lang offers immense treasures to the people of the world.. . miraculous plants, wildlife, and the knowledge of indigenous forest communities. The forest enriches us and protects us. It’s a place we can all learn from. This is why we call Prey Lang “our forest.”  By sustaining Prey Lang we can support a different kind of development. One that is more respectful and inclusive of nature, indigenous people, and the poor. Instead of using up the forest, we use the forest to build our future. Prey Lang is a place of spiritual importance and ancient heritage. The forest is full of sacred, hidden temples that cannot be seen with the eyes. I want people to come and learn about this.

Pok Hong (second from the left) with EarthAction Executive Director Lois Barber (center)
at the UNPFII in New York last week.

Success!! Prime Minister Hun Sen institutes land concession moratorium in Cambodia

Cambodia suspends new land concessions to companies

Protest at Phnom Penh, picture by the Prey Lang Network

By Prak Chan Thul

PHNOM PENH | Mon May 7, 2012 7:08am EDT

May 7 (Reuters) - Cambodia's government, facing growing protests by villagers and warnings about disappearing wilderness, suspended the granting of land to domestic and foreign companies on Monday in a move to curb forced evictions and illegal logging.

Rights groups in the impoverished but resource-rich Southeast Asian country said the temporary measure did not go far enough and a permanent ban was needed.

The government said in the order, signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen, it would confiscate any concessions that involved the grabbing of villagers' land and illegal logging.

Environmental activists say national parks and wildlife sanctuaries in Cambodia could soon vanish as foreign companies, including Chinese investors, accelerate work in protected areas.

The government said in the order the suspension was due to the "necessary and urgent need to guarantee equity and to strengthen the effectiveness of granting economic land concessions".

The area granted rose six-fold between 2010 and 2011 as the government encouraged mining and growing of rubber. Protected wilderness was not supposed to be on the list but changes to the law have carved out some of these areas for companies to use.

Companies from Cambodia, Vietnam and other countries have exploited the land grants but Chinese firms dominate the most lucrative projects - mining for gold and other minerals.

In some cases, they come in, violently evict people and cut down trees rather than do the projects they promised.

"This is too late," said Chan Soveth, an investigator at the Cambodia Human Rights and Development Organization (Adhoc). "There are still disputes with even stronger protests to come."

Last year, the government granted concessions to scores of companies to develop 7,631 sq km (2,946 sq miles) of land, most of it in national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, Adhoc says.

Chut Wutty, a prominent anti-logging activist who helped expose the secretive concessions process, was shot dead last month near a Chinese-built hydroelectric dam.

A government investigation, disputed by rights groups, said the activist was shot by a military police officer after a heated argument. The officer was also killed - by accident, investigators said - and one person has been charged over that death.

"It is too soon to judge the effectiveness of this order," said Chhit Sam Ath, executive director of the NGO Forum on Cambodia. "Civil society groups will continue to monitor how the situation develops." (Editing by John O'Callaghan and Robert Birsel)

UPDATE - Statement by Lois Barber, Executive Director of EarthAction:

"As announced, a moratorium on new land concessions and a review of all existing concessions is a step in the right direction. The next important step would be to begin a process that will engage fully with all the villagers who live on and depend on the lands where the concessions have been granted, or where concessions are being considered. In full consultation with local people, sustainable development plans can be formulated that will provide for the short-term and long-term well being for all of Cambodia's resources and people. Such a process will demonstrate real leadership."

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Read More:

PM institutes land concessions moratorium - The Phnom Penh Post

Take Action:

The fight's not over! Help make this moratorium permanent by donating to EarthAction. Find out more Prey Lang and actions you can take over at our campaign page, EarthAction.org/OurForest