“More or less, the forest is losing everyday” said Venerable Tho Thoross during the radio/online talk show broadcasted on CCIM’s airtime on 14 radio stations and simultaneously posted on the Facebook page Environmental Justice[i] on 17 November 2021.
Venerable Tho Thoross is the Head of Monk Community Forest from Oddar Meanchey and was joined by Mr. Heoun Sopheap, a member of the Prey Lang Community Network Kampong Thom. The talk show can be watched on Facebook page Environmental Justice.
Causes of forest deforestation
During the one hour talk show with the topic “Natural Resources Update from Forest Community”, Venerable Tho Thoross shared his personal observation and opinion that community forest deforestation is mainly caused by two factors: the growth in population which demands bigger area of lands for agriculture and the development of hydro-electricity.
The venerable monk said that since 2015 the surrounded forest in his community vanished in just three months after the demarcation of the Sorng Rokar Vorn border in the previous years.
In 2020 and 2021 the people are clearing inside the community forest to do farming for their livelihood and Rokar Vorn is losing big numbers of luxury wood trees called Thnong, the monk claimed. He also said that wildlife is decreasing due to animal traps and illegal hunters.
Concern for losing the community forest
As head of the monks, Venerable Tho Thoross expressed his worries as the people keep intruding the community forest and privatizing the land. He expressed his deep concern as he sees protected areas within the province is slowly vanishing even if those areas are certified by the Ministry of Agriculture Cambodia as protected areas.
He also mentioned that sooner or later the majority of the community forest will be at risk of losing due to lack of law enforcement.
Continued illegal forest activities in Prey Lang
For Mr. Heoun Sopheap, he also shared in the radio/online talk show that in Kompong Thom the forest is also reducing from day to day due to illegal activities. Forest crimes continue to happen every day even though Prey Lang is being declared as a ‘protected area’ under the direct control by the Ministry of Environment, Heoun Sopheap claimed.
According to the Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN), the community has observed many cases of the illegal forest activities, such as illegal logging, forest clearing and privatizing areas of the forest.
“Not only the sound of wood cutting and timber transporting is heard, but also the forest clearing by brokers and migrants for plantation and agricultural purpose happens every day”, Heoun Sopheap said. He continued saying that ever since the forest was under the control of the Ministry and hundred forest rangers were deployed, illegal activities never decreased.
He claimed that comparing to last year (2020), the natural resources at Prey Land in Kompong Thom worsen as hectares of forest are cleared on daily basis, especially, during the lock down in 2021 when local travel was restricted, the illegal activities in the forest continued non-stop.
Weak law enforcement in forest protection
Mr. Sopheap further said that the main factor that cause the illegal activities continue to happen is because of lack of law enforcement by the Ministry. He cited an example that the Ministry of Environment did nothing against their forest rangers who committed corruption. The community believed that some official government workers are behind the illegal activities since the timbers were transported through the guard posts by big trucks and tractors, he said.
Some people went hiding in the forest and started clearing the forest. These illegal acts happened in all corners of Prey Lang but the forest rangers had no serious actions against these people.
Restricting PLCN in forest monitoring
Government’s restriction of PLCN in forest monitoring is a big concern and obstacle to forest protection, Mr. Sopheap said. He, however, said that the community continue to patrol the forest secretly and witnessed many illegal activities causing huge losses of forest compared to the data provided by the government based on their so-called monitoring tool which claimed that only small number of forest reduction.
He also claimed that PLCN members are also facing physical risks because most of the time when the community patrol they often encountered illegal loggers wielding weapons, or observed weapons hanging at their camp site. Frequently, the community hears gunshots in the forest at nighttime, but they only presume these can be animal hunting.
Challenges in community forest protection
Venerable Tho Thoross expressed that Rokar Vorn Community Forest is facing difficulty in patrolling as they will travel by foot with far distances and physically risky as illegal loggers are equipped with weapons. He also shared that with the cooperation from local authorities during their patrolling in 2021, they were able to capture three illegal loggers.
The talk show ended with final remarks from Venerable Tho Thoross calling for the attention from all relevant authorities at all levels to take serious action against forest crimes. Moreover, he pushed for the strengthening of law enforcement against the illegal loggers because more often those who were arrested are easily bailed out, which may concern the community members’ safety.
The venerable monk finally suggested the active cooperation between the authorities and the community in protecting the forest, which provides benefit and livelihood support to the community.
[i] Environmental Justice is a radio/online talk show and a social media platform of the consortium project “Citizens Engaged in Environmental Justice for All (CEEJA). CCIM is a member of the consortium and manages the Environmental Justice platforms. Link to the social media platform: https://www.facebook.com/environmentaljusticekh/. The talk show can be listened every third Wednesday of the month from these radio stations: Radio FM 102 (Phnom Penh), Radio FM 102 (Svay Rieng), Radio FM 102 (Kampong Thom), Radio FM 102 (Battambang), Radio FM 102 (Kampong Cham), Sweet FM 100.5 (Sihanoukville), Radio Love FM 97.5 (Siem Reap), Sweet FM 103.5 (Banteay Meanchey), Sweet FM 103.5 (Koh Kong), Sweet FM 99 (Preah Vihear), Radio Kamsan FM 107 (Kampon Thom), Voice of Women’s Community FM 89.5 (Kratie), and Radio Soksan Monorom FM 87.7 (Mondulkiri).
