Casinos, condos and sugar cane: How a Cambodian national park is being sold down the river
by James Fair on 4 May 2021
Botum Sakor National Park in southern Cambodia has lost at least 30,000 hectares of forest over the past three decades.
Decades of environmental degradation go back to the late 1990s when the Cambodian government began handing out economic land concessions for the development of commercial plantations and tourist infrastructure.
NGOs in Cambodia are said to be unwilling to speak out against the destruction of Botum Sakor because they are afraid they will not be allowed to operate in the country if they do.
Lands grabs and other destructive environmental practices in Cambodia test the International Criminal Court
by Katie Surma
Farm workers cut a tree in the Cardamom Mountain rainforest in Cambodia in 2002. Photo: Peter Charlesworth/LightRocket via Getty Images
Five years ago, the ICC’s prosecutor said she would consider environmental crimes. Now, environmentalists and human rights activists want her to deliver.
Three leading climate and human rights nonprofits have asked the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in the Hague to pursue rampant “land grabbing” by the government of Cambodia and its commerce partners as a crime against humanity under the court’s jurisdiction.
January 16, 2021
Facebook/visitkampotofficial
Pen Sokunthea escaped the bustle of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, for the sleepy riverside town of Kampot two years ago, drawn by its tranquil charm and laid-back pace of life.
“I’m not a big city girl,” says Pen, who runs a cafe on the outskirts of the town 150km (90 miles) south of Phnom Penh, close to the coast. “I much prefer the peace and quiet, and Kampot is perfect for that.”
However, big changes are coming to the town, which is set to become Cambodia’s next tourism hotspot. As investment opportunities and development plans are unveiled, fears have been raised that Kampot’s tranquillity may be shattered.
Chinese construction in Cambodia’s ‘next tourism hotspot’, Kampot, has residents and NGOs worried Marissa Carruthers life@scmp.com Sleepy Kampot, in Cambodia, is facing a mass of tourist development and an influx of Chinese investment. Photo: Shutterstock
Pen Sokunthea escaped the bustle of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, for the sleepy riverside town of Kampot two years ago, drawn by its tranquil charm and laid-back pace of life. I m not a big city girl, says Pen, who runs a cafe on the outskirts of the town 150km (90 miles) south of Phnom Penh, close to the coast. I much prefer the peace and quiet, and Kampot is perfect for that.