Calls to halt ‘reforestation’ plan
Fourteen community representatives speaking for thousands of families on May 9 petitioned the South Korean Embassy, Environment Ministry and Forestry Administration to halt the expansion of a controversial “reforestation” project by a Korean company situated between the protected Prey Lang forest and Mekong River. Their petition – which calls for the reforestation concession to be converted into a Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) protected area – was not accepted by the South Korean Embassy, though Cambodian authorities received the request. The 14 represent communities affected by the joint project between the Forestry Administration and Korean company Think Biotech, which hopes to convert about 34,000 hectares of ostensibly “degraded” land in Kratie and Stung Treng provinces into a timber plantation.
