"Indigenous People Protest Over Farmland in Keo Seima Sanctuary", 06 May 2020

More than 200 indigenous people in Mondulkiri province’s Keo Seima district protested ... for access to farmland inside a wildlife sanctuary, which the Environment Ministry banned them from last month, citing conservation laws.

Bun Nat, a representative of the protesters, said 250 ethnic minority Bunong and Kuy people gathered at the Keo Seima District Hall to call on officials to allow them to use land that some say they have farmed for more than five years...

“We are farmers so if they don’t allow us to farm and benefit from growing cassava, what do we have to eat?” he told VOD. “Some people borrow money from microfinance institutions for farming, and now they are not allowed to do so, so what do they have to pay the bank?”

Environment Ministry spokesman Neth Pheaktra said the villagers were banned from farming the disputed land because it was in a protected area...

Kroeung Tola, a representative of indigenous groups in Mondulkiri, said the disputed land is located within the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary, but he said indigenous people have rights under the Law on Protected Areas to use state land for traditional, communal farming...

Ken Sereyrotha, country director for WCS Cambodia, which contributes to forestry conservation and patrols in Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary, said the conservation NGO approached land claims from indigenous groups in and around the sanctuary with caution, although he wasn’t familiar with the specifics of the Keo Seima dispute...