"Cambodian conglomerate sparks conflict in Botum Sakor National Park" 20 July 2023

• For decades Cambodia’s Botum Sakor National Park has been carved up and the land handed out to companies as economic concessions, at the expense of the ecosystem and local communities.
• In 2021, a massive swath of the park, including its densest expanse of forest, was handed over to the Royal Group, led by politically connected business tycoon Kith Meng.
• While the companies developing the national park promised jobs, as well as homes with running water and electricity, and access to schools and health centers, none of this has materialized, affected residents say.
• Royal Group’s presence, and the threat of more companies grabbing a piece of the park, has instead sparked disputes that residents acknowledge they’re likely to lose.

“We’ve filed complaints with four institutions now — the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Land Management, and the Ministry of National Defense — but only the interior ministry has responded,” said Vichea*, a resident of Cambodia’s Thma Sa commune, who requested the name of his village not be published when interviewed in April 2022. “The local authorities tell [us] they will do something to help us but they don’t; anyone who stands up to protest these developments is accused of being an opposition activist.” [...]

In 2008, the Cambodian government awarded Chinese developer Union Development Group, known locally as UDG, 36,000 hectares (89,000 acres) within the park’s boundaries, kicking off a series of land disputes that became increasingly desperate as they dragged on for more than a decade.

Despite the fallout, the government awarded UDG a further 9,100 hectares (22,500 acres) of the national park in 2011. Since then, Botum Sakor has been defined by conflicts over land brought about by ecologically harmful development projects. [...]

A park consumed by land disputes

From 2008 until 2021, Oun was among the estimated 1,333 families fighting UDG for fair compensation. But as time dragged on, morale wore thin and she accepted the half-hectare (1.2-acre) plot she won through a lottery organized by provincial officials. These same officials told Oun there would be running water, electricity and roads linking this new community to schools, health centers and other basic amenities.

As of May 2023, this still hadn’t happened. [...]