EarthAction

Victory — 40,000 Hectares (100,000 Acres) Protected!

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen Cancels Four Concessions in the Prey Lang Forest

On August 6th the Phnom Penh Post reported the following VICTORY:

In a rare victory for those battling to preserve the Prey Lang forest, the Cambodian government has cancelled four economic land concessions (ELCs) in the area totaling more than 40,000 hectares that threatened pristine ecosystems . . .  [the concessions] are located in the middle of evergreen and semi-evergreen forest inside 'the largest low-land [contiguous evergreen] forest in Southeast Asia' – Prey Lang.

Read More...

Meet Pok Hong, Indigenous Kuy Activist

Pok Hong is an indigenous Kuy activist who has been instrumental in the campaign to save the Prey Lang Forest. EarthAction recently sponsored her visit to the United States as a delegate to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York. She is currently continuing her tour of the U.S. and meeting with officials in Washington D.C. If you would like invite Hong to speak at your meeting, event, or for a media publication, please email contact[at]earthaction.org. Read the interview below to get to know Hong and why she's fighting to save the Prey Lang.

Thank you to the Prey Lang Network for sharing this interview with us.

Image Left: Pok Hong, Indigenous Kuy Activist

 

Why is PL important to you?

Prey Lang forest is life itself. It is central to the lives of indigenous people. If we lose the forest, we lose the lives of all of us who are part of the forest. Prey Lang is full of bio-diversity. When we lose the forest, we lose life itself. We can never get back what is destroyed when the forest is lost.

Why is PL important to the Cambodia?

The loss of Prey Lang would contribute to climate change, floods, droughts and food shortages. Many Cambodians depend on Prey Lang to survive. We look for food in the forest, where no chemicals or pesticides have been used. The forest provides us with medicine which we could otherwise not afford and resins and other non-timber forest products which we sell for profit. Without the forest, many of us have no livelihoods.  Like many forests Prey Lang is a rainmaker. All around the country we have noticed that when we lose forests, we lose critical rain particularly in the dry season. Then when rainy season comes, deforested areas tend to flood and have been badly affected by storms. Prey Lang is important in local climate regulation and for our water and food security.

Why is Prey Lang important to the world?

Prey Lang offers immense treasures to the people of the world.. . miraculous plants, wildlife, and the knowledge of indigenous forest communities. The forest enriches us and protects us. It’s a place we can all learn from. This is why we call Prey Lang “our forest.”  By sustaining Prey Lang we can support a different kind of development. One that is more respectful and inclusive of nature, indigenous people, and the poor. Instead of using up the forest, we use the forest to build our future. Prey Lang is a place of spiritual importance and ancient heritage. The forest is full of sacred, hidden temples that cannot be seen with the eyes. I want people to come and learn about this.

Pok Hong (second from the left) with EarthAction Executive Director Lois Barber (center)
at the UNPFII in New York last week.

Success!! Prime Minister Hun Sen institutes land concession moratorium in Cambodia

Cambodia suspends new land concessions to companies

Protest at Phnom Penh, picture by the Prey Lang Network

By Prak Chan Thul

PHNOM PENH | Mon May 7, 2012 7:08am EDT

May 7 (Reuters) - Cambodia's government, facing growing protests by villagers and warnings about disappearing wilderness, suspended the granting of land to domestic and foreign companies on Monday in a move to curb forced evictions and illegal logging.

Rights groups in the impoverished but resource-rich Southeast Asian country said the temporary measure did not go far enough and a permanent ban was needed.

The government said in the order, signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen, it would confiscate any concessions that involved the grabbing of villagers' land and illegal logging.

Environmental activists say national parks and wildlife sanctuaries in Cambodia could soon vanish as foreign companies, including Chinese investors, accelerate work in protected areas.

The government said in the order the suspension was due to the "necessary and urgent need to guarantee equity and to strengthen the effectiveness of granting economic land concessions".

The area granted rose six-fold between 2010 and 2011 as the government encouraged mining and growing of rubber. Protected wilderness was not supposed to be on the list but changes to the law have carved out some of these areas for companies to use.

Companies from Cambodia, Vietnam and other countries have exploited the land grants but Chinese firms dominate the most lucrative projects - mining for gold and other minerals.

In some cases, they come in, violently evict people and cut down trees rather than do the projects they promised.

"This is too late," said Chan Soveth, an investigator at the Cambodia Human Rights and Development Organization (Adhoc). "There are still disputes with even stronger protests to come."

Last year, the government granted concessions to scores of companies to develop 7,631 sq km (2,946 sq miles) of land, most of it in national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, Adhoc says.

Chut Wutty, a prominent anti-logging activist who helped expose the secretive concessions process, was shot dead last month near a Chinese-built hydroelectric dam.

A government investigation, disputed by rights groups, said the activist was shot by a military police officer after a heated argument. The officer was also killed - by accident, investigators said - and one person has been charged over that death.

"It is too soon to judge the effectiveness of this order," said Chhit Sam Ath, executive director of the NGO Forum on Cambodia. "Civil society groups will continue to monitor how the situation develops." (Editing by John O'Callaghan and Robert Birsel)

UPDATE - Statement by Lois Barber, Executive Director of EarthAction:

"As announced, a moratorium on new land concessions and a review of all existing concessions is a step in the right direction. The next important step would be to begin a process that will engage fully with all the villagers who live on and depend on the lands where the concessions have been granted, or where concessions are being considered. In full consultation with local people, sustainable development plans can be formulated that will provide for the short-term and long-term well being for all of Cambodia's resources and people. Such a process will demonstrate real leadership."

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Read More:

PM institutes land concessions moratorium - The Phnom Penh Post

Take Action:

The fight's not over! Help make this moratorium permanent by donating to EarthAction. Find out more Prey Lang and actions you can take over at our campaign page, EarthAction.org/OurForest

You're Invited!

Join us this Thursday for a special event at the United Nation's Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) in New York City:   The Impact of Doctrines of Domination on Indigenous Peoples in Cambodia   What Neoliberal Development is Doing to Indigenous Peoples in Cambodia, with Regards to their Basic Rights of Self-Determination and  Rights to their Traditional Lands, Territories and Resources.     A Special Side-Event Presentation by the Prey Lang Community Network, Indigenous Active Rights Members, Organization to Promote Kuy Culture, and NGO Forum Cambodia.   Dedicated to the memory of Chut Vutty, a founder of the Prey Lang Community Network and the Director of the Natural Resource Protection Group, who was killed by Cambodian military police on 26 April 2012.  THURSDAY, MAY 10th, from 1:15pm - 2:30pm.  UNITED NATIONS NORTH LAWN BUILDING. CONFERENCE ROOM B    In the last two decades, much of Asia has embraced the neoliberal paradigms of the West. In Cambodia, this has led to the new discovery of indigenous territories—including forests, lands, and waters—as vast resources that are targeted by the state and transnational corporations for rapid extraction through logging, mining, dams and industrial agriculture; that then converts into wealth for the few, and the dislocation of the many. In this discovery, Indigenous perspectives are regularly disregarded as backwards, unsustainable, and irrelevant. A greater irony is hard to imagine. The speed at which these “resources” are being sold off is a matter of grave international concern. This event will focus on how these processes are playing out in the upland regions in Cambodia such as Prey Lang, and will offer Indigenous critiques and constructive recommendations for a different kind of future.  Co-organized by EarthAction, Amnesty International, Cultural Survival, and the Southeast Asian Development Program.

Death of Chut Wutty - Coverage on NY Times Blog

Mr. Chut Wutty. Photo by Mathieu Young.

Forest Activist Killed by Military Police in Cambodia

This past weekend, the killing of activist Chut Wutty and his tireless efforts to protect the Prey Lang forest and the environment of Cambodia received some high profile coverage on a New York Times Blog. Hopefully this story will gain traction, and with international pressure, our demands for an investigation into Chut Wutty's shooting will be heard.

From the blog:

"A little more than a week ago, the Cambodian forest activist Chut Wutty died under circumstances for which officials have already provided three different accounts.

He was with two journalists in the Cardamom Mountains in Cambodia, taking photos and collecting evidence of illegal logging when he was stopped by the military police. There was an altercation, and somebody opened fire. Mr. Chut Wutty, who carried a pistol with him because of frequent harassment and death threats, was shot, and a military police officer was killed as well. The two journalists with Mr. Chut Wutty, according to reports, dived for cover and were unable to witness the actual shooting."

The death of Mr. Chut Wutty has led to a rally around the cause that the man had lived and died for. Help us continue the work of Chut Wutty by taking action to save the Prey Lang Forest of Cambodia.

Click here to read more at the New York Times Blog.

UN Calls for Investigation of Murder of Cambodian Activist Chut Wutty

Click here to read the full story from the UN News Centre.

The UN is expressing concern over the recent killing of Cambodian activist Chut Wutty. According to a spokesman for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), “Despite the current lack of clarity about what exactly happened, we are very concerned that the killing of Mr. Wutty marks the latest and most lethal in a series of gun attacks on human rights defenders in Cambodia.”

Chut Wutty, the intrepid activist who had been working to protect the forests of Cambodia from illegal logging and to expose government corruption, was shot and killed by Cambodian military police on April 26. He had been out surveying illegal logging sites with two journalists, looking for evidence to bring a lawsuit against the government for aiding the activity, when he was stopped by military police.

The details of what happened next are unclear. A gunfight ensued which left Chut and one officer dead. The two journalists were able to escape to safety, but did not see what transpired, including who had actually fired the first shot.

Mr. Chut Wutty had received threats from the military on at least two previous occasions. In 2001 a military commander had threatened to kill him for documenting illegal logging in the Cardamom Mountains (the same things that would eventually cause him to be killed). Also in 2011, police with automatic weapons broke up two training sessions Chut had been conducting to help local peoples affected by the destruction of their forests.

Several investigations have been launched by local authorities, including a military investigation, backed by the OHCHR.

Read More:

UN News Centre
Tireless activist Chut Wutty shot dead in Koh Kong Province

Tireless activist Chut Wutty shot dead in Koh Kong Province

From the Cambodian Center for Human Rights:
Tireless activist Chut Wutty shot dead in Koh Kong Province

Photo via Phnom Penh Post

Chut Wutty, the Founder and Director of the Natural Resource Protection Group (NRPG), has been shot dead in an incident in Koh Kong province in which military police officer In Rattana is also said to have died today, 26 April 2012. The details of the incident in which the two men died remain unclear but their deaths have been confirmed by military police spokesman Kheng Tito. Wutty’s death has also been confirmed by his nephew, Chuon Phearum, as well as Koh Kong provincial military police chief, Thong Naron.

According to The Phnom Penh Post (‘Environmental activist Chut Wutty shot dead’) the incident occurred today at 12.30 pm in Koh Kong’s Veal Bei commune, Mondul Sima district. Two journalists from The Cambodia Daily are reported to have been accompanying Wutty but are said to have been unharmed in the incident which occurred near the Central Cardamom Protect Forest. Wutty has been subject to threats in the past as a result of his work in this area. In 2001 as part of a small Conservation International team sent to patrol for illegal logging in the Cardamom mountains, he was threatened by a military commander who said he would kill him over his investigations into illegal logging. He had to flee his hotel and rent a boat in the middle of the night that took him to safety.

In the face of continued threats and harassment, as Director of the NRPG, Wutty, a former soldier, has advocated tirelessly against the ongoing destruction of Cambodia’s natural resources. In 2011, he was threatened with arrest and criminal charges as a result of his work raising awareness of the destruction of Prey Lang forest in the Northeast of the country. In August and September, two training events he conducted with the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) in Kampong Thom province for community members affected by the destruction of Prey Lang forest were disrupted by police and military police armed with AK-47s.

Wutty is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son. In this terrible time, the thoughts and prayers of the staff of CCHR are with Wutty and his family.

via The Prey Lang Network

PRESS RELEASE: Cambodia's "Amazon"—Indigenous Community & Intl Orgs Rally to Save Prey Lang

April 24, 2012

Reply to: lois@earthaction.org

EarthAction, a global network of over 2,000 organizations in 160 countries, and Cultural Survival, an advocacy organization for Indigenous Peoples’ rights, have begun a worldwide campaign to protect the Prey Lang forest in Cambodia—its people, its trees, its life. The international campaign supports and complements the local efforts of the Prey Lang Community Network, a group of mostly Indigenous people whose villages surround the Prey Lang forest and whose livelihoods depend on the forest’s resources. Prey Lang, about the size of Rhode Island, is the last large primary forest of its kind on the Indochina peninsula.

Campaigners point out that Prey Lang is to Cambodia, what the Amazon is to Brazil. A few decades ago, almost no one recognized the imminent destruction of the Amazon rainforest and its potential damage to global ecosystems. “That's where we are today with the imminent destruction of Prey Lang,” states Lois Barber, EarthAction’s Executive Director.

This global campaign has won a legion of new supporters as the destruction of the forest has accelerated and threats to indigenous people have escalated. A recent unconfirmed report from insiders that Cambodia’s government has granted four additional land concessions in the core of the Prey Lang area has galvanized the campaign. “If true, and these concessions are allowed to go ahead”, says Barber, “we fear it is ‘game over’ for the forest and its communities.” She adds, “At this point, the only way to stop the granting of concessions and the illegal logging is to exert international pressure on the Cambodian government.”

Despite government intimidation, threats of violence, and the presence of the police and the military, hundreds of local villagers are patrolling the forests—day and night—to stop the illegal logging. On March 26, 2012, the Phnom Penh Post reported that 500 villagers from the Prey Lang area were patrolling the forest on 250 motorbikes. The Post reported the villagers “have vowed to continue patrols in coming days and to block a road used by rubber company CRCK if authorities don’t take action.”

Local and global campaigners are calling on the government to stop the threats to activists who are trying to protect the forest, even while illegal logging and clear cutting continue. An informal national alliance of grassroots groups and NGOs that includes farmers, fishers, tourist workers, vendors, and other informal workers from all across the country are standing in solidarity with the Prey Lang Network. Outrage over Prey Lang’s destruction is mobilizing opposition throughout the country in a way that few issues have.

Soem Sean, a village representative from Kampong Thom, said, “The reason we decided to do this is because the number of illegal loggers is increasing, but the authority has done nothing to stop these people. So we have to do it.”

Thai Bunleang, a Kuy elder, farmer, and Prey Lang Network activist, adds, “Without forest there is no life. In the Kuy language, ‘Prey Lang’ means ‘Our Forest.’ This forest is for everyone. Prey Lang is our forest, but it is your forest too. You can help save it.”

For years the Prey Lang forest has been under attack from illegal road builders and loggers, agribusiness, and mining companies who have made quick profits by extracting and exporting the forest’s natural resources. The villagers have been unable to determine where the trees are taken, but it is believed that much of the wood is illegally smuggled into China and Vietnam where it is made into cheap patio furniture and other wood products that are exported around the world.

Paula Palmer, director of Cultural Survival’s Global Response program, points out, “In 1970, 70 percent of Cambodia’s land was covered with old-growth forests. Today it is only 3 percent. The Kuy people are calling on us to help them save what’s left.” Palmer adds, “Studies show that forests thrive best when they are managed by Indigenous communities, so it is important for the Prey Lang Community Network to play a role in managing the Prey Lang forest.”

The Prey Lang Global Campaign calls on people everywhere to send a message to the Cambodian Prime Minister urging him to take immediate action to protect the Prey Lang forest. Specifically, the campaign supports the local indigenous people who are calling on Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to:

--CANCEL all logging and mining concessions in the greater Prey Lang area

--CONFER Prey Lang with protected status and enforce its protection

--COMMIT to sustainably managing the forest in cooperation with the Prey Lang Community Network and replant and rehabilitate all clear cut areas

Campaigners note that messages can be sent to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, care of the Cambodian UN Mission, 327 East 58th Street, New York NY 10022 USA, Email: Cambodia@un.int.

At www.earthaction.org/ourforest, people and organizations can add their name to a sign-on letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen, and request a free Prey Lang Action Kit.

Previous campaigns organized by EarthAction in collaboration with local groups faced with the destruction of their forests have resulted in saving the Lopè Forest Reserve in Gabon, Clayoquot Sound in British Columbia, Canada (both of which are now UN Biosphere Reserves), and the Imataca Forest in Venezuela.

Previous campaigns organized by Global Response with local groups have saved rainforests in Costa Rica, Venezuela, Nigeria, Honduras, Chile, and Nicaragua.

* * *

About EarthAction.  EarthAction is a global network of over 2,000 civil society organizations in more than 160 countries, along with policymakers, journalists and citizens, who take timely, focused, action together to protect the global environment, preserve peace, and promote human rights. EarthAction has initiated over 90 global campaigns since its launch at the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992.

EarthAction
PO Box 63
Amherst, MA 01004  USA

www.earthaction.org/ourforest

Contact: Lois Barber, Executive Director, Tel: +1 413 549 8118, Cell: +1 413 427 8827, Email: lois@earthaction.org

About Cultural Survival. For 40 years, Cultural Survival has partnered with Indigenous Peoples around the world to protect their lands, languages and cultures. At the request of Indigenous communities that are struggling to prevent environmental destruction in their territories, the Global Response program organizes international public-pressure campaigns to change the policies and behaviors of governments and corporations.

Cultural Survival
Cambridge MA, Boulder CO, and Guatemala

Web campaign: http://www.culturalsurvival.org/take-action/cambodia

Contact: Paula Palmer, Director of the Global Response Program, Tel: +1 303 444 0306, Cell: +1 303 335 8629, Email: paula@cs.org 

ADDITIONAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION

In Cambodia:

--Terry Parnell, East West Management Institute, can facilitate contact with Khmer speakers.  Tel: 855 23 224 782,   855 23 221 164,   Email: tparnell@ewmi-praj.org

--Sokheng Seng, press contact for The Prey Lang Community Network. Tel: 855 92 324 668,  Email: seng.sokheng@gmail.com

Websites:

Prey Lang Community Network: preylang.com also, http://ourpreylang.wordpress.com/

Amnesty International video: http://www.amnesty.org.au/poverty/comments/27241

YouTube 5 minute video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJHEiYmleVo&feature=player_embedded#

CNN iReport, 2 minute video about the Avatar protest, May 2011:

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-613176?ref=feeds%2Flatest

PRI’s The World, 4 minute audio report of the Avatar protest, May 25, 2011: http://www.theworld.org/2011/05/indigenous-protest-cambodia/

List of media coverage of the May 2011 Avatar Protest: http://ourpreylang.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/prey-lang-avatars-in-world-news/

* * *

PREY LANG FACT SHEET

The Bigger Picture: In 1970, 70% of Cambodia’s land was covered with old-growth forests. Today it is only 3%. Cambodia has the third highest deforestation rate in the world, behind only Nigeria and Vietnam.

Size: The core area of Prey Lang consists of primary, lowland, evergreen, forests, that cover about 200,000 acres. It is surrounded by over 600,000 acres of secondary forest. The entire Prey Lang area is roughly the size of Rhode Island.

Population: 200,000 people depend on the Prey Lang forest for their livelihoods, their culture, and their lives. Some 300 villages and family rice fields are also at risk that are scattered through a large buffer zone of secondary forest that surrounds Prey Lang.

Not Legally Protected: The Prey Lang forest is not fully legally protected by law, and existing laws are not enforced. Illegal loggers are clear-cutting large areas of old-growth trees.

Industrial Concessions: More than 30 companies have been granted economic and mining land concessions in the greater Prey Lang area by the Cambodian government. Old-growth forests are clear-cut and replaced with rubber tree and cassava plantations (the latter to provide ‘eco-friendly’ ethanol), or mined for iron and other ores.

Rate of Destruction: A botanical team from a top European University recently conducted several surveys in Prey Lang and predict that at the current rate of destruction, the entire Prey Lang forest will be gone within five years.

Language: In the language of Cambodia’s Kuy people, Prey Lang means “Our Forest.”

Biodiversity: Prey Lang is Cambodia’s ‘Amazon’. The forest has seven distinct ecosystems, including primordial swamp forest, that provide habitat to more than 50 endangered animal and bird species including sun bears, tigers, and leopards. Most areas remain largely unexplored by scientists. Elephants and tigers may still roam in parts of Prey Lang.

Water & Food Security: The Prey Lang forest is a vital source of water for Cambodia’s rice growing region and for the Mekong delta. As a primary watershed regulating water and sediment flow to the Tonle Sap Basin, and as an important fish spawning area, Prey Lang is vital for Cambodia’s long-term environmental sustainability and for food and water security.

Climate Stabilization: Left standing, the Prey Lang forest has among the highest carbon sequestration values in the region and is a powerhouse for fighting global warming. Cambodia’s Forest Administration has identified Prey Lang as an important area for conservation, with high potential for carbon-credit financing.

Meeting the Needs of Villagers: The Prey Lang forest meets the food, water, livelihood, and spiritual needs of the Kuy communities. They build their rice fields along Prey Lang’s edges and go into the forest for hunting, fishing, and gathering fruits and herbs for food and ceremonies. They tap several species of trees and collect the resin for making torches and caulking boats. Resin has become the main source of cash for many Kuy families who sell it for industrial use. Overall, the forest is the spiritual center of their lives.

Short Lived Victory: In 2002, the Prey Lang people and other forest communities persuaded the government to ban logging concessions. But their victory was short-lived as the government continued to award concessions to agro-industry and mining companies, both of which clear-cut the land.

Avatars: In May 2011, members of the Prey Lang Network gained international media attention for their staged demonstrations in Phnom Penh where they painted themselves blue and green, wore leaf hats, and called themselves Avatars, after the James Cameron film. (see links in the Additional Information Section above)

Repression & violence: Police armed with AK-47s have broken up Prey Lang Network meetings and Network members are being increasingly threatened with physical harm and criminal charges.

 

Please sign on to protect a forest and Indigenous rights in Cambodia

Mao Chanthoeun and hundreds of other Kuy villagers call themselves Cambodia's "avatars." Like the Na'vi people in the "Avatar" film, the Kuy are defending their forest against mining and other destructive practices. Photo by Samrang Pring, Reuters.

In Cambodia, some 200,000 mostly Indigenous Kuy villagers are desperately trying to preventthe destruction of Prey Lang ("Our Forest"), the last large primary forest of its kind on the Indochina peninsula. Generations of Kuy people have protected the forest with its sacred areas, places for gathering fruits, medicinal plants, housing materials, and resin. Some 300 villages and family rice fields are scattered through a large buffer zone of secondary forest that surrounds Prey Lang. Their use of forest resources is sustainable, but now their livelihoods and the life of the forest are under attack.

The government has issued a dizzying patchwork of land concessions to road builders, mining companies, and agro-industries. Bulldozers are slicing huge swaths through the forest, clear-cutting enormous blocks of land for rubber and other plantations. Studies show that Indigenous forest-dwelling communities do the best job of protecting forests. Our best bet for saving Prey Lang is to support the Kuy people's rights and their management of the forest they know best. 

Join us:  

Global Response, the action program of Cultural Survival, and EarthAction, a global network of over 2,000 organizations, are working together in support of the Prey Lang Community Network to protect and save their forest. On our websites below you can find links to communicate with Cambodian officials to urge them to cancel existing land concessions and create a sustainable management program with the permanent participation of the Prey Lang peoples. We ask your organization to please share this information widely, with other organizations, with your members, and in your newsletters.

How You Can Help:  

Below is a sign-on letter for organizations, available in PDF here.  Please add your organization, and help the Kuy people protect the unique and threatened Prey Lang forest. To sign on, please email Danielle@cs.org by January 31  and include the name of the signee, organization, and country you are based in.   

For more information and online action pages, please see visit: 

Cultural Survival, EarthAction, and Prey Lang Community Network. 

Sincere thanks and good wishes to you in your important work for our planet and all its peoples. 

Lois Barber, Director 

EarthAction Network

PO Box 63

Amherst, MA 01004

Tel +413 549 8118

 

Paula Palmer, Director               

Global Response Program                   

Cultural Survival, Inc.                      

PO Box 7490                              

Boulder CO 80306 USA                   

Tel +303/444-0306

 _____________________________________________________________  

Dear Ambassador Kosal Sea, Prime Minister Samech Hun Sen,   

 

As international human rights and environmental organizations, we are deeply concerned that Cambodia has lost almost all of its primary forests.  According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, primary forests covered 70 percent of Cambodia's land mass just 40 years ago. Tragically, these magnificent forests have shrunk to only 3.1 percent of the nation's territory today. One of the remaining forests, Prey Lang, is in danger of being lost as more and more concessions are granted to agro-industries and mining companies.

 

Prey Lang's rich store of biological diversity, unique on the Indochina peninsula, is reason enough to protect it. But there are other reasons, as well.  Over 200,000 people depend on the forest as a source of fruits, nuts, medicinal plants, housing materials, clean drinking water, fish, and resin. Prey Lang provides ecological services that benefit millions of people, serving as a vital source of water for Cambodia's rice-growing region and for the Mekong Delta. 

The people who live in villages surrounding Prey Lang have banded together to save the forest.  Many of these people are Indigenous Kuy, whose rights are specified in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.  As an endorser of the Declaration, Cambodia acknowledges Indigenous Peoples' right to free, prior, and informed consent for projects that affect their lands and livelihoods, yet the Kuy have not been consulted concerning land concessions in and surrounding Prey Lang. Indeed, they have clearly demonstrated their opposition to the land concessions through public protests and petitions.

As supporters of environmental protection and Indigenous Peoples' rights, the following organizations join the Prey Lang Network in urging you to cancel existing land concessions and other development projects in the greater Prey Lang area, ban new concessions, and create a sustainable management program with the permanent participation of the Prey Lang Network.

Thank you for considering the views of the international community, recognizing our common commitment to environmental protection and human rights.

 

Respectfully, 

(list of organizations)

_____________________________________________________________

Does the Kuy people's situation sound familiar?

If your organization represents or partners with Indigenous communities that are struggling to prevent environmental destruction and defend their rights, learn how to request a Global Response Campaign here. Click here to receive Global Response action alerts by email.

If you'd like more information about becoming a Partner Organization in the EarthAction Network and receiving action alerts on global environment, development, peace and human rights issues, click here to JOIN EarthAction. 

Cultural Survival's Global Response Program organizes effective international letter-writing campaigns to protect the environment and the rights of indigenous peoples.  See action alerts for adults and youth at www.cs.org

Click here to view and share EarthAction's email action alert.

UPDATE: Cultural Survival/Global Response Selects the Prey Lang Issue for its Next Campaign

In August, EarthAction brought global attention to the Prey Lang forest issue in Cambodia. The Cambodian government is allowing companies, the military, and illegal groups to make a profit by destroying the ancient Prey Lang forest. Indigenous Kuy communities, who live in or around Prey Lang, have been fighting to protect the forest, the source of their livelihoods and culture.

We are very pleased that the Prey Lang issue has been selected as the next Cultural Survival/Global Response campaign. Cultural Survival, an organization with a consultative status with the United Nations, has partnered with indigenous communities around the world to help them defend their cultures, lands, and languages for nearly 40 years. Just like EarthAction, Global Response was launched at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Cultural Survival's Global Response Program will develop a campaign that will include action alerts, maps, photos, and additional articles and links to other websites and resources for the campaign. The action alerts will also be published in the winter issue of the Cultural Survival Quarterly magazine, which will be released in mid-December.

For more information about Cultural Survival's Global Response Program activities, please visit www.cs.org

Avatar Activists Photograph by: AFP, Tang Chhin Sothy