Human Rights Watch spent two years investigating what is happening in the area, interviewing more than 90 people in 23 villages included in the project, as well as government officials. Our researchers also analyzed satellite imagery, topographic maps, media reports, and social media. Since September 2022, HRW has met and communicated with Cambodia’s Environment Ministry, Wildlife Alliance, and other key private actors involved in the project.
Casualties of Conservation
The project has incorporated eight Chong villages into a protected national park. But as these agreements between Wildlife Alliance and the Cambodian government were drawn up, they failed to acknowledge the Chong peoples’ customary use of this land or their ownership of the carbon stored on it.
Community members told us they were arrested and mistreated after collecting forest products in the conservation area – a sustainable activity that they have always engaged in.
Six Chong families also described being forcibly evicted by the rangers, gendarmes, and Wildlife Alliance staff from land they had customarily farmed.
“They [Wildlife Alliance] have no concern with our Indigenous identity,” said a resident of one Chong commune we spoke to. “They’ve never asked us for permission because from their perspective they already have an agreement with the government.”
A Global Lesson
As noted by Luciana Téllez Chávez, senior environment researcher at HRW, “Conservation strategies that sideline and punish Indigenous peoples to address the global environmental crisis are unacceptable and counterproductive.”
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