Three Rivers Dams (14)
A few kilometers from Kbal Romea, the Phnong village which will be flooded by the Sesan2 dam, the Siv Guek Investment co. LTD has cleared a 90 hectares stretch of land in the forest, a small part of the 10,000 hectares of the concession granted by the Cambodian government. The company was bought by the Chinese HuaYue Group co. LTD in 2008. The company is into rubber. Lots of rubber. Like many other companies in Stung Treng and Ratanakkiri.
So they plant rubber. Well, actually it is of course the workers who spend the day on the dusty field under the scorching heat doing that. Among the usual migrants from Prey Veng or Kandal province, several of the labourers are Phnong living in the area. The work opportunity for the local population is both a boon and a damnation. It brings in money but they are chopping away the forest their familes and ancestors have been depending on for centuries. I guess that for most of the young the mindset is ‘no looking back’ anyhow: anything in the short term that will help them move out of the forest is welcome.
