Cambodia: Save Koh Kong Island!

To: Samdech Thipadei Hun Manet, Prime Minister of Cambodia; H.E. Eang Sophalleth, Minister of Environment; H.E. Sok Soken, Minister of Tourism

“Ensure Koh Kong Island’s full protection to preserve its natural treasures.”

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Koh Kong Island

Koh Kong Island is Cambodia's largest island and belongs to the province of the same name in the west of the country. At 103 square kilometers, it is about twice the size of Manhattan and has a coastline of 53 kilometers.

A little-known island – even among Cambodians – Koh Kong is only accessible by boat. It has very few residents, even though its northeastern coast is less than 500 meters from the mainland village of Lam Dam in the community of Koh Kapik.

There is a military base on the northern tip, as well as small military outposts with one or two houses on some beaches. In the southeast is the fishing village of Alatang, with about 80 families who live in floating houses in a small bay off the coast. The villagers use a pond fed by waterfalls as a source of fresh water.

Undisturbed nature

The island is covered by lush tropical lowland rainforests. There are numerous waterfalls, rocky creek beds and freshwater lagoons that meet the sea on white beaches through narrow estuaries flanked by mangroves. The island’s natural beauty continues underwater, with seagrass meadows and coral reefs inhabited by tropical fish.

Threats

Although selective logging was carried out in the past and the island is occasionally the target of poachers, Koh Kong island´s nature remains largely intact to this day. However, existential threats are now looming on the horizon: 

Recently, heavy machinery was brought in to build a road. Currently about 6,300 meters long, the road starts at the military base at the northern end of the island and heads south. There are rumors that the road could be extended over the entire length of the island of 20 kilometers. Experience has shown that roads through previously untouched forest attract loggers and poachers, not to mention property speculators, as has frequently been the case in Cambodia. Once that stage is reached, nothing stands in the way of wholesale deforestation.

Environmentalists fear that extending the road is just the beginning. In June 2019, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced the government’s intention to develop the island economically, and a committee was formed for this purpose under the leadership of the Ministry of the Environment. Koh Kong SEZ Co Ltd, a private company belonging to the L.Y.P. Group of Ly Yong Phat, one of the most powerful and wealthy men in Cambodia, was commissioned with the development. The group’s portfolio includes hotels and luxury resorts, amusement parks and golf courses, sugar and rubber plantations, real estate and a television station. 

Environmentalists therefore fear that the “development” of the island will spell the end for Koh Kong island’s intact nature. Luxury hotels are already being discussed.

The Ministry of the Environment announced that the island would be declared a marine national park in 2021 because of its great biodiversity and beautiful beaches. Nevertheless, the government gave Koh Kong SEZ Co Ltd permission to develop the island. The spokesperson for the Ministry of the Environment would not divulge details.

“As we have seen before in Cambodia, when the government gives development rights to a private company, the natural resources are destroyed with little benefit to the local community,” explained Mother Nature Cambodia environmentalist Long Kunthea in an article in Camboja News on June 23, 2020. Long Kunthea called on the government to cancel Koh Kong SEZ Co Ltd’s permit and put the entire island under protection. Suon Chamroeun, who took part in a bicycle rally to protect Koh Kong Island in early June, told the Phnom Penh Post: “We are still concerned because, in our mind, development means destruction. It is a concern we have for the future because Koh Kong SEZ Co Ltd’s specific plan is still blurry.”

An example of this is the neighboring Botum Sakor National Park, which experienced shockingly high deforestation rates in the last 15 years under the pretext of several “economic land concessions” and “special economic zones”.

Campaign goal

The Save Koh Kong Island campaign aims to raise awareness of the beauty and significance of this special island so that it can be preserved in its natural state for future generations.
Mother Nature Cambodia activists want the Ministry of the Environment to declare the entire island of Koh Kong a national park so that it can be legally protected and fully preserved. The environmentalists are firmly opposed to any development that could have negative effects on the island, and if development is required, only sustainable and environmentally friendly options should be considered, such as promoting it as an eco-tourism area.

Environmentalists in danger

Anyone who publicly campaigns for nature conservation and human rights in Cambodia faces repression, intimidation and the threat of jail. The activists of Mother Nature Cambodia (MNC) have experienced this for years:

• On September 3, 2020, MNC campaigner Thun Ratha and his colleagues Long Kunthea and Phuong Keorasmey were arrested in Phnom Penh for organizing a peaceful march to the Prime Minister’s residence to draw attention to the filling-in of Boeung Tamoke Lake for a military base. 300 families rely on the lake for their livelihoods. The activists were charged with “incitement to commit a felony or to disturb social security”.
  On November 15, 2021, the imprisoned activists of Mother Nature Cambodia have been released in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh subject to strict conditions. But the charges have not been dropped, so they could still face up to ten years in prison.
• On June 22, 2020, 10 MNC members organized a public photo exhibition about nature on Koh Kong Island in front of Wat Botum Pagoda to raise awareness of the island’s beauty. Security guards immediately shut down the demonstration. They were also forbidden to stream the event live on Facebook. The authorities claimed that this would require a permit.
• On June 1,2020, 18 MNC activists and young people set out on a five-day bicycle ride from Koh Kong Island to the capital Phnom Penh to deliver a petition to the government. Already on the second day, they were stopped by provincial officials who confiscated their bikes.

These are just three of the most recent examples of how environmentalists and human rights activists are silenced in Cambodia. Rainforest Rescue has supported Mother Nature from the outset:

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Cambodia: selling out its natural resources

The kingdom on the Mekong has one of the world’s highest rates of deforestation: According to Mongabay, NASA satellite images of central Cambodia show that between 2001 and 2014, 16,000 square kilometers of highly biodiverse lowland rainforest were cleared, mainly to make way for rubber plantations. The country has barely three percent of its old-growth rainforest left.

The government has been granting concessions to timber and plantation companies for years, and rubber plantations in particular have expanded rapidly. But systematic deforestation by the timber industry with the government’s blessing is not the only problem for biodiversity: The extent of illegal clearing is much greater – according to one study, it accounts for 90 percent of timber production. 

This makes it all the more important to preserve Koh Kong Island while it is still virtually pristine.

To: Samdech Thipadei Hun Manet, Prime Minister of Cambodia; H.E. Eang Sophalleth, Minister of Environment; H.E. Sok Soken, Minister of Tourism

Gentlemen,

We, the undersigned, support the tens of thousands of Cambodians who have publicly expressed their interest in protecting Cambodia’s largest and most beautiful island, Koh Kong Island.

We call on you to:

• revoke the agreement the Royal Government of Cambodia has signed with the company Koh Kong SEZ to ‘develop’ Koh Kong Island, which was concluded in secrecy and without consulting any relevant stakeholders. The people of Cambodia, and in particular communities from the province where this stunning island is located, stand to benefit much more from the preservation of the island in its current form than from its development;

• classify the whole island as well as the surrounding sea waters around it as a National Park that is off limits to any form of destructive development; We do not believe that the current model of development Cambodia is seeing in many of its other once-pristine islands and protected areas to be a positive example to follow;

• conduct, in cooperation with local communities, environmental activists as well as national and international organizations, thorough feasibility studies on how the island might welcome a limited a number of visitors in a manner that has as little effect on the island’s environment as possible;

• collaborate with relevant expert stakeholders in and outside the country to turn the island and the stunning mangrove forests around it into a regional hub for ecological research, and to consider the possibility on how the island might be used as a pilot project for the rewilding of key species of wildlife that can eventually be scaled up to the rest of the country;

• immediately cease repression against Cambodian environmental activists who have publicly spoken out for the conservation of the island as it currently is. We particularly call on you to drop the charges against Thun Rotha, Long Kunthea, Phuon Keorasmey, Ly Chandaravuth, Yim Leanghy and Sun Rotha – the Mother Nature Cambodia activists who are leading the campaign to protect the stunning island of Koh Kong.

Yours faithfully