The Cambodia Project
With generous support from The Tamaki Foundation, Three Degrees recently traveled to Cambodia with photojournalists Michael Harris and Kevin Ely on an investigative mission. Together we explored the Southern Cardamom Forest, a vast Cambodian jungle rich with biodiversity. The forest’s wild elephants, tigers, primates, and many other endangered species are threatened by immediate and long-term environmental hazards such as mining and climate change.
Cambodia, although not often the topic of major news headlines, is a critical climate change hotspot. Although less exposed to climate impacts than other Southeast Asian countries, Cambodia emerges as one of the most climate vulnerable countries in the region. Its vulnerability to climate change is specifically attributed to the government’s low capacity to adapt. Climate change, although often envisioned as a purely scientific and technical problem, is an equally important governance issue calling for attention, service, and engagement from lawyers and policy makers alike.
Cambodia, still reeling from a devastating genocide that killed nearly 20 percent of its population and suffering under an extremely high level of governmental corruption, lacks the governmental and institutional capacity necessary to help its citizens adapt to climate changes, such as flooding and droughts (both of which are projected to increase in Cambodia over the course of the 21st century).
Nearly 80 percent of people in Cambodia live in rural areas with no access to basic human services such as electricity, water, toilets, all-weather roads, and health clinics. Thus poverty is one significant barrier to building adaptive capacity. In addition to poverty and the lack of adequate technology and infrastructure, a weak rule of law only further exacerbates Cambodia’s long-term sensitivity to climate change and other environmental impacts, which threaten to risk Cambodian livelihoods, economies, and cultures.
Recently, a Cambodian mining company, the United Khmer Group, applied to the government of Cambodia for an economic land concession to mine 20,000 hectares (about 60,000 acres) of contiguous tropical forest in the heart of the Southern Cardamoms.
Working with photojournalists Michael and Kevin, and the staff of Wildlife Alliance (the lead NGO in the Southern Cardamom forest region), Three Degrees produced a short (12-minute) video about the Southern Cardamom forest and the titanium mine, documenting some of the long-term environmental threats to human well-being and stability in Cambodia.
The area threatened by the mine is more well-known perhaps for its promise as an ecotourism destination than as a mining site. Recently, the New York Times featured an article about the Southern Cardamon Mountains and Chi Phat—one village threatened by the mine—as a prime ecotourism destination. However, critical threats including the mine received only a few quick sentences of treatment buried between lavish descriptions of orchids and mountain bike treks. For example, after reading several sentences such as this one—”[e]ating by the light given off by fishing cages doubling as lamps, the group recounted the day’s activities: bird-watching at sunrise, mountain biking across rocky streams, swimming in waterfalls”—it’s hard to visualize how industrial mining equipment fits into the grand scheme.Going forward, we are examining the feasibility of conducting significant project work in Cambodia. Our interest is to advise the government of Cambodia on building awareness, drafting legislation, and boosting adaptation capacity within the Cambodian Parliament specifically using scenario planning tools and our climate justice seminar curriculum. Many of the thousands of nonprofits working in the country are effectively substituting for effective governance while donor money ($1.1 billion last year) doesn’t reach the people. Our goal in working to strengthen the governmental institutions acknowledges that strong institutions and rule of law protections are critical factors for climate resilience in Cambodia. Such work cannot be outsourced to non-profits.
For more information, watch the video clip (click the “play” button on the top picture above) or read another post about the trip here. Also, you can view additional photos or read the full trip report here.