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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA —  Companies chaired by a prominent Cambodian tycoon are quietly starting the approval process for two dormant hydropower dam projects in Cambodia’s Ratanakiri province, according to documents reviewed by VOA, alarming environmentalists who say the projects could disrupt Indigenous people’s livelihoods and the Mekong River ecosystem. Lower Srepok 3 and Lower Sesan 3 are named for the major Mekong tributaries where they would be built and have been part of Cambodia's dam pipeline since 2003, when the government began planning hydropower investments. Several Chinese companies pursued approvals for the dams around a decade ago, but the projects…

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Several of the extreme climate events throughout the world in the past year have spurred a sense of urgency among Indigenous communities who are the first to be affected.…

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Today, there are an estimated 470 million indigenous peoples who live across ninety countries in the world. It makes up less than five percent of the world's population. There are more than 7,000 languages and five thousand diverse cultures among indigenous groups. According to NRDSESIP Data, Cambodia is one nation that has almost twenty-two groups of indigenous peoples, equal to 1.34% of the Cambodian population, which covers sixteen provinces in this country.[1] The livelihood systems of Indigenous communities predominantly hinge upon the utilization of land, forests, and various other natural resources.  The practice of shifting cultivation,…

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Joint Statement of Indigenous Community Representatives Of the Kingdom of Cambodia On Concerns Relating to the Environment and Natural Resources Code Angkor Century Resort and Spa, Siem Reap December 19, 2023 ************** On December 19, 2023, at the Angkor Century Resort in Siem Reap, we, 189 representatives of Indigenous communities, including 44 women, convened at the National Co…

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Radang is a sacred mountain located within the Punong indigenous community land in Pou Lung village in Senmonorom district’s Romnea commune in Mondulkiri province. The villagers have always celebrated the mountain by making offerings to the spirits, an activity that has long prevailed. However, the Radang Mountain land, covering an area of 4.76 hectares, is now part of a four year-long land dispute after some villagers allegedly sold the mountain land to two outsiders, identified as Phin Sophareak and Seng Yien. Read the full story at: ‘Return Our Sacred…

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  [caption id="attachment_1624" align="alignnone" width="2048"] The leaching ponds at Late Cheng’s mining site in Sochet commune, Kampong Thom province, pose a contamination threat to the waterways inside Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary. Image by Gerald Flynn / Mongabay.[/caption]   KAMPONG THOM, Cambodia — “The company operates as they please. We’ve asked the authorities for help, but they won’t do anything for us,” said Bunnarith*, a lifelong resident of Snang An village in the densely forested province of Kampong Thom. “The people l…