Mangrove ‘bulldozed for rubber plantation’
Some 1,200 hectares of flooded mangrove forest in two communes of Kampong Cham province have been bulldozed and filled in, robbing more than 700 families of the long-standing source of their livelihood, villagers there said yesterday.
Villagers in Tuol Snuol commune in Kroch Chhmar district and Rokap Pram commune in Tbong Khmum district said that the land had been filled in on the orders of Sim Kosal, a representative of Tabao Rubber Plantation, which local authorities insist was given the land legally. …
Fellow villager Met Sarmun, 60, maintained that his village chief, Uk Pang, and two community leaders, Nam Sean and Chim Sreang, collected thumb prints from villagers to ask their permission to build a small dam to create a reservoir for irrigation and fishing. …
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/mangrove-%E2%80%98bulldozed-rubber-plantation%E2%80%99
