Banong Families Close to Communal Land Titles
An indigenous ethnic Banong community in Mondolkiri province yesterday began the final stage in acquiring a communal land title, setting it up to become only the sixth community in the country to secure one of the coveted documents. Established by the 2001 Land Law, communal land titles were designed specifically to protect the ancestral land of the country’s minorities from outside developers by making it harder to sell. … Em Sopheak, provincial coordinator for the Community Legal Education Center, worried that the dozens of other communities in various stages of the application process would remain at risk from developers once funding for such work from donor countries dries up. …
