Cambodia suspends new land concessions to companies

Cambodia’s government, facing growing protests by villagers and warnings about disappearing wilderness, suspended the granting of land to domestic and foreign companies on Monday in a move to curb forced evictions and illegal logging. Rights groups in the impoverished but resource-rich Southeast Asian country said the temporary measure did not go far enough and a permanent ban was needed. The government said in the order, signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen, it would confiscate any concessions that involved the grabbing of villagers’ land and illegal logging. Environmental activists say national parks and wildlife sanctuaries in Cambodia could soon vanish as foreign companies, including Chinese investors, accelerate work in protected areas.The government said in the order the suspension was due to the “necessary and urgent need to guarantee equity and to strengthen the effectiveness of granting economic land concessions”. The area granted rose six-fold between 2010 and 2011 as the government encouraged mining and growing of rubber. Protected wilderness was not supposed to be on the list but changes to the law have carved out some of these areas for companies to use. …

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