REDD Forests Endangered by Loggers, Soldiers

Banteay Ampil district, Oddar Meanchey province – The families of Beng commune have new neighbors: a battalion of Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) soldiers building a military base inside one of 13 pockets across the province aiming to be the first forest-based carbon trading scheme in the country. Forestry Administration officials said they either knew nothing of the bases or denied that work had started. The military declined to comment. But community forest members, a commune chief and a rights group in touch with local families all said that construction started at least two weeks ago, threatening to take over a good chunk of the carbon-trading project area. The community forest groups fighting to save the trees are feeling ever more doubtful that the carbon trading scheme—with its promise of saving their forests and funneling millions of dollars into their communities for schools, clinics and better farms—will ever deliver. “Of course it’s a disaster,” Sa Thlai, who heads the forest groups, said of the new base. “We are so concerned about the increase in deforestation from logging and land encroachment. We’re concerned the soldiers will start clearing the forest on a large scale to build their base.”…