Titles closer, but ‘land damage done’
Three ethnic Jarai minority communities passed a crucial hurdle on the way to obtaining communal land titles in government-sanctioned ceremonies this week. But a human-rights activist tempered the celebration, saying mass deforestation in the province had already stripped most of the land the villagers are claiming. Chhay Thy, co-ordinator for the human-rights group Adhoc, applauded the Ministry of Interior for recognising the O’Yadav district communities as legal entities, the second of three application steps on the road to communal land titles. But after attending a ceremony yesterday in Korng Yu village, he said 70 per cent of the forests in the province had disappeared since 1979. …
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032264629/National/titles-closer-but-land-damage-done.html
