[hepr-vn] Cambodia: Koh Kong villagers demand that Wildaid withdraw from area

[Vern Weitzel]

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2008091121638/National-news/Koh-Kong-villagers-demand-that-Wildaid-withdraw-from-area.html

Koh Kong villagers demand that Wildaid withdraw from area	 	 	
Written by May Titthara	
FRIDAY, 12 SEPTEMBER 2008

Villagers say that the NGO should specify exactly where the province's protected 
forest zone is or allow farmers to use the land

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TOO MANY COOKS
Villagers say that WildAID should withdraw from the province as they already 
have a provincial governor, a district governor and commune chief to tell them 
what they can and cannot do. "We don't need WildAID as well," said villager Svay 
Top.
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MORE than 300 Koh Kong villagers have demanded that the wildlife NGO WildAID 
withdraw from their communities after the organisation prohibited them from 
planting crops on their farms, some of which fall within a protected forest area.

"We want WildAID to withdraw from Smach Mean Chey and Bak Khlang communes 
because ... they don't allow us to plant crops as they say that our farms are in 
the protected forest," said Tan Sokhuom, Smach Mean Chey's village 
representative. "If they can't withdraw, they should show us exactly where the 
protected forest is and allow farmers to use at lease some of the land to plant 
crops."

For many villagers who have been living in the area for years, their livelihood 
is at stake.

"They came to pull out my seeds and tear down my house where I have lived since 
1999," said villager Svay Top, adding that all the villagers depend on farming 
to live.

Veann Sophanna, a WildAID officer in Koh Kong, advised the villagers to seek 
high level government intervention over the case, saying the NGO could not help 
them.

"We will ask Prime Minister Samdach Hun Sen for help," said Tan Sokhuom. "If we 
don't get a resolution after three months we will hold a big demonstration."