The granting of two new land concessions totaling nearly 20,000 hectares in Stung Treng province’s Sesan district have environmentalists concerned that forest will soon come under the axe.
The 10,000-hectare Sopheak Nika Investment and 9,917-hectare Sal Sophea Peanich tree plantations were approved by Prime Minister Hun Sen following a review of their proposals that included the Provincial Department of Environment in the process, officials said Monday.
According to documents obtained Monday, the two firms were granted permission to plant acacia, rubber and teak trees in Kom Phun and Kbal Romeas communes after Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun sent a letter to the prime minister requesting the concessions.
Pich Darong of the World Conservation Union said his organization is worried that old-growth jungle will be cleared to make way for the plantations. “The area has tall trees and thick jungle,” he said.
Tep Bunnarith of the Cultural and Environmental Preservation Association, whose organization works in the Sesan area, said that the concession areas consist of second-growth forest but with tall trees and a rich wildlife.
Environment Minister Mok Mareth could not be reached for comment Sunday or Monday.
Stung Treng Governor Khim Seila said that after receiving the letter from the Ministry of Agriculture, he asked provincial level officials to conduct a study on the likely effects of the tree plantations.
“I don’t know if the Provincial Department of Environment reported to the national level. That is their business,” he said. “The Ministry of Agriculture played a big role in the concession, I have no right to oppose it,” Khim Seila said. “I just follow orders.”
In minutes of a provincial meeting during which an evaluation of the concessions was discussed, the land is described by a joint-committee as new-growth forest that had been regularly cut since 1990, according to a copy of the document.
Om Makarry, the provincial forestry administration chief, would not confirm if the concessions included old growth forests . “The relevant ministries have studied this already, so you do not need to ask this question,” he said Sunday. “The only thing left is to clear the land for the nursery,” he said.