Not far from the truck down an old logging trail, rangers in Cambodia’s Virachey National Park conducted a biodiversity survey within the protected area, much of which is unexplored. The dense forest is one of the last relatively untouched landscapes in the fast-developing Mekong region.

“Logging and poaching is an issue but the park has a way of protecting itself,” said Thon Soukhoun, who has been a ranger since the forest became a national park in 1993. “Nowhere in the country is like Virachey, it is Cambodia’s gem.”

Nestled in the Kingdom’s northeastern corner on the borders of Laos and Vietnam, Virachey was among the first Cambodian forests declared a protected area 30 years ago. At more than 3,300 square kilometres – nearly five times the size of the capital, Phnom Penh – it was the largest national park in the country at the time.

But as Southeast Asia races to cut reliance on fossil fuels, partly through climate finance schemes, Cambodia is risking this regional biodiversity hot spot for renewable energy.

Confidential documents and maps leaked to Southeast Asia Globe from meetings between developers and government officials this year indicate at least two hydropower projects within the park are quietly underway. These files show initial assessment work has begun at the dam sites in the core of Virachey, which is also a heartland for the indigenous communities along Cambodia’s borders.

To counter the thirst for development, researchers are monetising the national park in a different way by putting a dollar sign on Virachey’s value as a potential carbon credit project. This in an attempt to prove the protected area may be worth more standing then if felled.

The stakes of this trade-off are high. Dam construction will threaten endangered species by altering river flow and clear-cutting old-growth trees, according to environmentalists. The same leaked papers also indicate one of the dams will create a 215-hectare reservoir, flooding that section of forest.

Conservationists also fear hydropower dams in Virachey may jeopardise hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of conservation funding from the U.K. for the sake of “clean” energy, the very definition of which they challenge.

“To build a dam within this valuable area within the national park, you would have to create access roads, cut down trees and disturb wildlife,” said Pablo Sinovas, country director for the international conservation nonprofit Fauna & Flora. “I would not call any energy coming out of that ‘clean’.”

In the three decades since Virachey was made a national park, Cambodia has lost more than 30% of its forest cover. Protected areas, often only safeguarded on paper, have been deeply affected by this large-scale logging.

While Virachey hasn’t gone unscathed, the park’s ruggedness protected it from the brunt of this deforestation. The forest is now known by Sinovas and other wildlife experts as a “final frontier” for biodiversity in the Mekong region, due largely to its transboundary habitat for animals migrating across the triple border.

As development discussions continue behind closed doors, Chou Phanith, an associate professor at the Royal University of Phnom Penh specialised in environmental economics, is calculating how many tonnes of carbon dioxide Virachey can absorb and potentially sell as carbon credits.

In Phanith’s words, “money talks”.

If the forest is monetised before dam construction breaks ground, it could lead to a debate about whether or not Virachey is worth more standing than if toppled for hydropower, Phanith said. He pointed out the dams are being proposed in one of the areas with the highest potential for carbon storage.

“If forest ecosystems do not have any economic value, policymakers and the private sector will always regard forest ecosystems as less important than development,” Phanith said. “We calculate the economic value of a functioning forest ecosystem as part of a win-win strategy, where we don’t always block development but force sustainable and responsible development.”

The dam proposals in Virachey aren’t entirely new. The first published document on energy production in the park dates back to a 2009 master plan for hydropower development in Cambodia, backed by the state-run Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Miyoshi Asagi, counsellor for the Japanese embassy in Cambodia, said JICA’s involvement with these dam developments ended when the masterplan was published.

In August, JICA announced it is developing a new road map to clean energy for Cambodia. Asagi said she is “aware hydropower plants have lots of debate” and that “there are no projects in the pipeline for hydropower.”

An October report by WWF, released before the World Hydropower Congress this month, found that the ecological toll of dams in the Lower Mekong Basin outweighed the rewards of renewable energy.

The report stated “as hydropower development grows, the cascading nature of its impacts could be wider and more significant than understood today.”

The potential dams in Virachey are located on and named after the Prek Liang River. This waterway is a tributary to the Sesan River, which is part of Cambodia’s “3S River Basin”, itself a major tributary to the Mekong River. 

The Mekong is reeling from compounding hydropower pressures, with additional dam developments threatening to further choke off the once-mighty river.

In Cambodia, the government typically provides little transparency for major infrastructure projects. Basic documents such as environmental and social impact assessments are not often made public.

While officials from both the ministries of environment, as well as mines and energy, did not respond to multiple requests for comment, Minister of Environment Eang Sophalleth attended the Cambodia Climate Change Summit in November.

During a question and answer session at the summit, Sophalleth responded to Globe’s inquiry about energy plans in national parks, such as Virachey, by broadly talking about balance and the need to address developments in a “scientific matter”. He then said national security through energy security is a priority.

Sophalleth continued that the ministry “not do things because we feel like doing it”, he said that environmental studies and impact assessments are done “properly… before we decide to do all of this.”

When asked if these documents will be made accessible, he said: “When the public is receptive enough to accept it, to read, to think and to see what we are trying to achieve, yes.”

The leaked files reviewed by Globe, which span several years, indicate an opaque web of four potential companies that were at some point involved in the hydropower plans for Virachey.

Three are developers from South Korea – KTC Company, Kyung An Cable and Korean South-East Power – while the fourth is a Phnom Penh-based electrical equipment supplier called Rich-Grid Technologies. None replied to requests for comment and it is unclear which, if any, are now involved with the project.

“These are very sensitive documents,” said Bunleap Leang, director of the local environmental organisation, 3S Rivers Protection Network (3SPN). He said that involved groups prefer to keep potentially controversial plans under wraps. “If the dam is good from the perspective of the government and the developer then, to them, no one else needs to know.”

Plans may be further along than simple discussions. Bunleap said he confirmed through the 3SPN network that hiring at Tabok village, near one of the proposed dam sites, has already begun.

Virachey tumbles from Cambodia’s lowlands up into the biodiversity hotspot that is the Annamite Mountains, explained the conservationist Sinovas, comparing it to “two worlds converging in the park.”

At the time the sites were studied for potential hydropower, little to nothing was known about the effect these developments would have on biodiversity and forest health, Sinovas noted. But that’s changed in the 15 years since.

“As we started to understand more and more about what was in the park we are realizing its conservation is critical for Cambodian and regional biodiversity,” said Sinovas.

Fauna & Flora has set up roughly 140 camera traps within Virachey, documenting the critically endangered sunda pangolin, northern yellow-cheeked gibbon and a half-dozen other threatened species.

The national park is also the first place large-antlered muntjacs were recorded in Cambodia and is the last possible refuge for kouprey, the Kingdom’s national mammal, which has not been seen in decades.

“Virachey is one of those areas where deforestation levels have been much lower. That is partly why we have all of this wildlife,” Sinovas said. “Doing anything to damage that would not be in the national interest of Cambodia.”

He added the immediate impacts of construction are backed with longer-term threats such as poaching, illegal logging and other forest crimes common in Cambodia’s more accessible protected areas.

Earlier this year, the U.K. embassy in Phnom Penh confirmed about $730,000 is earmarked for Virachey as part of Britain’s global Biodiversity Landscape Fund.

Marc Thayre, deputy head of mission at the embassy, said the “vast majority of the funding” for the Mekong region is bound for Virachey.

“This is designed to increase the value of the park as a park itself,” said Thayre, who hoped the funds “realign the idea of what an asset is” by putting more value to the forest if left standing then if exploited.

Thayre shifted in his seat when asked about the proposed dams.

“If you want to tackle issues, like climate change and biodiversity, then you have to work in all places in the world with all governments,” he said. “We have to be honest with ourselves about the challenge and tradeoff between environment and development. There will always be some tension there.”

He also pointed to the conflict between “building things in national parks” and the “challenge of local communities not having power.”

“The world changes all the time,” he said. “There are always exit strategies written into any programs we do anywhere in the world. I hope that won’t be the case.”

Cambodia’s hunger for development has recently been joined with a craving for carbon credits.

Such credits are intended to limit emissions by preventing deforestation in places that might otherwise be vulnerable to development, such as Virachey. Major polluters then offset their fossil fuel emissions by essentially sponsoring the protection of these forests through carbon credit purchases.

In recent months, Cambodia’s carbon credits have come under scrutiny that goes beyond global questions over the effectiveness of credits as a whole.

The largest registered carbon credit zone is facing allegations of human rights abuses from the global advocacy group Human Rights Watch. In response, the world’s leading carbon credit registry service, Verra, suspended issuing new credits to the Southern Cardamoms REDD+ project.

Cambodia’s appetite to sell carbon credits, however, remains unsatisfied.

With the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity, Phanith studied the feasibility of REDD+ sites in Cambodia and found about 40% of the Kingdom’s total landmass – about 79,200 square kilometres – could be considered for carbon credits.

Virachey stands as one of the top carbon credit prizes.

In research conducted for the centre and viewed by the Globe, Phanith identified three core areas within Virachey with an estimated total carbon storage capacity of 28 million tonnes.

Phanith calculated credits for the park could be worth more than $200 million in total if left as is, depending on the market rate for carbon. He stressed this didn’t even begin to factor in the benefits of healthy hydrology, biodiversity and other ecosystem services.

If the proposed dams are built, they’d be in one of the three core areas identified by Phanith.

“If you want to develop Virachey into hydropower dams, or whatever, make sure the economic value is more than [the cost of carbon]. If it is, go ahead,” he said. “But be willing to pay [that] anyways to offset.”

But dollar signs can’t account for everything.

Forty seven rangers are assigned to Virachey, many are from the indigenous groups who live in the park.

Several are from the approximately 60,000-strong Brau ethnic minority group from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. To them, Virachey is more than a carbon sink or a potential energy source.

While on patrol, indigenous rangers laughed as they encouraged Globe reporters not to kill the leeches sucking on their arms, legs, neck and right ear. They called it a “forest tax” owed to Virachey. Instead of killing the leaches, rangers smoked tobacco-leaf cigarettes to ward off the blood-suckers.

As the patrol ended for the day, a shivering breeze swept in as the sunset painted the Veal Thom grasslands gold.

Sra Er, who is Brau and leads Virachey’s Taveng Ranger Station, said to set alarms for 2 a.m. for star-gazing.

When the time rolled around, Er was embarrassed.

The night sky was shielded by overcast clouds and the moon’s glare. To make up for the miserably early morning, Er unscrewed a gasoline canister filled with homemade rice wine.

Under the red glow of a headlamp as he sipped the spirit, Er spoke about the Brau peoples’ connection to Virachey, which he said was the reason he became a ranger.

When asked about potential dams in the park, he grew silent and shook his head.

“We care about Virachey and we protect the park from what we can,” he said.

This article was produced by a collaboration between The Japan Times and Southeast Asia Globe, with support from The Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network.

A Khmer-language version of this story can be found here, with translations by Sophanna Lay and Nasa Dip.

The post For renewable energy, Cambodia risks ‘final frontier’ Virachey National Park appeared first on Southeast Asia Globe.

នៅតាមផ្លូវដើរក្នុងព្រៃ ខ្ញ៉ំដើរតាមឧទ្យានុរក្ស នៅពេលដែលពួកគាត់ធ្វើការសិក្សា អំពីជីវចម្រុះនៅក្នុងតំបន់អភិរក្ស ដែលភាគច្រើននៃតំបន់នោះ នៅមិនទាន់បានគេចូលដល់់នៅឡើយទេ។

នេះជាឧទ្យានជាតិវីរៈជ័យ ជាតំបន់អភិរក្សធម្មជាតិដ៏ស្រស់ស្អាតមួយ របស់កម្ពុជាដែលមិនមានការរំខានពីខាងក្រៅ ហើយស្ថិតនៅតំបន់មេគង្គដែលមានការអភិវឌ្ឍដ៏លឿន។

លោក ធន់ សុខុន  បានបំពេញការងារជាមន្ត្រីឧទ្យានុរក្ស ចាប់តាំងពីព្រៃនេះត្រូវបានគេកំណត់ជាឧទ្យានជាតិនៅឆ្នាំ ១៩៩៣ បានប្រាប់ខ្ញុំថា៖ «ការកាប់ឈើ និងការដាក់អន្ទាក់ គឺជាបញ្ហា ប៉ុន្តែឧទ្យាននេះក៏មានរបាំងធម្មជាតិការពារខ្លួនឯងដែរ»។

«គ្មានកន្លែងណាដែលដូចទៅនឹងវីរៈជ័យទេ។ វីរៈជ័យគឺជាគ្រាប់ពេជ្ររបស់កម្ពុជា»។

ប្រទេសនៅអាស៊ីអាគ្នេយ៍កំពុងប្រកួតប្រជែងគ្នា កាត់បន្ថយឧស្ម័នកាបូនិកនៅក្នុងវិស័យថាមពល ដោយមួយចំនួនគឺតាមរយៈការផ្តល់នូវមូលនិធិអាកាសធាតុ។ ចំណែកឯកម្ពុជាវិញ កំពុងតែធ្វើសកម្មភាពអភិវឌ្ឍន៏ តំបន់ដែលសំបូរទៅដោយជីវៈចម្រុះរបស់ខ្លួន ដើម្បីបង្កើននូវថាមពលដែលកកើតឡើងវិញ។ 

សកម្មភាពបែបនេះបានធ្វើឱ្យមានការជជែកវែកញែក អំពីផលប៉ះពាល់ដល់ធនធានធម្មជាតិ ក្នុងការទាញយកថាមពលកកើតឡើងវិញមកប្រើប្រាស់។ ក្រុមអ្នកអភិរក្សបារម្ភថា គម្រោងសាងសង់ទំនប់វារីអគ្គីសនីនៅវីរៈជ័យ នឹងធ្វើឱ្យរាជរដ្ឋាភិបាល [កម្ពុជា] ខាតបង់ជំនួយរាប់សែនផោនពីប្រទេសអង់គ្លេស ដែលគាំទ្រដល់ថាមពល «ស្អាត» ហើយនេះគឺជាអ្វីដែល ក្រុមអ្នកអភិរក្សព្យាយាមទប់ស្កាត់ ដើម្បីកុំឱ្យមានការកាប់បំផ្លាញ។

ដើម្បីទប់ស្កាត់នូវការអភិវឌ្ឍ ក្រុមអ្នកស្រាវជ្រាវបានប្រែក្លាយវីរៈជ័យទៅជាព្រៃដែលរកចំនូលបាន តាមរយះសក្ដានុពលឥណទានកាបូន។ នេះជាការព្យយាមបង្ហាញថាតំបន់ការពារមានតម្លៃលើសលប់ បើពុំមានការប៉ះពាល់ផ្ដេសផ្ដាស។

ស្ថិតនៅភូមិភាគឦសាននៃប្រទេសកម្ពុជា វីរៈជ័យស្ថិតក្នុងចំណោមព្រៃដំបូងដែលត្រូវបានប្រកាសជាតំបន់អភិរក្ស នៅឆ្នាំ ១៩៩៣។

ដោយមានផ្ទៃដីជាង ៣,៣០០គីឡូម៉ែត្រការ៉េ ទំហំប្រមាណជិតប្រាំដងនៃរាជធានីភ្នំពេញ វីរៈជ័យគឺជាឧទ្យានជាតិដ៏ធំជាងគេបង្អស់ នៅក្នុងប្រទេសកម្ពុជានាពេលនោះ។ 

អំឡុងពេលបីទស្សវត្សរ៍មកនេះ  កម្ពុជាបានបាត់បង់ព្រៃច្រើនជាង៣០ភាគរយនៃព្រៃសរុប រួមទាំងឧទ្យានជាតិផងដែរ ដែលភាគច្រើនត្រូវបានអះអាងថាជាព្រៃអភិរក្សត្រឹមតែលើឯកសារ ប៉ុន្តែជាក់ស្តែងទទួលរងនូវផលប៉ះពាល់ ពីការកាប់ឈើទ្រង់ទ្រាយធំ។ 

ខណៈ វីរ់ៈជ័យមិនទាន់រងផលប៉ះពាល់ សភាពរឹងមាំ និងក្រាស់ឃ្មឹករបស់ព្រៃនេះបាន ការពារវាពីកាប់បំផ្លាញដ៏ធ្ងន់ធ្ងរ ហើយត្រូវបានអ្នកជំនាញចាត់ទុកជា «ដង្ហើមការពារចុងក្រោយ» សម្រាប់ជីវចម្រុះនៅតំបន់មេគង្គ។ នេះក៏ពីព្រោះ​តែវា​ជាដែនជម្រកសត្វព្រៃដ៏សម្បើម ដែលអនុញ្ញាតឲ្យសត្វព្រៃ អាចបម្លាស់ទីឆ្លងកាត់ទឹកដីប្រទេសកម្ពុជា ឡាវ និងវៀតណាមបាន។

ប៉ុន្តែគម្រោងសាងសង់ថាមពលវារីអគ្គីសនី នឹងបង្អាក់នូវអនាគតរបស់ព្រៃមួយនេះ។

ផែនការសាងសង់ទំនប់វារីអគ្គីសនីយ៉ាងតិចពីរនៅវីរៈជ័យ ដែលគាំទ្រដោយរដ្ឋាភិបាលកម្ពុជា អាចនឹងបង្កផលប៉ះពាល់ដល់តំបន់អភិរក្សនេះ។

បើយោងទៅតាមក្រុមអ្នកជំនាញបរិស្ថាន ដំណើរការសាងសង់ទំនប់វារីអគ្គីសនី នឹងគំរាមកំហែងដល់សត្វដែលកំពុងរងគ្រោះ និងជិតផុតពូជ ដោយសារតែបម្រែបម្រួលនូវចរន្តទឹកធម្មជាតិ ដែលធ្វើឱ្យជម្រកសត្វត្រូវលិចលង់ ព្រមទាំងការកាប់ឆ្ការដើមឈើធំៗ។ អ្នកអភិរក្សក៏មានការព្រួយបារម្ភផងដែរថា ការសាងសង់ផ្លូវទៅកាន់គម្រោងទំនប់ទាំងនេះ អាចនឹងបើកឱកាសឱ្យឧក្រិដ្ឋកម្មសត្វព្រៃ និងព្រៃឈើ ដែលកើតមានជាទូទៅនៅក្នុងតំបន់ការពារផ្សេងៗ រាតត្បាតដល់វីរៈជ័យ ។  
ក្រុមអ្នកអភិរក្សបានជម្រុញថា អគ្គីសនីណាដែលបានផលិត និងបង្ករផលប៉ះពាល់បរិស្ថាន មិនអាចរាប់ជាថាមពល «ស្អាត» នោះទេ។  ជាពិសេសប្រសិនបើការអភិវឌ្ឍធ្វើឱ្យប៉ះពាល់ដល់កេរ្តិ៍ឈ្មោះ របស់ឧទ្យាជាតិវីរៈជ័យ ដែលគេចាត់ទុកជា ឧទ្យានបេតិកភណ្ឌអាស៊ាន និងជាព្រៃអភិរក្សដែលមានទំហំទឹកប្រាក់ ៦០០,០០០ ផោន ដែលជាជំនួយទទួលបានពីស្ថានទូតអង់គ្លេសប្រចាំកម្ពុជា។

ស្របពេលដែលកិច្ចពិភាក្សាអំពីការអភិវឌ្ឍ សុទ្ធសឹងជាការប្រជុំបិទទ្វារ សាស្ត្រាចារ្យរង លោក ជូ ផានិត នៅសាកលវិទ្យាល័យភូមិន្ទភ្នំពេញ កំពុងតែសិក្សាទៅលើបរិមាណនៃឧស្ម័នកាបូនិក ដែលឧទ្យានជាតិវីរៈជ័យអាចស្រូបយកបាន ហើយថែមទាំងអាចដោះដូរជាមួយនឹង ជំនួយទៅលើការកាត់បន្ថយឧស្ម័នកាបូនិក។ លោក ផានិត បានមានប្រសាសន៍ថា នេះជា «ការពិភាក្សាអំពីផលប្រយោជន៍»។

លោកមានប្រសាសន៍ថា ប្រសិនបើជំនួយមកដល់មុនពេលគម្រោងសាងសង់វារីអគ្គីសនីចាប់ផ្តើមនោះ គេអាចនឹងថ្លឹងថ្លែងអំពីផលប្រយោជន៍ រវាងការរក្សាទុក និងការអភិវឌ្ឍវារីអគ្គីសនី ថាមួយណាផ្តល់ផលចំណេញច្រើនជាង ជាពិសេសនៅពេលដែលគម្រោងនេះ ត្រូវបានគេដាក់ស្នើរឱ្យមានការសាងសង់នៅក្នុងបរិវេណ ដែលអាចស្រូបយកឧស្ម័នកាបូនិកបានច្រើន។

«ប្រសិនបើប្រព័ន្ធអេកូឡូស៊ីរបស់ព្រៃ មិនបានផ្តល់នូវផលប្រយោជន៍សេដ្ឋកិច្ច អ្នកនយោបាយ និងក្រុមហ៊ុនឯកជន នឹងតែងតែចាត់ទុកការអភិវឌ្ឍសេដ្ឋកិច្ចមានសារៈសំខាន់ជាងជាអេកូឡូសុី»។ លោកផានិត បានមានប្រសាសន៍។ លោកបានបន្តថា៖ «យើងថ្លឹងថ្លែងគុណតម្លៃសេដ្ឋកិច្ច នៃអេកូឡូស៊ីរបស់ព្រៃឈើ ជាផ្នែកមួយនៃយុទ្ធសាស្ត្រឈ្នះឈ្នះ។ នេះមានន័យថា យើងមិនមែនរារាំងរាល់សកម្មភាពអភិវឌ្ឍន៏ទាំំងអស់នោះទេ ប៉ុន្តែយើងដាក់គំនៀប ដើម្បីឱ្យការអភិវឌ្ឍប្រព្រឹត្តទៅដោយចីរភាព និងមានទំនួលខុសត្រូវ»។

គម្រោងសាងសង់ទំនប់វារីអគ្គីសនីទ្វេរដង

គម្រោងអភិវឌ្ឍវារីអគ្គីសនីនៅវីរៈជ័យ បានផ្អាកដំណើរការជាយូរមកហើយ។ របាយការណ៍ចុងក្រោយ ទាក់ទងនឹងការផលិតអគ្គីសនីនៅឧទ្យានជាតិខាងលើនេះ បានចេញជាលើកដំបូងនៅឆ្នាំ ២០០៩ ដែលជា ផែនការមេសម្រាប់អភិវឌ្ឍវារីអគ្គីសនី នៅប្រទេសកម្ពុជា ដែលទទួលបានការជួយជ្រោមជ្រែង ពីគម្រោងរបស់ទីភ្នាក់ងារសហប្រតិបត្តិការអន្តរជាតិជប៉ុន ឬចៃកា (JICA) របស់រដ្ឋាភិបាលជប៉ុន។

លោកស្រី Miyoshi Asagi ទីប្រឹក្សាអមស្ថានទូតជប៉ុនប្រចាំកម្ពុជា បានមានប្រសាសន៍ថា៖ «អង្គការចៃកាមិនជាប់ពាក់ព័ន្ធក្នុងការសាងសង់ទំនប់វារីអគ្គីសនីនេះទេ»។ លោកស្រីបានបន្តថា៖ «ពួកយើងបានចូលរួមក្នុងការស្រាវជ្រាវ និងផែនការមេដែលបានធ្វើរួច ការពាក់ព័ន្ធរបស់អង្គការចៃកា បានបញ្ចប់ហើយ»។

ប្រទេសជប៉ុន ត្រូវបានគេចាត់ទុក ជា​ ម្ចាស់ជំនួយដ៏សំខាន់ របស់កម្ពុជា។ ប្រទេសទាំងពីរបានរំលឹក ខួប ៧០ឆ្នាំ នៃទំនាក់ទំនងការទូត ក្នុងឆ្នាំនេះ។
នៅខែសីហា អង្គការចៃកាបានប្រកាសនូវ ផែនការថ្មីដើម្បីថាមពលស្អាត សម្រាប់ការអភិវឌ្ឍប្រទេសកម្ពុជា។ លោកស្រី Asagi មានប្រសាសន៍ថា គាត់ «ជ្រាបអំពីការជជែកវែកញែកជាច្រើន​ ពាក់ព័ន្ធនឹងវារីអគ្គីសនី» ហើយលោកស្រីបានលើកឡើងថា «មិនមានគម្រោងអភិវឌ្ឍវារីអគ្គីសនីនោះទេ»។

សំណុំឯកសារ រួមទាំងផែនទីសាងសង់ដ៏សម្ងាត់ ត្រូវបានគេបានលើកយកមកពិភាក្សាក្នុងកិច្ចប្រជុំនៅឆ្នាំនេះ ដោយមានការចូលរួមពីអ្នកអភិវឌ្ឍន៍ និងមន្ត្រីរដ្ឋាភិបាលកម្ពុជា ដែលបានសង្កត់ធ្ងន់ទៅលើគម្រោងសាងសង់ទំនប់វារីអគ្គីសនី។ គម្រោងសាងសង់ទំនងជាមិនបង្អង់យូរទៀតនោះទេ។ យោងតាមការកាសែត The Japan Times បានបង្ហាញថា ការសិក្សា និងវាយតម្លៃអំពីការសាងសង់បាននឹងកំពុងចាប់ផ្តើមហើយ។

យោងទៅតាមឯកសារជាច្រើនបានបង្ហាញ នូវការអភិវឌ្ឍទំនប់វារីអគ្គីសនី បីកន្លែងដ៏មានសក្តានុពល ស្ថិតក្នុងឧទ្យានជាតិវីរៈជ័យ ដោយដាក់ឈ្មោះតាមទន្លេព្រែកលៀង ជាដៃទន្លេហូរចាក់ចូលទៅទន្លេសេសាន ដែលជាផ្នែកនៃ «ទន្លេ៣» ក្នុងប្រទេសកម្ពុជា។ 

ទន្លេសេកុង ទន្លេសេសាន និងទន្លេស្រែពក គឺជាដៃទន្លេមេគង្គ ដែលកំពុងរងផលប៉ះពាល់ដោយសារតែ ការប្រមូលផ្តុំនៃទំនប់វារីអគ្គីសនី ជាមួយនឹងការអភិវឌ្ឍទំនប់​ បន្ថែម ដែលគំរាមកំហែងដល់ទន្លេមេគង្គ ដែលកាលពីមុនមកមិនធ្លាប់មានការអភិវឌ្ឍច្រើនបែបនេះឡើយ។

គ្មានឯកសារណាមួយ រាប់តាំងពីការវាយតម្លៃផលប៉ះពាល់បរិស្ថាន ដល់ការសិក្សាអំពីលទ្ធភាព ត្រូវបានបង្ហាញជាសាធារណៈដោយរដ្ឋាភិបាលកម្ពុជា ឬអ្នកអភិវឌ្ឍន៍ឡើយ។

លោក លាង ប៊ុនលៀប នាយករបស់អង្គការបណ្តាញការពារទន្លេបី សេសាន ស្រែពក សេកុង (3SPN) មានប្រសាសន៍ថា «‍ឯកសារទាំងនេះជារឿងដ៏រសើប»។ លោកបានបន្តថា អ្នកដែលពាក់ព័ន្ទចង់​រក្សា​ផែនការដ៏​ចម្រូងចម្រាសនេះជារឿងសម្ងាត់។ «ប្រសិនបើរដ្ឋាភិបាល និងអុ្នកអភិវឌ្ឍន៍យល់ឃើញថា សំណង់នេះមានប្រយោជន៍ អញ្ចឹង​សម្រាប់ពួកគាត់ គឺគ្មាន​នរណាម្នាក់ចាំបាច់ដឹងអំពីដំណឹងនេះទេ»។

ផែនការសាងសង់នេះ អាចមិនត្រឹមតែជាការពិភាក្សាធម្មតាទេ។ លោក ប៊ុនលៀប បានបញ្ជាក់តាម​រយៈ​បណ្តាញ 3SPN ថា មានការជ្រើសរើសកម្មករឱ្យមកបម្រើការ​នៅ​ភូមិ​តាបុក ស្ថិតនៅក្បែរកន្លែងមួយ ដែលគេគ្រោងនឹងសាងសង់ទំនប់ក្នុងចំណោមទំនប់វារីអគ្គីសនីជាច្រើនទៀត បានចាប់ផ្តើមហើយ។ 

ឧទ្យានជាតិវីរៈជ័យស្ថិតក្រោមដែនសមត្ថកិច្ចរបស់ក្រសួងបរិស្ថាន ចំណែកក្រសួងរ៉ែ និងថាមពល ជាអ្នកដឹកនាំគម្រោងសាងសង់ទំនប់វារីអគ្គិសនី តែខាងក្រសួងទាំងពីរ មិនបានឆ្លើយតបទៅនឹងសំណើរសុំការអត្ថាធិប្បាយលើដំណាក់កាលអភិវឌ្ឍទំនប់វារីអគ្គីសនីទេ ។

ការចំណាយដ៏ច្រើនទៅលើការផលិតថាមពលស្អាត

ព្រែកលៀងគឺជាសរសៃឈាមដ៏សំខាន់របស់វីរៈជ័យ ហើយគម្រោងអភិវឌ្ឍន៍ទំនប់វារីអគ្គីសនី ក៏ស្ថិតនៅក្នុងឧទ្យានជាតិនេះដែរ។ 

លោក Pablo Sinovas នាយករបស់អង្គការសត្វព្រៃ និងរុក្ខជាតិអន្តរជាតិប្រចាំកម្ពុជា (Fauna & Flora) នៅកម្ពុជា ពន្យល់ថា ចាប់ពីតំបន់ទំនាបនៃឧទ្យាននេះ ដែលស្ថិតក្នុងទឹកដីប្រទេសកម្ពុជា រហូតដល់តំបន់ដ៏សំខាន់សម្រាប់ជីវៈចម្រុះ ដែលជា ជួរភ្នំអណ្ណាម ប្រៀបដូចជា «ពិភពពីរជួបគ្នានៅឧទ្យានតែមួយ»។ 

លោក Sinovas កត់សម្គាល់ថា នៅពេលដែលតំបន់ទាំងនោះត្រូវបានគេសិក្សាដើម្បីសាងសង់វារីអគ្គិសនី គេស្ទើរតែមិនបានដឹងអំពីផលប៉ះពាល់របស់វា ទៅលើជីវចម្រុះ និងព្រៃឈើឡើយ។ 

ប៉ុន្តែអ្វីៗបានប្រែប្រួលនារយៈពេល ១៥ឆ្នាំក្រោយ។

លោក Sinovas មានប្រសាសន៍ថា៖ «នៅពេលដែលយើងចាប់ផ្តើមយល់កាន់តែច្រើន អំពីលក្ខណះពិសេសនៃតំបន់នេះ យើងក៏ចាប់ផ្តើមភ្ញាក់ខ្លួនថា ការអភិរក្សមានសារៈសំខាន់ដល់ជីវចម្រុះក្នុងតំបន់​​ និងសម្រាប់កម្ពុជា​»។

អង្គការ Fauna & Flora  បានដំឡើងកាមេរ៉ាប្រមាណ ១៤០គ្រាប់ នៅវីរៈជ័យ ដោយធ្វើការផ្តិតយករូបភាពសត្វកំពុងរងគ្រោះ និងជិតផុតពូជ ដូចជាសត្វឈ្លូសយក្ស (large-antlered muntjac) សត្វទោចថ្ពាល់លឿង (northern yellow-cheeked giboon) និងសត្វមួយចំនួនទៀត។

ឧទ្យានជាតិនេះគឺជា ជម្រកដំបូងដែលសត្វឈ្លូសយក្សបង្ហាញខ្លួន ហើយជាកន្លែងដែលវាត្រូវបានគេធ្វើកំណត់ហេតុ និងជាជម្រកចុងក្រោយសម្រាប់គោព្រៃ ដែលជាសត្វថនិកសត្វតំណាងប្រទេសកម្ពុជា ដែលបានបាត់ខ្លួនអស់ជាច្រើនទសវត្សរ៍មកហើយ។

លោក Sinovas បានមានប្រសាសន៍ថា៖ «វីរៈជ័យគឺជាតំបន់មួយដែលអត្រាកាប់បំផ្លាញព្រៃឈើមានកម្រិតទាប»។ លោកបានបន្តថា់៖ «នេះជាមូលហេតុមួយដែលសត្វទាំងនេះនៅមានជីវិត»។

«ការធ្វើអ្វីមួយដែលប៉ះពាល់ដល់ជីវៈចម្រុះ មិនមែនជាផលប្រយោជន៍ជាតិ (កម្ពុជា) នោះទេ» លោកបានបន្ថែម។ 

ក្រៅពីផែនការសាងសង់ទំនប់វារីអគ្គីសនី ឯកសារនេះបានបង្ហាញថា វារីអគ្គីសនីត្រឹមតែមួយប៉ុណ្ណោះ អាចធ្វើឲ្យដីព្រៃចំនួន ២១៥ហិកតា​ នឹងត្រូវលិចលង់ ដោយសារបរិមាណទឹកដ៏សម្បើម របស់អាងស្តុកទឹកនៃវារីអគ្គីសនី។

លោកបានបន្តថា៖ «ជាក់ស្តែងថាមពលស្អាត ពិតជាសំខាន់ណាស់» ក្នុងកាត់បន្ថយនូវបម្រែបម្រួលអាកាសធាតុ។ ប៉ុន្តែ «វាក៏អាស្រ័យទៅតាមតំបន់ និងអាស្រ័យទៅតាមរបៀបផលិតវាដែរ»។ 

សម្រាប់គាត់ វីរៈជ័យមិនមែនជាកន្លែងសម្រាប់វារីអគ្គីសនីទេ។

លោក Sinovas បានបន្តថា៖ «ដើម្បីសាងសង់ទំនប់នៅក្នុងឧទ្យានជាតិផ្ទាល់ អ្នកនឹងត្រូវបង្កើតផ្លូវ កាប់ដើមឈើ និងបង្ករការរំខានដល់សត្វព្រៃទៀត»។ «ខ្ញុំមិនហៅថាមពលដែលចេញមកពីកន្លែងនោះថា [ថាមពល] ស្អាតនោះទេ»។

កាលពីដើមឆ្នាំនេះ ស្ថានទូតអង់គ្លេសប្រចាំកម្ពុជា បានបញ្ជាក់ថា នឹងផ្តល់ប្រាក់ប្រមាណ ៦ សែនផោន ដល់ឧទ្យានជាតិវីរៈជ័យ ដែលជាផ្នែកមួយនៃ មូលនិធិការពារតំបន់ទេសភាពជីវៈចម្រុះ របស់ចក្រភពអង់គ្លេស។ លោក Marc Thayre ជាអនុប្រធានបេសកកម្មនៅស្ថានទូតអង់គ្លេស បានមានប្រសាសន៍ថា «ជំនួយភាគច្រើន» ដែលបានផ្តល់ជូនប្រទេសនៅតំបន់មេគង្គ ក្នុងនោះឧទ្យានជាតិវីរៈជ័យទទួលបានច្រើនជាងគេ។ 

លោក Thayre មានប្រសាសន៍ថា៖ «ជំនួយនេះត្រូវបានគេធ្វើឡើង ដើម្បីលើតម្កើននូវគុណសម្បត្តិនៃតំបន់នេះ»។ «យើងត្រូវបង្វែរឱ្យពួកគាត់មកគិតសារជាថ្មី អំពីគុណតម្លៃនៃតំបន់ ហើយទប់ស្កាត់កុំឱ្យមានការទាញយកផលប្រយោជន៍ ពីធនធានធម្មជាតិនៅតំបន់នេះ ជាជាងអភិវឌ្ឍន៍»។ 

លោក Thayre ផ្អាកនិយាយបន្តិចមុនពេលគាត់ឡើងអង្គុយលើម៉ូតូ នៅពេល [ខ្ញុំ] សួរគាត់អំពីគម្រោងអភិវឌ្ឍវារីអគ្គីសនី។

«ប្រសិនបើអ្នកចង់ដោះស្រាយបញ្ហា ដូចជាបម្រែបម្រួលអាកាសធាតុ និងជីវៈចម្រុះ អ្នកត្រូវធ្វើការជាមួយរដ្ឋាភិបាលទាំងអស់គ្រប់ទីកន្លែង» លោក Thayre មានប្រសាសន៍។ «យើងត្រូវស្មោះត្រង់ជាមួយខ្លួនយើង អំពីបញ្ហា និងការសម្របសម្រួលផលប្រយោជន៍ រវាងបរិស្ថាន និងការអភិវឌ្ឍ។ ត្រង់នោះហើយជាចំណុចដ៏តឹងសសៃក» លោកបានបន្ថែម។ 

លោកសម្គាល់ថា គម្រោងនេះបង្ហាញនូវជ្រុងពីរផ្សេងគ្នា រវាង «ការសាងសង់វារីអគ្គីសនីនៅក្នុងឧទ្យានជាតិ» និង «តម្រូវការអគ្គីសនីរបស់ប្រជាជនក្នុងសហគមន៍»។

លោកបន្ថែមថា៖ «ពិភពលោកប្រែប្រួលគ្រប់ពេល»។ «រាល់គម្រោងដែលយើងធ្វើនៅគ្រប់ទីកន្លែង គេតែងឃើញមានយុទ្ធសាស្ត្របញ្ចាប់បេសកម្ម សរសេរនៅក្នុងឯកសារ។ ខ្ញុំសង្ឃឹមថា នេះមិនមែនជាបញ្ហាឡើយ»។

ការពឹងផ្អែកលើឥណទានកាបូន

ការអភិវឌ្ឍនៅកម្ពុជា មានការផ្សារភ្ជាប់ទៅនឹង ការស្វែងរកជំនួយតាមឥណទានកាបូន។

ឥណទានកាបូន គឺជាជំនួយដើម្បីកាត់បន្ថយការបញ្ចេញឧស្ម័នផ្ទះកញ្ចក់ ដោយបញ្ចៀសនូវកាប់បំផ្លាញព្រៃឈើនៅគ្រប់ទីកន្លែង ដោយសារការអភិវឌ្ឍ។ ឧទាហរណ៍មានដូចជា​​ ដូចឧទ្យានជាតិវីរៈជ័យជាដើម។ ក្រុមប្រទេសឧស្សាហកម្មដែលបង្កការបំពុលធំៗ ទូទាត់ការបំភាយឥន្ធនៈហ្វូស៊ីលរបស់ពួកគេ ដោយឧបត្ថម្ភជាដល់ការការពារព្រៃឈើទាំងនេះ តាមរយៈការទិញឥណទានកាបូន។

ក៏ប៉ុន្តែនាប៉ុន្មានខែថ្មីៗនេះ ការផ្តល់នូវឥណទានកាបូនដល់ការកាត់បន្ថយឧស្ម័នផ្ទះកញ្ចក់របស់កម្ពុជា ​បានស្ថិតនៅក្រោមការតាមដានម៉ត់ចត់ អំពីប្រសិទ្ធិភាពនៃជំនួយនេះ។ 

តំបន់ឥណទានកាបូនដែលបានចុះបញ្ជីធំជាងគេ កំពុងប្រឈមមុខនឹង ការចោទប្រកាន់ពីការរំលោភសិទ្ធិមនុស្ស ពីអង្គការឃ្លាំមើលសិទ្ធិមនុស្ស (Human Rights Watch)។ ជាការឆ្លើយតប សេវាចុះបញ្ជីឥណទានកាបូនឈានមុខគេរបស់ពិភពលោកហៅថា Verra បានផ្អាកការចេញឥណទានថ្មី ដល់គម្រោងរេដបូកក្រវាញខាងត្បូង។

គោលបំណងរបស់កម្ពុជាក្នុងការទាក់ទាញនូវឥណទានកាបូន នៅមិនទាន់មានការប្រែប្រួលឡើយ។ 

ដោយធ្វើការជាមួយនឹងមជ្ឈមណ្ឌលអាស៊ានសម្រាប់ជីវចម្រុះ លោក ផានិត បានសិក្សាពីលទ្ធភាពនៃទីតាំង គម្រោងរេដបូក (REDD+) នៅប្រទេសកម្ពុជា ហើយបានរកឃើញប្រហែល ៤០ភាគរយ នៃផ្ទៃដីសរុបរបស់កម្ពុជា ប្រហែលនឹង ៧៩,២០០គីឡូម៉ែត្រការ៉េ អាចត្រូវបានគេពិចារណាសម្រាប់ ការផ្តល់ឥណទានក្នុងការកាត់បន្ថយឧស្ម័នផ្ទះកញ្ចក់។

តំបន់ដ៏ធំនៃឧទ្យាននេះនៅតែមិនទាន់មានគេចូលទៅដល់ ដោយមានព្រៃឬស្សីក្រាស់ឃ្មឹក លាយឡំនឹងព្រៃបៃតង និងព្រៃរបោះ។ មានតែផ្លូវសម្រាប់ចូលទៅកាប់ឈើក្នុងព្រៃប៉ុណ្ណោះ ជាផ្លូវដែលអាចធ្វើថ្មើរជើងបាន ដោយ​មាន​មន្ត្រី​ឧទ្យានុរក្សយក​ចិត្ត​ទុក​ដាក់​ និងមិន​ឲ្យ​អ្នករួមដំណើរបន្សល់ដានចេញជាផ្លូវថ្មីឡើយ។ 

លោកផានិត បានកំណត់តំបន់ស្នូលចំនួនបីនៅវីរៈជ័យ ដែលមានសមត្ថភាពស្រូបឧស្ម័នកាបូនខ្ពស់ជាងគេបង្អស់ រហូតដល់ទៅ ២៨លានតោន។ តាមរយះ លំនាំគណនាបរិមាណបំភាយឧស្ម័នផ្ទះកញ្ចក់ ចំនួននេះស្មើនឹងការបំភាយឧស្ម័នប្រចាំឆ្នាំសរុប របស់រោងចក្រផលិតថាមពលធ្យូងថ្មជិត ២៥ រោងចក្រ។

​មានតម្លៃ​មធ្យម ១០ដុល្លារ ក្នុង​មួយ​តោន ក្នុងនោះលោក ផានិត បាន​គណនា​ថា វីរៈជ័យ​អាច​មាន​តម្លៃដល់ទៅ ២៨០លាន​ដុល្លារ ​ប្រសិន​បើមិនមានការឈូសឆាយ។ លោក​បាន​សង្កត់​ធ្ងន់​ថា នេះ​ [យើង] មិន​បានគិតអំពីកត្តា​ផល​ប្រយោជន៍ ​នៃ​ជលសាស្ត្រ​ដែល​មាន​សុខភាព​ល្អ ជីវចម្រុះ និង​សេវា​ប្រព័ន្ធ​អេកូឡូស៊ី​ផង​។

លោក ផានិត បានពន្យល់ថា ការលើកទឹកចិត្តផ្នែកហិរញ្ញវត្ថុនាំឱ្យមានរបៀបមធ្យោបាយចំនួនពីរ។

មធ្យោបាយទីមួយ ប្រសិនបើព្រៃឈើមានតម្លៃខ្ពស់ជាង សក្ដានុពលអភិវឌ្ឍន៍ នោះអ្នកបង្កើតគោលនយោបាយ នឹងផ្អាកគម្រោងដោយឯងៗ។ មធ្យោបាយ​ទីពីរ ​ដែល​កម្ពុជា​ដើរ​ជា​ញឹក​ញាប់ គឺព្រៃឈើ​បង្កើត​ប្រាក់ចំណូល បាន​តិច​ជាង​​តម្លៃដែលទទួលបានពីការ​អភិវឌ្ឍ​។

ប្រសិនបើមានមធ្យោបាយទីរពីរត្រូវបានអនុវត្ត មានន័យថា ទំនប់​វារីអគ្គីសនីព្រែក​លៀង​ នឹង​ត្រូវ​សាងសង់​នៅ​កណ្តាល​តំបន់​ស្នូល​មួយ​ ក្នុង​ចំណោម​តំបន់​ស្នូល​ទាំង​បី​ដែល​បង្ហាញ​ដោយលោក ផានិត។ នៅក្នុងករណីនោះ លោកផានិត បានមានប្រសាសន៍ថា យ៉ាងហោចណាស់ក៏មានតម្លៃដែលគេដឹង ដើម្បីឱ្យក្រុមហ៊ុនត្រូវបង់ និងទូទាត់សងការខូចខាតព្រៃឈើដែរ។

«ប្រសិនបើចង់អភិវឌ្ឍវីរៈជ័យឱ្យទៅជាទំនប់វារីអគ្គីសនី ឬជាអ្វីផ្សេង ត្រូវប្រាកដថា វាបង្កើតចំណូលបានលើស ២៨០លានដុល្លារ។ ប្រសិនបើអញ្ចឹងមែន ធ្វើទៅ» លោកផានិត បន្ថែម។ «ប៉ុន្តែត្រូវហ៊ានចំណាយ ២៨០លានដុល្លារ ដើម្បីទូទាត់»។

តស៊ូដើម្បីវីរៈជ័យ

លុយមិនអាចធ្វើអ្វីៗបានគ្រប់យ៉ាងនោះទេ។

ប្រជាសហគមន៍ការពារធម្មជាតិ​ចំនួន ៤៧នាក់ ​ត្រូវ​បាន​ចាត់​ឲ្យ​ទៅ​វីរៈជ័យ ដែល​មាន​ន័យ​ថា​ 

រាល់៧០គីឡូម៉ែត្រការ៉េ មានអ្នកឆ្មាំម្នាក់។ ពួកគាត់ភាគច្រើនមកពីសហគមន៍ជនជាតិដើមភាគតិច ដែលចាត់ទុកតំបន់ការពាររបស់ពួកគាត់ ដូចទៅនឹងផ្ទះយ៉ាងអញ្ចឹង ហើយការល្បាតមួយលើកៗ ចាយពេលកន្លះខែ។

សម្រាប់ពួកគាត់ វីរៈជ័យគឺមានសារៈសំខាន់ជាងការស្រូប និងរក្សាកាបូន និងប្រភពថាមពលទៅទៀត។

នៅឧទ្យានឯណេះវិញ ប្រជាសហគមន៍ការពារធម្មជាតិជាជនជាតិដើមភាគតិច កំពុងសើច ខណៈដែលពួកគាត់ប្រាប់ខ្ញុំកុំឱ្យសម្លាប់សត្វទាក ដែលកំពុងជញ្ជក់ឈាមលើដៃ ជើង ក និងត្រចៀកខាងស្តាំរបស់ខ្ញុំ។

ពួកគាត់​ហៅ​វា​ថា​ជា​​ «​ពន្ធ​ព្រៃឈើ​» មានន័យថាសត្វនេះជាអំណោយរបស់ព្រៃ រាល់ពេលមានមាន់ថ្មីចូល។ ជាជាងសម្លាប់ពួកវា ពួកគាត់បានជក់បារីបង្ហុយ ដើម្បីការពារពីសត្វទាក ខណៈពេលដែលខ្ញុំបកវាចេញយ៉ាងវេទនា និងយ៉ាងប្រុងប្រយ័ត្នទៅតាមដែលខ្ញុំអាចធ្វើបាន។

ប្រជាសហគមន៍ការពារធម្មជាតិមួយចំនួន ព្រម​ទាំង​មន្ត្រីឧទ្យានុរក្សនៃ​ក្រសួង​បរិស្ថាន គឺជា​ជនជាតិ​ភាគតិចព្រៅ ដែល​មាន​កម្លាំង​ប្រមាណ ៦០,០០០នាក់ មក​ពី​ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា ឡាវ និង​វៀតណាម។

ជាបង្គោលព្រំដែនដែលខណ្ឌចែកប្រទេសទាំងបី​  វីរៈជ័យ​ជា​បេះដូង​​របស់សហគមន៍​ជនជាតិ​ដើម។

នៅពេលដែលការល្បាតរបស់យើងបានបញ្ចប់ នៅតំបន់ភ្នំវាលធំមានខ្យល់បក់រំភើយៗ អមដោយសូរិយាអស្តង្គត ដែលប្រែក្លាយផ្ទៃមេឃទាំងមូលទៅជាមាស។

លោក ស្រា អឺ ដែលជាជនជាតិភាគតិចព្រៅ និងជាប្រធានស្នាក់ការរដ្ឋបាលព្រៃឈើតាវែង ណែនាំខ្ញុំឱ្យកំណត់ម៉ោងរោទិ៍របស់ខ្ញុំនៅម៉ោង ២ រំលងអធ្រាត្រ ដើម្បីមើលផ្កាយ។

ពេលដល់​ម៉ោង​២​រំលង​អធ្រាត្រ លោក អឺ ខ្មាស​ខ្ញុំយ៉ាងខ្លាំង។

ដោយសារតែយប់នោះ តារារាប់លាងដួងត្រូវបាំងជិតដោយពពក និងរស្មីដួងច័ន្ទ។ ដើម្បីកុំឱ្យខ្ញុំខកចិត្ត លោក អឺ មួលគម្របកានដាក់ស្រាអង្ករ ដែលជាស្រាដ៏ពិបាកលេប។

នៅក្រោមពន្លឺពណ៌ក្រហមនៃចង្កៀងពាក់ជាប់ក្បាលរបស់ខ្ញុំ និងទោរទន់ទៅតាមឥទ្ធិពលនៃស្រារបស់គាត់ លោក អឺ ប្រាប់ខ្ញុំអំពីទំនាក់ទំនងរបស់ប្រជាជនព្រៅទៅនឹងទឹកដីនេះ ដែលគាត់បានរៀបរាប់ថា វាជាហេតុផលដែលគាត់ធ្វើឱ្យគាត់ក្លាយទៅជាឆ្មាំព្រៃ។

«ពួកយើងខ្វល់ខ្វាយអំពីវីរៈជ័យ ហើយពួកយើងការពារឧទ្យាននេះទៅតាមលទ្ធភាពរបស់ពួកយើង» គាត់បានប្រាប់។

អត្ថបទនេះត្រូវបានផលិត ដោយការចូលរួមរវាង The Japan Times និង Southeast Asia Globe ដោយមានការជ្រោមជ្រែងពី បណ្តាញស៊ើបអង្កេតព្រៃទឹកភ្លៀង នៃ មជ្ឈមណ្ឌល Pulitzer

The post ការអភិវឌ្ឍ «ចរីភាព» ៖ កម្ពុជាប្រឈមនឹងការបាត់បង់ជីវចម្រុះនៅឯព្រំដែន appeared first on Southeast Asia Globe.

បន្ទាប់ពីក្រុមហ៊ុន និងស្ថានទូតនានាបានសម្តែងការព្រួយបារម្ភអំពីការប្រើប្រាស់ថាមពលធ្យូងថ្ម រដ្ឋាភិបាលកម្ពុជាបានសន្យាថា ផែនការរបស់ខ្លួនក្នុងការអភិវឌ្ឍរោងចក្រថាមពលអគ្គិសនីដើរដោយធ្យូងថ្មថ្មី ចំនួន៣កន្លែង ជាគម្រោងចុងក្រោយបង្អស់។

ចាប់តាំងពីឆ្នាំ ២០២០ មក ផលិតកម្មថាមពលនៅទូទាំងពិភពលោក បានបន្តធ្វើពិពិធកម្មចាកឆ្ងាយពី ការប្រើថាមពលធ្យូងថ្ម ដោយសារតម្លៃលើទីផ្សារមានការប្រែប្រួល ដែលធ្វើឱ្យកក្រើកឧស្សាហកម្មនេះ និងតម្លៃប្រេងឡើងថ្លៃ។ ទោះបីជាគម្រោងធ្យូងថ្មទាំង៣ ហាក់តស៊ូបាន ទៅនឹងគោលជំហរកាត់បន្ថយជំនួយរបស់ចិន ទៅលើរោងចក្រធ្យូងថ្មនៅក្រៅប្រទេសក៏ដោយ ក៏គម្រោងរោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីដែលនៅខេត្តកោះកុង និងឧត្តរមានជ័យ ដែលកំពុងស្ថិតក្នុងដំណាក់កាលផ្សេងៗគ្នានោះ កំពុងញាំញីដោយការពន្យារពេលដំណើរការ។ ទន្ទឹមនឹងនោះ នៅខេត្តព្រះសីហនុ ប្រតិបត្តិការនៃរោងចក្រធ្យូងថ្មកំពុងមានសកម្មភាព ចំនួនពីររបស់កម្ពុជា មានទីតាំងនៅក្នុងស្រុកតែមួយ កំពុងបង្កក្តីបារម្ភដល់ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋក្នុងមូលដ្ឋាន។

ក្រុមការងារ Southeast Asia Globe រាយការណ៍ពីទីតាំងនីមួយៗនៃគម្រោង​ទាំងបីនេះ។ ជាមួយរូបភាពសរុប ប្រមាណ ៤ ៣០០សន្លឹក ក្រុមការងារ Globe ក៏បានសំភាសន៍ និងនិយាយជាមួយមនុស្ស៣៥នាក់ រាប់ពីប្រជាពលរដ្ឋពាក់ព័ន្ធ និងប្រជានេសាទដែលជួបការលំបាក ដល់កម្មកររោងចក្រ មន្ត្រីមូលដ្ឋាន និងអ្នកជំនាញផ្នែកថាមពល។ សូមអានអត្ថបទទី១ នៃបទយកការណ៍​ ការពឹងផ្អែកលើអគ្គីសនីធ្យូងថ្ម របស់ Globe ហើយបន្តមើលអត្ថបទទី២នេះ ដែលជាបទរាយការណ៍អមជាមួយរូបថត៖

ខេត្តឧត្តរមានជ័យ

នៅខេត្តឧត្តរមានជ័យ រោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីធ្យូងថ្ម ហាន សេង ដែលអាចផលិតថាមពលបាន ២៦៥មេហ្គាវ៉ាត់ ជាគម្រោងសម្រេចបានពាក់កណ្តាល បានហួសថ្ងៃកំណត់ការបិទបញ្ចប់ការសងសង់ តាំងពីឆ្នាំមុនមកម្លេះ។ ដោយសារតែជំនួយធ្លាក់ចុះ ម្ចាស់គម្រោងបានបង្វែរគម្រោងនេះ ឱ្យទៅក្រុមហ៊ុនម៉ៅការសាងសង់ថ្មីវិញ ដែលមិនត្រឹមតែបន្តការផលិតអគ្គីសនីដោយធ្យូងថ្មប៉ុណ្ណោះទេ ប៉ុន្តែក៏សម្លឹងឃើញ នូវការវិនិយោគបន្ថែម លើថាមពលសូឡានៅទីតាំងនេះផងដែរ។

«​ខ្ញុំ​ចង់​ឲ្យ​អ្នក​រាល់​គ្នា​ក្នុង​សហគមន៍​របស់​ខ្ញុំមានអគ្គិសនីប្រើប្រាស់ ប៉ុន្តែ​ខ្ញុំ​ក៏​មាន​ការ​ព្រួយ​បារម្ភ ​អំពី​ហានិភ័យ​សុខភាព​ដល់​កម្មករ និង​ប្រជាជន​ក្នុង​មូលដ្ឋាន​ផង​ដែរ»។ រូបភាព៖ Anton L. Delgado ផ្តល់ឱ្យ Southeast Asia Globe

ច្រេក ពេជ្យនេង

ខេត្ត​កោះ កុង​

នៅ​ខេត្ត​កោះកុង ក្រុមហ៊ុន​រ៉ូយ៉ាល់​គ្រុប​កម្ពុជា ​នៅ​មិន​ទាន់​បាន​បញ្ចប់​ការ​សាងសង់​រោងចក្រ​ថាមពល​អគ្គិសនី ៧០០ មេហ្គាវ៉ាត់ ​ដែល​គ្រោង​នឹង​ដំណើរការ​នៅ​ឆ្នាំ​នេះនៅឡើយ។ ទោះ​បី​ជាយ៉ាងណា ​អ្នក​ស្រុកដែលនៅតំបន់នោះពីមុន​ នៅ​តែ​បន្ត​តវ៉ាទៅលើសំណងមិនសមរម្យ ភាពអយុត្តិធម៌ និង​ការ​បង្រ្កាបមកលើប្រជាជន នាពេលពួកគាត់ត្រូវបានគេបណ្ដេញចេញ។

ខេត្ត ព្រះសីហនុ

នៅខេត្តព្រះសីហនុ គម្រោងសាងសង់រោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីធ្យូងថ្មថាមពល ៧០០មេហ្គាវ៉ាត់ របស់ក្រុមហ៊ុន Cambodia International Investment Development Group (CIIDG) មានទីតាំងស្ថិតនៅតាមបណ្តោយផ្លូវជាតិតែមួយ ជាមួយនឹងរោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីថាមពល ២៥០មេហ្គាវ៉ាត់ របស់ Cambodian Energy Limited (CEL) ដែលកំពុងដំណើរការស្របពេលគ្នា។ ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋរស់នៅស្រុកស្ទឹងហាវ ក៏បានបង្ហាញអំពីកង្វល់របស់ពួកគាត់ ជុំវិញនឹងផលប៉ះពាល់សុខភាព និងបរិស្ថាន ដែលបង្កឡើង ដោយរោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីធ្យូងថ្មផងដែរ។

រាយការណ៍បន្ថែមដោយ៖ Andrew Haffner និង ឡាយ សុផាន់ណា

អត្ថបទនេះទទួលបានការគាំទ្រពីជំនួយ News Reporting Pitch Initiative ពីមូលនិធិខុនរ៉ាតអាឌិនណៅអ៊ែរ​ Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung ប្រចាំកម្ពុជា

The post ការពឹងផ្អែកលើថាមពលធ្យូងថ្មរបស់កម្ពុជា៖  បីឆ្នាំក្រោយការប្រើប្រាស់ទ្វេរដងលើផូស៊ីលឥន្ធនះ appeared first on Southeast Asia Globe.

After companies and embassies expressed concerns about coal, the Cambodian government pledged that its plans to develop three new coal-fired power plants would be the Kingdom’s last foray into coal-fuelled electricity.

Since 2020, energy production globally has continued to diversify away from coal, as volatile markets rock the industry and spike fuel prices. Despite surviving China’s funding cuts to overseas coal, the planned power plants in Koh Kong and Oddar Meanchey are in varying stages of inertia, plagued by long delays. Meanwhile in Sihanoukville, the operations of two of Cambodia’s active coal complexes in the same district are raising concerns among local residents.

Southeast Asia Globe reported from each of these locations. While taking more than 4,300 images, Globe spoke to 35 people about the projects; from concerned residents and struggling fisherfolk to plant workers, local officials and energy experts. Read Part I of Globe’s Counting on Coal project and continue to see Part II, an accompanying photo story. Click or tap any image to expand for a slideshow.

Oddar Meanchey province

In Oddar Meanchey, the 265-megawatt, semi-built Han Seng project missed its deadline to go online last year. Falling revenue for the Chinese companies in charge pivoted the project to new contractors, who are sticking with coal but also investing in solar energy production at the same power plant.

“I want electricity to be accessible to everyone in my community, but I am also concerned about the health risks to workers and local people,” she said. Photo by Anton L. Delgado for Southeast Asia Globe.

Chrek Pechneng

Koh Kong province

In Koh Kong, the Royal Group of Cambodia conglomerate has yet to break ground on a 700-megawatt power plant scheduled to go online this year. Though former residents continue to allege unfair deals and heavy-handed evictions.

Sihanoukville province

In Sihanoukville, Cambodia International Investment Development Group’s (CIIDG) new 700-megawatt coal project shares a road with the already operational 250-megawatt Cambodian Energy Limited (CEL) power plant complex. Steung Hav residents fear for the effects these two coal sites could have on their health and environment.

Contributed reporting by Andrew Haffner and Sophanna Lay. A Khmer-language version of this story can be found here, with translations by Sophanna Lay and Nasa Dip.

This article was supported by a ‘News Reporting Pitch Initiative’ from the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Foundation in Cambodia.

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សំណង់រោងក្រអគ្គីសនីធ្យូងថ្ម ដែលស្ថិតនៅលើដីវាលមួយកន្លែងនៅក្នុងខេត្តឧត្តរមានជ័យ ត្រូវបានផ្អាកសកម្មភាពសាងសង់។ ឥដ្ឋស៊ីម៉ង់ដ៍ដែលមានវល្លិ៍តោង ព្រមទាំងម៉ាស៉ីនលាយបេតុង និងសំបកកង់ឡានដែលទុកចោល ហាក់ដូចជាតម្រុយបញ្ជាក់អំពីការផ្អាកសាងសង់។

សន្តិសុខយាមដែលកំពុងជួបជុំគ្នានៅពេលល្ងាចនៅមុខខ្លោងទ្វាររោងចក្រអគ្គីសនី បានត្អូញត្អែរអំពីការពន្យារពេលបើកប្រាក់ខែ អស់រយៈពេល៤ខែ និងបានបញ្ជាក់ ពួកគាត់មិនដឹងថារោងចក្រ នឹងបន្តសាងសង់នៅថ្ងៃណាទេ។

អនាគតនៃរោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីធ្យូងថ្ម ហាន សេង ហាក់ឆ្លុះបញ្ចាំងអំពីគម្រោងផលិតកម្មអគ្គីសនីស្រដៀងគ្នា នៅអាស៊ីអាគ្នេយ៍ផ្សេងៗ ដែលទទួលបានការគាំទ្រពីចិន និងជាផ្នែកមួយ នៃយុទ្ធសាស្ត្រអភិវឌ្ឍហេដ្ឋារចនាសម្ព័ន្ធ នៃកិច្ចផ្តួចផ្តើមផ្តើមខ្សែក្រវ៉ាត់មួយ ផ្លូវមួយ។

កាលពីឆ្នាំ ២០២០ ប្រទេសកម្ពុជាហាក់ដូចជាមិនខ្វាយខ្វល់ ទៅនឹងការជំរុញឱ្យប្រើប្រាស់ថាមពលស្អាតជាសាកល ដោយបន្តការប្រើប្រាស់ទ្វេដងលើផូស៊ីលឥន្ធនះ ជាមួយនឹងគោលបំណងពង្រីក និងអភិវឌ្ឍរោងចក្រថាមពលធ្យូងថ្មចំនួនបី។ ផែនការបង្កើនថាមពល​នេះ ​បែរជាមិន​ត្រូវ​បាន​គេ​យក​ចិត្ត​ទុក​ដាក់ ដោយនៅ​ឆ្នាំ​បន្ទាប់​ប្រទេស​ចិន​បង្ហាញគោលជំហរ ក្នុង​ការ​កាត់​បន្ថយ​ការ​គាំទ្រ​រោងចក្រ​ធ្យូង​ថ្ម​នៅ​បរទេស ដែល​បាន​សម្លាប់​គម្រោង​នៅ​កន្លែង​ផ្សេង​ទៀត ​ក្នុង​តំបន់​អាស៊ីអាគ្នេយ៍។

ថ្វីត្បិតតែកម្ពុជាទទួលរងនូវថ្មបាក់ពីជំហរថ្មីរបស់ចិន រោងចក្រអគ្គីសនី ដែលស្ថិតក្នុងដំណាក់កាលខុសៗគ្នានេះ ជាគម្រោងដែលរាជរដ្ឋាភិបាលកម្ពុជា បានកំណត់ថា ជារោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីថាមពលធ្យូងថ្មចុងក្រោយ។ ក្រុមការងារ Southeast Asia Globe បានរកឃើញថា មានគម្រោងបីដែលគេនឹងធ្វើនៅខេត្តចំនួនបី ក៏ដូចជារោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីធ្យូងថ្ម ដែលមានស្រាប់ផងដែរ។

នៅខេត្តកោះកុងឯណោះវិញ ក្រុមហ៊ុន Royal Group មានគម្រោងសាងសង់រោងចក្រអគ្គីសនី (តែមិនទាន់មានសកម្មភាព) ៧០០មេហ្គាវ៉ាត់ ក្នុងឆ្នាំនេះ បើទោះបីជាប្រជាពលរដ្ឋសម្តែងការមិនពេញចិត្ត ទៅនឹងសំណងមិនសមរម្យ និងការបង្ក្រាបមកលើប្រជាពលរដ្ឋពីសំណាក់អាជ្ញាធរក៏ដោយ។  

នៅខេត្តឧត្តរមានជ័យ រោងចក្រអគ្គីសនី ហាន សេង ដែលអាចផលិតថាមពលបាន ២៦៥មេហ្គាវ៉ាត់ ជាគម្រោងសម្រេចបានពាក់កណ្តាល បានហួសថ្ងៃកំណត់ការបិទបញ្ចប់ការសងសង់ តាំងពីឆ្នាំមុន។ ដោយសារតែជំនួយធ្លាក់ចុះ ម្ចាស់គម្រោងបានបង្វែរគម្រោងនេះ ឱ្យទៅក្រុមហ៊ុនម៉ៅការសាងសង់ថ្មីវិញ ដែលមិនត្រឹមតែបន្តចាប់យក ការផលិតអគ្គីសនីដោយធ្យូងថ្មប៉ុណ្ណោះទេ ប៉ុន្តែក្រុមហ៊ុនថ្មីនេះក៏សម្លឹងឃើញ នូវការវិនិយោគបន្ថែមលើថាមពលសូឡានៅទីតាំងនេះផងដែរ។

នៅខេត្តព្រះសីហនុ គម្រោងសាងសង់រោងចក្រអគ្គីសនី ថាមពល ៧០០មេហ្គាវ៉ាត់ របស់ក្រុមហ៊ុន Cambodia International Investment Development Group (CIIDG) ស្ថិតនៅតាមបណ្តោយផ្លូវជាតិតែមួយ ជាមួយនឹងរោងចក្រអគ្គីសនី Cambodian Energy Limited (CEL) ដែលកំពុងដំណើរការស្របពេលគ្នា។ ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋរស់នៅស្រុកស្ទឹងហាវ ក៏បានបង្ហាញអំពីកង្វល់របស់ពួកគាត់ជុំវិញនឹងផលប៉ះពាល់សុខភាព និងផលប៉ះពាល់ដល់បរិស្ថាន ដែលបង្កឡើងដោយរោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីធ្យូងថ្មផងដែរ។

លោក ហង្ស ដារ៉ា បានលាឈប់ពីការងារជាជាងភ្លើងនៅរោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីធ្យូងថ្ម CEL ហើយសព្វថ្ងៃជាអ្នកនេសាទ បានមានប្រសាសន៍ថា៖ «វាមិនល្អសម្រាប់សុខភាពរបស់យើងទេ។ បញ្ហានេះនឹងប៉ះពាល់ដល់ក្មេងជំនាន់ក្រោយ ដោយសារតែនៅខេត្តឥលូវ មានរោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីធ្យូងថ្មច្រើន»។  

អនាគតផូស៊ីលឥន្ធនះ

កាលពីឆ្នាំ ២០២១ កន្លងទៅ នៅពេល កំពុងថ្លែងនៅមហាសន្និបាតអង្គការសហប្រជាជាតិ លោកប្រធានាធិបតីចិន ស៊ី ជីនពីង បានមានប្រសាសន៍ថា ដើម្បីបន្ត «ការប្តេជ្ញារស់នៅប្រកបដោយសុខដុមរមនារវាងមនុស្ស និងធម្មជាតិ» លោក ស៊ី ជីនពីង នឹងបង្កើនការគាំទ្ររបស់ខ្លួន ដើម្បីអភិវឌ្ឍនូវថាមពលបៃតង និងការបញ្ចេញឧស្ម័នកាបូនតិចតួច ហើយថែមទាំង «មិនបន្តសាងសង់រោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីដើរដោយការដុតធ្យូងថ្ម នៅក្រៅប្រទេសទៀតទេ»។ 

ក្នុងនាមជាអ្នកផ្តល់ហិរញ្ញប្បទាន និងជាអ្នកផ្គត់ផ្គង់ដ៏សំខាន់ដល់រោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីធ្យូងថ្ម សេចក្តីប្រកាសរបស់ប្រទេសចិន ត្រូវបានសាទរថាជាជំហានដ៏សំខាន់ ឆ្ពោះទៅរកការសម្រេចបាននូវគោលដៅនៃកិច្ចព្រមព្រៀងទីក្រុងប៉ារីស ឈ្ពោះទៅការកាត់បន្ថយការកើនឡើងសីតុណ្ហភាពពិភពលោក ដោយកាត់បន្ថយការបំភាយឧស្ម័នផ្ទះកញ្ចក់។

យោងតាមមជ្ឈមណ្ឌលស្រាវជ្រាវថាមពល និងខ្យល់ស្អាត ឬ Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) បានឱ្យដឹងថា ជោគវាសនានៃគម្រោងធ្យូងថ្មដែលគាំទ្រដោយចិនចំនួន ៧៧កន្លែង នៅជុំវិញពិភពលោក ដែលស្ថិតក្នុងដំណាក់កាលផ្សេងៗគ្នានៃការអភិវឌ្ឍ មកដល់ពេលនេះ នៅតែមិនប្រាកដថា នឹងបន្តទទួលបានការគាំទ្រពីចិន ឬក៏យ៉ាងណានោះទេ។

ស្ទើរតែពាក់កណ្តាលនៃរោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីទាំងនេះ ត្រូវបានគេសាងសង់ឡើងនៅអាស៊ីអាគ្នេយ៍។

ប្រសិនបើគម្រោងទាំង ៣៧ នៅក្នុងប្រទេសឥណ្ឌូនេស៊ី វៀតណាម ឡាវ កម្ពុជា និងហ្វីលីពីន ត្រូវបានដំណើរការទៅតាមអាយុកាលស្តង់ដាររបស់ពួកគេពី ២៥ ទៅ ៣០ឆ្នាំនោះ មជ្ឈមណ្ឌល CREA បានគណនាថា កាបូនច្រើនជាង ៥,៥០០ លានតោន នឹងត្រូវបានបញ្ចេញទៅក្នុងបរិយាកាស។

រោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីធ្យូងថ្មទាំងបីនៅក្នុងប្រទេសកម្ពុជាប្រហែលតស៊ូបានពីជំហរថ្មីរបស់ចិន ប៉ុន្តែរោងចក្រថាមពលចំនួន ១៤ផ្សេងទៀត នៅក្នុងប្រទេសឥណ្ឌូនេស៊ី និងវៀតណាមត្រូវបានលុបចោលជាផ្លូវការ។ នេះបើយោងតាមការបញ្ជាក់ពីមជ្ឈមណ្ឌល CREA អំពីការផ្អាកនូវការផលិតអគ្គីសនី ១៥.៦ ជីហ្គាវ៉ាត់ នៅពីរប្រទេសខាងលើនេះ។ 

លោក Lauri Myllyvirta អ្នកវិភាគនៅមជ្ឈមណ្ឌល CREA មានប្រសាសន៍ថា៖ «ការធ្លាក់ចុះយ៉ាងខ្លាំងនៃតម្លៃ ក្នុងការប្រើប្រាស់ថាមពលស្អាត និងការតម្លើងថ្លៃទៅលើធ្យូងថ្មនេះ ជាឱកាសមួយសម្រាប់រដ្ឋាភិបាលកម្ពុជា ដើម្បីធ្វើការពិនិត្យឡើងវិញថា តើធ្យូងថ្មជាជម្រើសល្អ សម្រាប់បំពេញតម្រូវការថាមពលនៅកម្ពុជាដែរឬទេ»។ 

លោក Myllyvirta មានប្រសាសន៍ថា កម្ពុជាកំពុងឈានចូលដំណាក់កាលស្រពិចស្រពិល ជាពិសេស ដោយសារតែប្រទេសនេះ ភា​គច្រើនពឹងផ្អែកលើការនាំចូលធ្យូងថ្មពីបរទេស។

«តម្លៃធ្យូងថ្មឡើងចុះមិនទៀងទាត់ ហើយទីផ្សារធ្យូងថ្មជុំវិញពិភពលោកកាលពីបីឆ្នាំមុន បានបង្ហាញឱ្យឃើញថា សេដ្ឋកិច្ចមានហានិភ័យដែលត្រូវពឹងផ្អែកទៅលើផូស៊ីលឥន្ធនះ ក្នុងការផលិតអគ្គីសនី»។ លោកបានបន្តរៀបរាប់ថា តម្លៃនឹង «កាន់តែប្រែប្រួល» នៅពេលពិភពលោកលែងនិយមប្រើប្រាស់ធ្យូងថ្មជាប្រភពថាមពល។

នៅក្នុងឆ្នាំ ២០២១ កម្ពុជាបាននាំចូលធ្យូងថ្មក្នុងរង្វង់ទឹកប្រាក់ប្រមាណជា ២២២ លានដុល្លារអាមេរិក នេះបើយោងទៅតាម ប្រព័ន្ធទិន្នន័យស្ថិតិពាណិជ្ជកម្ម (UN Comtrade Database) ដែលបានធ្វើឡើងដោយ Atlas of Economic Complexity របស់ Harvard Growth Lab។​

ទិន្នន័យស្ថិតិពាណិជ្ជកម្មខាងលើបានសង្កត់ធ្ងន់ទៅលើតួនាទីរបស់ឥណ្ឌូនេស៊ីថា ជាអ្នកនាំចូលធ្យូងថ្មដ៏ធំបំផុត មកកាន់កម្ពុជាជាងមួយទសវត្សរ៍មកនេះ។ ប្រមាណ ៨៥ភាគរយ នៃធ្យូងថ្មដែលបាននាំចូលមកកាន់កម្ពុជា ចាប់តាំងពីឆ្នាំ ២០១២ រហូតដល់ឆ្នាំ ២០២១ គឺជាការនាំចូលពីឥណ្ឌូនេស៉ី។ 

ចំណែកឯលោក Zulfikar Yurnaidi ជាមន្ត្រីជាន់ខ្ពស់នៅមជ្ឈមណ្ឌលថាមពលអាស៊ាន ក្នុងរាជធានីហ្សាកាតា បានមានប្រសាសន៍ថា «ភាពសម្បូរបែបនៃប្រភពថាមពល» ដែលកើតឡើងជុំវិញពិភពលោក នឹងកាន់តែធ្វើឱ្យ [អគ្គីសនី] ធ្យូងថ្មកាន់តែមានភាពស្រពិចស្រពិលនៅថ្ងៃមុខ។ លោក Yurnaidai បានពន្យល់ថា «ប្រតិកម្មទៅនឹងធ្យូងថ្ម» នៅឆាកអន្តរជាតិ នៅតែបន្តជាបញ្ហាដែលអាស៊ាន មិនអាចដោះស្រាយបាន។

«យើងមិនអាចបន់ស្រន់ឱ្យ [ធ្យូងថ្ម និងផូសុីលឥន្ធនះ] វាទៅបាត់ភ្លាមៗនោះទេ» លោក​​ Yurnaidi មានប្រសាសន៍។ លោកបន្តថា «ការគាំទ្រហិរញ្ញប្បទានពីរដ្ឋាភិបាលបរទេសនៅតែមានភាពចាំបាច់។ ប្រហែលជាមិនមែនសម្រាប់សាងសង់រោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីដែលបង្ករផលប៉ះពាល់ ប៉ុន្តែជួយឱ្យយើងអាចកាត់បន្ថយការបំភាយឧស្ម័នផ្ទះកញ្ចក់ ដោយធ្វើបច្ចុប្បន្នភាពរោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីធ្យូងថ្ម និងវិនិយោគលើថាមពលដែលកកើតឡើងវិញ» ។

នៅពេលដែលជំនួយសាងសង់ខ្សត់ទៅៗ គេចាប់ផ្តើមមើលឃើញ មានជំនួយគាំទ្រថាមពលបៃតង នៅអាស៊ី​អា​គ្នេ​យ៏ និងជំនួយដល់គម្រោង Just Energy transitions នៅវៀតណាម និងឥណ្ឌូនេស៊ី ។

ទោះបីជាអាស៊ានមានជំនួយពីបរទេសក៏ពិតមែន លោក Yurnaidi បានលើកឡើងថា តម្រូវការធ្យូងថ្ម នឹងនៅតែជាតម្រូវការរបស់អាស៊ាន ទៅះបីជាបណ្តាប្រទេសដែលជាសមាជិក ងាកទៅរកថាមពលកកើតឡើងវិញក៏ដោយ។

«អាស៊ាន [ប្រៀបបីដូច] ជាសំពៅដ៏ធំមួយដែលផ្ទុកមនុស្សរាប់សិបលាននាក់ និងមាន GDP រាប់លានកោដ»។ ការងាកទៅរកថាមពលថ្មី យើងត្រូវយល់ថា កប៉ាល់នេះត្រូវតែបែរក្បាល។ ប៉ុន្តែយើងមិនបង្វិលចង្កូតបានភ្លាមៗនោះទេ ពីព្រោះថាបើយើងធ្វើដូច្នេះមែន អ្នកនៅលើសំពៅនឹងអស់ជំហរ ហើយធ្លាក់ចូលសមុទ្រជាមិនខាន»។ លោកបន្ថែម។​ 

ការពឹងផ្អែកលើធ្យូងថ្ម

ក្រោយជម្ងឺកូវីដ១៩ ផែនការមេក្នុងការអភិវឌ្ឍអគ្គីសនីនៅកម្ពុជា បានចេញផ្សាយជាសាធារណៈនៅឆ្នាំ ២០២៣ បង្ហាញអំពីផែនការបង្កើនផលិតកម្មថាមពលនៅកម្ពុជា ចាប់ពីឆ្នាំ ២០២២ ដល់ឆ្នាំ ២០៤០ ព្រមទាំងបានធ្វើការព្យាករណ៍អំពីតម្រូវការថាមពលទូទាំងប្រទេស។

ប្រាំឆ្នាំដំបូងនៃ «សេណារីយ៉ូថាមពល» នៃគម្រោងនេះ បានផ្តល់អទិភាព ដល់ការអភិវឌ្ឍរោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីធ្យូងថ្ម ចំនួនបីកន្លែង ដែលជារោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីធ្យូងថ្មចុងក្រោយ របស់កម្ពុជាផងដែរ។

នៅក្នុងកិច្ចប្រជុំមួយ មុនសន្និសីទស្តីពីការប្រែប្រួលអាកាសធាតុលើកទី ២៦ របស់អង្គការសហប្រជាជាតិ ឬហៅថា COP26 រដ្ឋមន្ត្រីក្រសួងរ៉ែ និងថាមពលរបស់កម្ពុជា ឯកឧត្តម ស៊ុយ សែម មានប្រសាសន៍ថា កម្ពុជានឹងមិនអនុម័តគម្រោងធ្យូងថ្មបន្ថែមទៀតទេ។

ការពន្យារពេលសាងសង់ជាច្រើនឆ្នាំរបស់រោងចក្រថាមពលចំនួនពីរ បានធ្វើឱ្យអ្នកជំនាញផ្នែកថាមពលមួយចំនួន មានការបារម្ភចំពោះកង្វះថាមពលដែលអាចនឹងកើតមាន។ លោក ជា សោភ័ណ ដែលជាអ្នកជំនាញខាងអភិវឌ្ឍន៍ថាមពលកកើតឡើងវិញ បានមានប្រសាសន៍ថា កង្វះខាតនឹងអាស្រ័យលើថា តើសេដ្ឋកិច្ច និងតម្រូវការថាមពលក្រោយកូវីដរបស់កម្ពុជា ងើបឡើងមកវិញប៉ុណ្ណា។

ខណៈពេលដែលអ្នកវិនិយោគក្រៅស្រុកលែងចាប់អារម្មណ៍នឹងផូសុីលឥន្ធនះ លោក សោភ័ណ បានសង្កត់ថា ការធានាឱ្យមានការជួយគាំទ្រ មកលើគម្រោងសាងសង់រោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីទាំងពីរនេះ មានភាពលំបាកណាស់។

«តើវិនិយោគិនរូបណា ដែលនៅតែអាចផ្តល់ហិរញ្ញប្បទានដល់រោងចក្រដែលជាប់គាំងបែបនេះ?» លោកសោភ័ណ្ឌបានលើកឡើងបែបនេះ និង​បាន​ពន្យល់​ថា បើ​គ្មាន​ប្រទេស​ចិន វាអាចនឹងគ្មាន ឬមានការប្រែក្លាយគម្រោងនេះតិចតួចបំផុត។

ឯកឧត្តម ជៀប សួរ នៃ​ក្រសួង​រ៉ែ និង​ថាមពល បាន​បដិសេធ​មិន​ធ្វើ​អត្ថាធិប្បាយ​ ហើយ​បាន​បង្វែរ​ទៅ​ឯកឧត្តម ហេង គុណលាង អ្នក​នាំ​ពាក្យ​ក្រសួង ដោយ​លោកបានអាន ប៉ុន្តែមិនបានឆ្លើយតបមកកាន់សារ​ជា​អក្សរ និង​សំឡេង​របស់ក្រុមការងារ Globe នោះទេ។ ចំណែកឯកឧត្តម អ៊ឹង ឌីប៉ូឡា អគ្គនាយក​នៃ​នាយកដ្ឋាន​រ៉ែ​នៃ​ក្រសួង​មិន​អាច​ធ្វើ​អត្ថាធិប្បាយ​បាន​ទេ។

សំណង់រោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីធ្យូងថ្មនៅកម្ពុជា

នៅខេត្តឧត្តរមានជ័យ ផលវិបាកផ្នែកហិរញ្ញវត្ថុកំពុងជំរុញឱ្យក្រុមហ៊ុនដែលជួយដល់រោងចក្រថាមពល ហានសេង ដែលមានតម្លៃ ៣៧០លានដុល្លារ ចាប់គិតគូរឡើងវិញ។

របាយការណ៍ពាក់កណ្តាលឆ្នាំ ២០២២ របស់ក្រុមហ៊ុន Guodian Kangneng Technology Stock Co. បានបង្ហាញថា ប្រាក់ចំណេញសុទ្ធ ដែលជាកម្មសិទ្ធិរបស់ភាគទុនិកនៅក្នុងឆមាសទីមួយនៃឆ្នាំនេះ បានទទួលរងនូវការថយចុះជិត ៩០ ភាគរយ ពីមួយឆ្នាំទៅមួយឆ្នាំ ដោយម្ចាស់ភាគហ៊ុនធំមួយ គ្រោងនឹងកាត់បន្ថយភាគហ៊ុនរបស់ពួកគេ ពីរលានភាគហ៊ុន។

នៅក្នុងខែកញ្ញា ក្រុមហ៊ុន Huazi International ជាអ្នកម៉ៅការថ្មី បានមកកាន់គម្រោងនេះម្តង។ ផែនការសាងសង់រោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីដើរដោយធ្យូងថ្ម ២៦៥មេហ្គាវ៉ាត់ មិនបានផ្លាស់ប្តូរទេ ប៉ុន្តែក្រុមហ៊ុន Huazi បានប្រកាសពីគម្រោងក្នុងការបន្ថែម ថាមពលដើរដោយពន្លឺព្រះអាទិត្យ ២០០ មេហ្គាវ៉ាត់ នៅទីតាំងដដែល។ នេះជាលើកទីមួយហើយ ដែលការផលិតថាមពលប្រភេទផ្សេង បែរមកបន្ថែមនឹងផែនការរបស់រោងចក្រថាមពល ហាន សេង ដែលកំពុងជួបការលំបាកស្រាប់។

ចំណែកការដ្ឋានជីកធ្យូងថ្មយន់ឃាង ដែលគេសន្មត់ថា នៅថ្ងៃអនាគត អាចនឹងផ្គត់ផ្គង់ទៅរោងចក្រអគ្គីសនី ដែលមិនទាន់បញ្ចប់ការសាងសង់មួយនេះ កំពុងដំណើរការធម្មតា នៅចម្ងាយប្រហែលពីរគីឡូម៉ែត្រ ពី​គ្នាតែប៉ុណ្ណោះ។

លោកអ៊ុំ បូយ ត្រុច ដែលបានរស់នៅជាប់គំនរអាចម៍ដីរ៉ែនៅក្បែរការដ្ឋាន ជិតមួយទសវត្សរ៍ទៅហើយនោះ ជឿថា សកម្មភាពធ្យូងថ្មបានបំពុលទឹកក្រោមដី​ នៃដីស្រែរបស់គាត់។ លោកអ៊ុំបានបន្តថា វាធ្វើឱ្យស្រូវរបស់គាត់ឡើងក្រហម និងប៉ះពាល់ដល់សត្វចិញ្ចឹមរបស់គាត់។

ជាមួយនឹងនាឡិកាដៃពណ៌មាសដែលមានរូបអតីតនាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រី ហ៊ុន សែន លោកអ៊ុំ ត្រុច ចង្អុលទៅគំនរអាចម៌រ៉ែ ហើយបានមានប្រសាសន៍ថា៖ «មានដីជាច្រើនដែលរងផលប៉ះពាល់ ដោយសារអាចម៌រ៉ែនេះ ប៉ុន្តែមេភូមិ និងមេឃុំមិនអើពើ”។ ជាមួយនឹងចៅរបស់គាត់ដើរក្បែរ លោកអ៊ុំត្រុច បានបន្តថា គាត់ខ្លាចការជីកយករ៉ែធ្យូងថ្មនឹងកាន់តែរីកដុះដាល នៅក្នុងភូមិរបស់គាត់ ប្រសិនបើរោងចក្រថាមពលចាប់ដំណើរការមែន។

«អញ្ចឹងបានថា យើងជាប្រជាពលរដ្ឋមិនហ៊ានតវ៉ាទេ ព្រោះប្រជាពលរដ្ឋយើងទន់ខ្សោយ» លោកអ៊ុំបានមានប្រសាសន៍។ «បើគេឱ្យនៅវាគ្រាន់ ប៉ុន្តែខ្លាចតែគេមិនឱ្យនៅទៀត‍»។ 

នៅឯខេត្តកោះកុងវិញ ក្តីកង្វល់របស់ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋក៏ដូចគ្នាទៅនឹងការព្រួយបារម្ភរបស់លោកអ៊ុំដែរ។

ក្រុមហ៊ុន Royal Group ដែលជាក្រុមហ៊ុនវិនិយោគធំជាងគេមួយ ក្នុងប្រទេសកម្ពុជាដែលមានទំនាក់ទំនងជាមួយសម្តេច ហ៊ុន សែន បានទទួលសម្បទានដីជិត ១៧០ ហិកតាក្នុងឆ្នាំ ២០២០ ក្នុង ឧទ្យានជាតិបុទុមសាគរ សម្រាប់រោងចក្រថាមពលធ្យូងថ្ម។

ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ​រស់នៅ​លើ​ដី​នេះ​បាន​ត្អូញត្អែរ​ពី​ការ​បណ្តេញ​ចេញ​ និង​សំណង​ក្នុងទឹកប្រាក់តិចតួច ពីក្រុមហ៊ុនឯកជន។ ផ្ទះ​របស់​លោកពូ កែវ ខន ត្រូវ​បាន​កម្ទេច​ចោល​ក្នុង​ឆ្នាំ ២០២១ ដោយ​កងកម្លាំងចម្រុះរបស់អាជ្ញាធរ។ ក្នុងនោះមានអ្នកដែលត្រូវបាត់បង់ដីចំនួន ៣៧​នាក់ បាន​រួមគ្នាដាក់​ញត្តិ ដើម្បីទាមទារសំណង និងសង្ឃឹមថានឹងទទួលបានសំណាងសមរម្យជាងនេះ។

«ពួកយើងទាំងអស់គ្នា ប្រមូលគ្នាដើម្បីតវ៉ានឹងក្រុមហ៊ុន» លោកពូខន បានមានប្រសាសន៍។ លោកពូបានបន្តថា៖ «គេដឹងតើ! អភិបាលខេត្ត ហើយនឹងមន្ទីរ ប៉ុន្តែអត់មានពីណាជួយអីយើងបានផង»។

គ្មានសកម្មភាពសាងសង់រោងចក្រធ្យូងថ្មនៅខេត្តកោះកុងនោះទេ ប៉ុន្តែ​ព្រៃឈើ​កំពុង​ត្រូវ​បានគេ​កាប់​ឆ្ការ ​នៅ​ជុំវិញ​ទីតាំង​គម្រោង​ដែលគេ​បាន​កំណត់។ តំបន់ទាំងនេះផងដែរ នៅក្នុងឧទ្យានជាតិត្រូវបានផ្តល់ឱ្យទៅក្រុមហ៊ុន Royal Group ក្នុងសម្បទានដីជិត 10,000 ហិកតានៅឆ្នាំនេះ។

លោក Thomas Pianka ជាអនុប្រធានផ្នែកថាមពលរបស់ក្រុមហ៊ុន Royal Group បាត្រនឆ្លើយតបថា៖ «ខ្ញុំអត់ត្រូវការនិយាយជាមួយអ្នកទេ» បន្ទាប់ពីក្រុមការងារ Globe បានណែនាំខ្លួន។

នៅក្រុងព្រះសីហនុ រោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីដើរដោយធ្យូងថ្មពីរកំពុងដំណើរការ នៅតែបង្កជាក្តីកង្វល់ ទាក់ទងនឹងបញ្ហាសុខភាពដល់ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋនៅស្រុកស្ទឹងហាវ។

រោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីធ្យូងថ្មក៏មានការពាក់ព័ន្ធជាមួយនឹងកត្តាដែលបង្កឱ្យមានជម្ងឺមហារីកដែរ។ ការស្រាវជ្រាវ ដែលធ្វើឡើងកាលពីឆ្នាំ ២០១៩ បានប៉ាន់ស្មានថា នៅឆ្នាំ ២០២៥ ជម្ងឺមហារីកសួត ១.៣៧ លានករណី នឹងកើតឡើងនៅជុំវិញពិភពលោក។​

លោកពូ សាង សារ៉ូ ជាសន្តិសុខ និងជាអ្នករស់នៅក្បែររោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីធ្យូងថ្ម Cambodian Energy Limited ក្នុងស្រុកស្ទឹងហាវ បានមានប្រសាសន៍ថា បុគ្គលិកនៅរោងចក្រ មានការព្រួយបារម្ភ អំពីផលប៉ះពាល់សុខភាព។ លោកពូបានបន្តថា ខាងរោងចក្រ មិនដែលប្រាប់អំពីផលប៉ះពាល់ទាំងនេះ ដល់បុគ្គលិកទេ។

មេ​ភូមិ​របស់​គាត់​ គឺអ៊ុំស្រី លី សុជាតិ មាន​ប្រសាសន៍​ថា អ្នកស្រុកតែងតែរអ៊ូរទាំ អំពីក្លិនដែលភាយចេញពីធ្យូងថ្ម។ អ៊ុំស្រីបានរៀបរាប់ថា អ្នកភូមិរបស់​គាត់​ឈប់​ប្រមូល​ទឹកភ្លៀង​ហើយ ដោយ​សារតែខ្លាច​មានសារធាតុពុលដល់បរិយាកាសពីបង្កឡើងពីធ្យូងថ្ម។

ក្នុងនាមជាមេភូមិមួយរូប អ៊ុំស្រីបានចូលរួមការប្រជុំ ទាក់ទងនឹងឱកាសការងារ សម្រាប់ប្រជាជនក្នុងសហគមន៍ជាច្រើនដងក៏ពិតមែន ប៉ុន្តែខាងរោងចក្រ មិនដែលធ្វើការណែនាំ អំពីផលប៉ះពាល់ពីធ្យូងថ្មនោះ។ 
នៅពេលដែលក្រុមការងារកំពុងអង្គុយក្នុងទូកជាមួយលោក ហង្ស តារា នៅក្បែររោងចក្រនោះ គាត់បាន​រៀបរាប់​ថា នេះជាមូលហេតុដែល​គាត់ផ្លាស់ការងារ ​ពី​ជាង​ភ្លើងនៅ​រោងចក្រ​អគ្គីសនី ​ទៅ​ជា​អ្នក​នេសាទ​។

លោក ដារ៉ា បានលើកឡើងអំពីអាការៈឈឺក្បាលខ្លាំង និងក្អកញឹកញាប់ នៅពេលដែលគាត់បំពេញការងារនៅរោងចក្រ។ លោកបានបន្តថា៖ «ខ្ញុំពិតជាបារម្ភអំពីសុខភាពរបស់ខ្ញុំណាស់»។ លោកបានបន្តរៀបរាប់ថា៖ «ឥលូវនេះខ្ញុំបារម្ភអំពី [ផលប៉ះពាល់ដល់សុខភាព] ត្រីម្តង»។ 

នៅពេលដែលលោកដារ៉ាឈរនៅលើក្បាលទូក លោកពូ លយ ឆែម កំពុងអង្គុយកាន់ចង្កូតទូកនៅខាងក្រោយ។ ពេលដែលពួកគាត់បើកទូកកាត់ផែផ្ទុកធ្យូងថ្ម របស់រោងចក្រអគ្គីសនី លោកពូឆែមងើបឈរពីកន្លែងអង្គុយរបស់គាត់ រួចចង្អុលទៅត្រីដូហ្វីន ដែលកំពុងងើបចេញពីផ្ទៃទឹក។

លោកពូឆែមបាបមានប្រសាសន៍ថា៖ «ឥលូវខ្ញុំមិនសូវឃើញត្រីដូហ្វីនច្រើនទេ។ ពួកវាលែងនៅដោយសារធ្យូងថ្ម។ ដូចយើងអញ្ចឹង…ពួកវារស់ទៅរស់នៅកន្លែងឆ្ងាយៗពីនេះ»។ លោកពូបានពន្យល់ទៀតថា សព្វថ្ងៃនេះ ទាល់តែគាត់បើកទូកចេញទៅក្បែរខេត្តកោះកុង ទើបអាចរកត្រីបាន។ គួរបញ្ជាក់ផងដែរថា ក្រុមហ៊ុន Royal Group មានគម្រោងសាងសង់រោងចក្រអគ្គីសនីដើរដោយការដុតធ្យូងថ្មនៅខេត្តកោះកុង។  

ស្របពេលដែលលោកពូក្រឡេកមើលដីគោគរួច គាត់បានពោលថា៖ «ប្រសិនបើគេសាងសង់រោងចក្រមែន ទាំងយើង ទាំងត្រី លែងមានកន្លែងរត់គេចទៀតហើយ»។

រាយការណ៍បន្ថែម៖ Andrew Haffner និង ឡាយ សុផាន់ណា
អត្ថបទនេះទទួលបានការគាំទ្រពីជំនួយ News Reporting Pitch Initiative ពីមូលនិធិខុនរ៉ាតអាឌិនណៅអ៊ែរ​ Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung ប្រចាំកម្ពុជា

The post ការពឹងផ្អែកលើអគ្គីសនីធ្យូងថ្ម បង្អាក់ដំណើរការថាមពលនៅកម្ពុជា appeared first on Southeast Asia Globe.

In the Areng Valley, a river-carved flatland in the range sparsely populated by villages of indigenous Chorng people, that includes any semblance of cellular reception. 

This means it’s usually best to meet in-person with Reem Souvsee, the deputy chief of the valley’s Chomnoab commune. Otherwise, Souvsee explained, she might get some reception near the roof of her house, or up the neighbouring mountains where local men go to harvest resin from trees to sell for a bit of income.

Despite that isolation, in recent months this stretch of rural communities amongst densely jungled peaks has been pulled into the centre of global debate about carbon credits – a development scheme organised under a U.N.-backed framework called REDD+.

These credits are intended to limit the emissions that cause climate change by preventing deforestation in places like Areng. They’re purchased by major polluters, including some of the world’s largest oil and gas firms, to offset their fossil fuel emissions by essentially sponsoring the protection of forests, in developing countries such as Cambodia.

Some of these credits are already coming from the mountains near Souvsee’s home, which lies within the Southern Cardamom REDD+ project. Managed by the nonprofit Wildlife Alliance in partnership with the Cambodian government, the roughly 4,453-square-kilometre project in Koh Kong province includes portions of two national parks and another officially protected area. It is the largest of four such registered carbon credit zones in Cambodia. 

The project has also been seen abroad as one of the flagships for the burgeoning climate finance sector. But that image took a major hit in June when the world’s leading carbon credit registry service, a U.S.-based non-profit called Verra, abruptly suspended issuing new credits for the site in response to an as-yet unreleased investigation from global advocacy group Human Rights Watch alleging rights abuses by environmental officials and rangers within the project area.

The finer mechanics of the carbon credit model are mostly unknown to locals in Areng, who were unaware of these developments. But Souvsee – a member of Cambodia’s besieged political opposition Candlelight Party and a former affiliate with the conservation activist group Mother Nature – saw reason to support the programme, which has funded local infrastructure and community development. 

“We want REDD+ to be here, but we want them to respect our rights as indigenous people,” she said. “They can help protect our forest, our culture – and they can help protect [our land] from companies too.” 

For rural forest communities such as those of Areng, the threat presented by outside companies is very real. 

Rights organisations annually rank Cambodia among the most corrupt in the world, pointing to well-documented elite networks that have granted themselves near-total control of the Kingdom’s natural resources under a sprawling political patronage system. This has seen the country’s once-vast forests and other officially protected landscapes traditionally doled out among an overlapping class of tycoons and politicians, usually to be stripped for timber and developed into agricultural plantations.

At the same time, the Cambodian government has pledged to expand carbon credit programmes across its many officially protected areas, as well as a deepening partnership with regional finance hub Singapore to bring its sprouting credits to a global market.

The Ministry of Environment has announced at least eight credit projects in the works in recent years, with two currently awaiting registration with Verra. Officials didn’t answer questions about their plans when contacted by a reporter.

Some conservationists argue the basic financial premise of REDD+ offers an alternative path forward, a means of changing the status quo for forests in Cambodia and other developing countries. They say credit sales provide a funding model that’s actually sustainable on the ground, allowing for more concerted efforts to protect nature. Project developers also assert a system that rewards states for keeping trees standing – as opposed to clear-cut for timber, mining or other development – is a much-needed step in the future of environmental protection. 

But critics say these plans still fail to defuse the key drivers of deforestation by powerful economic interests, especially in countries such as Cambodia where land rights and environmental protections wither in the face of political clout and profit-seeking. Worse, some say, the brunt of the protections brought with REDD+ often fall on some of the world’s poorest communities – often smallholder farmers who depend on forests to eke out subsistence livelihoods. 

“I think there’s been a growing disappointment with REDD+ projects,” said Professor Ida Theilade, a forestry expert with the University of Copenhagen. She’s studied Cambodia for more than 20 years and has, in the past, done consulting for carbon credit projects in other countries. “It’s very hard to find those success stories, those really big stars in the sky.”

The recent Verra suspension has pulled that critical spotlight squarely on the Southern Cardamom REDD+ project.

Verra stated it was investigating the situation in Southern Cardamom further, but didn’t comment beyond that. Human Rights Watch also did not disclose their report to the Globe. 

Though minimal details from the group’s study have been made public, its researchers had reportedly documented rights violations carried out against local people by public officials and conservation rangers in the development of the REDD+ project.

Even just a hint of these preliminary findings was immediately familiar to many in Cambodia. 

Though the forests under its watch remain some of the thickest in the country, Wildlife Alliance has long been accused of heavy-handed enforcement of environmental restrictions with often-impoverished local villagers. The not-yet-public Human Rights Watch report likely taps into this history.

Suwanna Gauntlett, Wildlife Alliance CEO and founder, denies abuses, saying her organisation is working to support rural livelihoods while safeguarding protected areas. She places the group’s role in Cambodia in a longer arc of conservation in the Kingdom, tracing back to the group’s earliest days in 2000 – operating in a near-lawless environment to fight land-grabbing, human-caused forest fires and widespread poaching.

“We used to be the good guys doing good stuff, and now we’re the villains,” said Gauntlett, reflecting on the spotlight cast on her group by Human Rights Watch. “I don’t know how comfortable I feel in my new role.”

On the ground

The Southern Cardamom REDD+ project seemed to provide a ready case study for bigger questions facing climate financing in Cambodia. So as part of a broader investigation of greenwashing conducted in partnership with the Earth Journalism Network, reporters from the Southeast Asia Globe and the U.K.-based outlet SourceMaterial, spent about a week total travelling through the Southern Cardamom zone over two separate trips. 

With regular check-ins and surveillance from local police, reporters spoke with more than 30 people in communities around the area. These interviews ranged from villagers and local officials to Wildlife Alliance employees.

What they found was – a mixed bag.

“On the whole, we’re happy with REDD+,” said Chhan Kong, 41, a fisherman and rice farmer living in the village of Teuk La’ak. “[But] the rangers can be harsh and aggressive.”

When he and others ventured into the protected area to make camp and fish – a permitted activity – Kong said they ran the risk of having their camping equipment confiscated or destroyed by rangers. 

This was a common thread in many interviews, and locals also told reporters they felt compelled to run at the sight of rangers lest they run afoul of restrictions. Those caught breaking the rules could be sent to court, villagers said.

Maybe the most notable recent incident in the REDD+ zone that the Globe heard of involved a then-62-year-old woman who was briefly detained by rangers about two years ago. Presumably on the way to their station, the rangers let her go with no further action after other community members went to advocate for her release. 

Still frightened and confused, she told reporters the rangers had picked her up for cutting a small tree near her farm. 

As with her case, the single-most common appeal was for greater communication and cooperation, especially for farmers, fisherfolk and others around the boundaries and enforcement of protected areas. A Wildlife Alliance field official who spoke with reporters said there was signage to mark these edges and showed them a detailed map, but acknowledged it wasn’t distributed to local people. 

Hoeng Pov, a Chorng community representative in Areng Valley, said even commune officials often lacked key information about the project.

“We really want to know about accountability – how much [do they earn] from selling carbon, how much do they pay for organisations who do this project and for the communities as well?” he mused to reporters. “Some organisations haven’t addressed people’s concerns, they only talk about their project. [And] after they got money from this project they haven’t let us know how the money was divided.” 

Though questions remained, almost everyone reporters spoke with agreed on the importance of protecting the forest. 

Besides the carbon-sucking benefits that trees and other plant life provide on their own, cutting them down also has massive impacts on the climate – deforestation contributes as much as 20% to global carbon emissions. 

According to the nonprofit Global Forest Watch , Cambodia has lost about 31% of its tree cover since 2000, amounting to about 1.57 gigatons of carbon emissions. 

At the same time, its forays into carbon crediting have produced mixed results.

Of its four Verra-registered REDD+ projects, two have experienced severe deforestation. One of these is in the province of Oddar Meanchey and the other is called Tumring, located on the edge of the country’s once-vast, now-vanishing Prey Lang forest. 

Regarded as the largest lowland evergreen forest remaining in mainland Southeast Asia, even the protected areas of Prey Lang are steadily dissolving under industrial-scale logging operations. 

Tumring was developed in partnership with the South Korean government, but primarily overseen by the Cambodian Forestry Administration. The forester Theialde said satellite imagery has shown dramatic loss of tree cover at the project site, and it’s unclear if it’s actually selling credits.

Oddar Meanchey, Cambodia’s first foray into carbon crediting, has suffered a similar fate. With backing from the U.N. Development Program, the project initially found commitments from organisations such as Disney and Virgin Airlines to buy credits. But the corporate backers cancelled after it became apparent that local officials and military units had asserted their own claims to officially protected land.

Meanwhile, Cambodia’s second-largest REDD+ project – managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) at the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary in the northern province of Mondulkiri – is generally considered a success. 

Colin Moore, the Southeast Asia regional REDD+ coordinator for WCS, said revenues from the credits sold from the project have been a game-changer for the group’s work on the site.

“It’s really allowed us to scale our activities on the ground,” said Moore. “We’ve only very recently entered a world where you can do more than just fund a bare-bones conservation programme in these landscapes.”

Moore said WCS works with Everland, a company based in the U.S., to market and sell the credits from REDD+ projects to buyers around the world. Everland also does the same for the Southern Cardamom project.

When credits are sold from Keo Seima, a portion of their sales revenue goes to Everland or other fees, but the rest of the proceeds are split between WCS Cambodia and the Environment Ministry. Moore said the breakdown is 20% for the ministry, 80% for the project itself, deposited into an account managed by WCS. 

That latter pool of money goes into funding conservation projects within Keo Seima, including personnel costs and programming related to rural livelihood development, community land titling and more.

Both Moore and Wildlife Alliance declined to say how much in total funding their credit sales have made over the life of the project so far. Local media has quoted government officials stating the Environment Ministry itself has raised $11.6 million in carbon credit sales since 2016, which would be only a portion of the total revenues.

Moore said the successes of the Keo Seima and Southern Cardamom REDD+ projects were the “proof of concept” before the Cambodian government’s current push to develop more credit programmes. A boost in global interest in financing such projects since 2021 – the first year of the Paris Climate Accords commitment period – also helped drive interest, he added.

“The existing projects that were here in Cambodia had been ticking along, eking by on some small sales here and there,” Moore said. “Only after 2021 did they start to make big sales, be able to move their inventory.”

Critiques and hopes

Conservation funding aside, critics of REDD+ have not found it a convincing model to mitigate climate change. 

An extensive report from a carbon trading research centre at the University of California-Berkeley asserted last month that loose REDD+ assessments and quality control practices by Verra are leading to “over-crediting” and “exaggerated” claims about the impact of such projects. 

As a result, they said, credits sold under the promise of directly offsetting specific amounts of carbon emissions likely represent only “a small fraction of their claimed climate benefit”. The researchers also wrote that REDD+ projects focus their enforcement efforts on rural, often-impoverished forest communities while remaining unable to address large-scale deforestation caused by more powerful economic interests.

“Our overall conclusion is that REDD+ is ill-suited to the generation of carbon credits for use as offsets,” the researchers wrote, adding that the current “market system creates a race to the bottom that is hard to emerge from.” 

Those within the sector itself have a different view.

Everland President Joshua Tosteson freely admits the industry is imperfect but is adamant that its basic premise is a good one when done properly. He said he hadn’t read the Berkeley report in depth, but noted that he agreed with it that the Verra system allowed for a “wide variability right now in respect to how projects get set up in relation to the communities.” 

“There isn’t really like what you might call a normative standard, a quality standard for how things ought to be done,” he said, adding that applied to things such as gaining free prior and informed consent and revenue sharing with local people.

That makes it hard to properly gauge how well projects actually address the underlying social and economic reasons for forest loss, Tosteson added. 

Beyond that, he rejected the larger denunciations of the Berkeley report, ascribing some of its findings to a broader wariness of using market solutions to address deforestation or climate change issues. However, for a country such as Cambodia, he thought the financial incentive that REDD+ brought to conservation could help keep trees standing.

“The thing about REDD that I think people do not appreciate and understand is that money talks – and the fact that there has been financial success associated with forest conservation in these two places [Southern Cardamom and Keo Seima] is beginning to change the mind of the government,” he said. “It’s going to take a while, but this is definitely part of the trajectory that I think can get you to a different ethos at a national level.”

At Wildlife Alliance’s offices in Phnom Penh, Gauntlett and her organisation also stand by their work.

Besides using the revenues from carbon credit sales to fund protection of the REDD+ area, the group also listed a range of material investments in the rural communities of the Southern Cardamom project. 

Besides helping start “community-based eco-tourism” centres, Gauntlett also said her group had shored up land tenure for residents in the REDD+ zone by facilitating the government processing of just under 5,000 “hard” land titles – a level of official recognition of ownership often difficult to secure in Cambodia – covering nearly 12,250 parcels of private land there. She expected the Ministry of Land Management to issue an additional 7,249 titles through 2024.

Gauntlett also listed infrastructure developments such as about 28 kilometres of new or rehabbed roads in the project zone, 94 solar-powered water wells, 77 toilets, two schools and a bridge. Wildlife Alliance also funded 16 full university scholarships for students to study and live in Phnom Penh, she said.

Reporters were able to see much of the hard infrastructure for themselves as they traveled through the project area. In the Areng Valley, one older resident said the newly installed toilet was the first she’d ever had. 

While the Wildlife Alliance REDD+ programme officially started in 2015, Gauntlett said her organisation had first tried to establish the programme in 2008 – but was rejected by the Cambodian government.

“Finally when REDD started, it was pretty much already all done. It wasn’t a decision that came out of the blue like this,” she said. When asked why the government had initially been against it, Gauntlett was concise.

“Very simple. More money to be made through economic land concessions.”

‘An illusion’

Still, the incentives offered by climate finance will need to compete with more short-term motivations. Not everyone shares Gauntlett’s optimism that carbon credits are up to task.

The forester Theilade is among them. She mostly focuses on the vanishing Prey Lang forest and the community networks that have struggled to maintain it against powerful interests. 

She was also involved in the early 2000s with helping the Cambodian government develop its “REDD+ Roadmap”, a planning process with World Bank funding that ostensibly evolved into the Kingdom’s current strategy. 

Today, she occasionally reviews conservation proposals with carbon trading components, but she’s not working specifically with crediting schemes. 

Theilade is also not involved with Wildlife Alliance or their work in Southern Cardamom but said she’d read about the organisation’s presence there. Though she gave some credit to them, she said Cambodia’s extensive patronage system leaves no quarter for good intentions – especially where forestland is concerned.

Such an outcome for Wildlife Alliance has already happened elsewhere in the country. Last year, its partners in the Forestry Administration conspired against the conservation group with local officials and prominent tycoons to clear-cut and parcel out a smaller forest that Wildlife Alliance had preserved just outside the Phnom Penh metro. 

The conservation group had used that area, known as Phnom Tamao, as a sanctuary for rare and endangered animals. Though a rare surge of public discontent put a stop to development of the land, the forest itself was decimated. 

Based on global prices for carbon on the offsets market, Theilade thought there was no way for credits to compete with other land uses associated with the patronage system – especially timber logged from protected areas.

Though she gently cautioned that she didn’t want to “sound too negative” about the work being done by some conservation groups to build out such schemes, Theilade just didn’t see it as a realistic option given the political weight against conservation.

“It has to be a government deciding, or a culture deciding, that these forests are worth something to us,” she said, describing the various ecological, social and spiritual benefits that forests provide in Cambodia. “That the government is going to conserve forests for some small carbon payments, I’m afraid, is an illusion.”

Contributed reporting by Anton Delgado, Meng Kroypunlok, Roun Ry and SourceMaterial.

This story was produced with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network.

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UNICEF and UNFPA work closely with the Cambodian Ministry of Health, which is fully committed to providing adequate mental health care for the country’s children, adolescents and youth. However, mental disorders or anxiety should not remain solely a public health issue but should be recognized as a societal concern. The magnitude of this crisis on children, adolescents and youth is unprecedented.

In 2022, at least 873 people died by suicide, most of whom were between the ages of 15–19. Approximately half a million people in Cambodia are affected by depressive disorders or anxiety, which are major contributors to suicide. Shockingly, an estimated 58 percent of secondary school students reported experiencing at least one mental health issue following the prolonged COVID-19 school closures.

The pandemic pushed almost half a million families into poverty, exacerbating their vulnerability and leading to a significant surge in abuse and gender-based violence. Alarmingly, an estimated 40 percent of children and adolescents endure physical and psychological violence and abuse, including sexual abuse and bullying.

Like many children around the world, the younger generation in Cambodia today also faces an uncertain future because of a climate crisis handed to them by previous generations, which can make them feel helpless or desperate.

The pandemic took a heavy toll on mental health, yet it also helped us break the silence.

We took part in the conversation. Last year, UNICEF and UNFPA invested in digital and mobile platforms to create more opportunities for dialogue and to provide information on mental health as well as spaces to seek support. UNFPA, together with the national authorities, launched the Youth Health mobile app to connect adolescents and youth to comprehensive sexuality education, giving them access to information and free 24/7 helpline counseling services.

UNICEF launched the #IFeelBetterWhen campaign, reaching approximately 1.4 million young people and adolescents with online guidance to help cope with anxiety.

We took action. In schools, UNICEF and UNFPA are actively involved in life skills education, which helps students build positive mental health, establishing school health rooms that can provide care services and training youth-peer educators. Additionally, we collaborate with national institutions to implement Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) within public services and the Parenting Tips initiative, which supports public services by providing advice to parents and caregivers.

Cambodia is rapidly advancing its human capital and development through the implementation of its Pentagonal Strategy Phase One (2024–2028), which gave direction to the forthcoming United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework. However, reaching many of the nation’s ambitious goals will be difficult without realizing child and youth rights, including investing in the much-needed expansion of mental health care services across the country. A generation unable to access necessary support becomes a generation of lost potential. 

A recent analysis found that the economic benefits of investing in MHPSS interventions strongly outweigh implementation costs. For every US$1 invested in social and emotional skills education, an astounding US$225 of lifetime earning loss is averted.

More needs to be done. We call upon the government, civil society and public and private-sector partners to commit, communicate and take collective action to better support mental health and promote the well-being of all children, adolescents and caregivers. Together, we need to take five actions immediately:

1. Break the silence surrounding mental health issues, combat stigma and empower communitieswith a better understanding of and ability to speak about mental health at home, school, work and in all forums and discussions. We need to promote mental health through education and peer support teams, support community awareness campaigns, use social and mass media channels to initiate dialogue, and provide quality information and guidance on how to cope with mental health challenges and ways to seek support.
2. Give children, adolescents, youth and caregivers access to quality, timely support whenever and wherever they need through urgent public and private investment in MHPSS services and adequate training of personnel across all sectors, especially health, education, child protection and social protection. Existing programmes and services for mental health need to be scaled up, with good coordination between public and private sectors. MHPSS interventions need to be integrated into hospitals and health centers, including maternal child health care and pediatric services across the country and in remote and rural areas, to ensure no one is left behind. Tailored and comprehensive support services for vulnerable groups, including disabilities, ethnic minorities, HIV/AIDS, migrants, LGBTQI+and survivors of abuse and violence, should also be widely available.
3. Engage communities and families in promoting well-being and good mental healththroughparenting programmes that give caregivers the tools they need to support themselves and their children, life skills education that helps adolescents build emotional resilience, and avenues for active and meaningful participation on MHPSS.
4. Generate more data and conduct further research on MHPSSto drive continued policy development and investment decisions.
5. Expand digitalized access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education to connect more young people to educational resources and mental health support services.

If we don’t act now, we will undermine the next generation’s chance to learn, develop, build meaningful relationships and contribute to the world. And when we ignore the mental health of parents and caregivers, we fail to support them to nurture and care for their children to the best of their abilities.

Mental health is a universal human right, and it is a universal child right, which supports the fulfillment of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Let us envision a Cambodia where mental health is a foundation for building a brighter future. Unleashing the potential of Cambodia’s youth means nurturing their mental well-being. And when the mind thrives, the country prospers too.

The time to act together is now.

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On an unbearably hot day in April, Kong Mok pantomimed wrapping a material around his neck with one hand.

Mok, 67, was on duty as a guard at the ancient Koh Ker temple complex in northern Cambodia, which was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List earlier this month. As a small group watched, Mok mimicked how he believed looters used some form of explosive to break off the valuable heads from stone statues before transporting them out of the country.

He slowly moved his other hand around his neck before shooting his arms out to both sides. Bang – no more head. 

Throughout this year, far from the heat of Koh Ker, the U.S. federal government coordinated the return of illegally looted Cambodian relics from the Denver Art Museum and the private collections of billionaires as a wider reckoning in the art world has pressured collectors across the globe to give back pieces of dubious provenance.

Cambodia received 13 antiquities from the U.S. in March. Some of these had been looted from the Koh Ker complex in the grinding decades of strife that followed the Khmer Rouge regime, which collapsed in 1979 but waged insurgency until the late 1990s. These works included Hindu-era relics such as a warrior from a set of nine statues depicting a battle from the Mahabharata epic, a sandstone figure of the war god Skanda riding on a peacock and an enormous embodiment of the god Ganesha.

As foreign governments and law enforcement agencies track pilfered artefacts in their own jurisdictions, Cambodian researchers are investigating for themselves. Their work is part of a broader, often behind-the-scenes effort in the country to restore a historical legacy sold off to international dealers such as the late antiquities collector and accused smuggler Douglas Latchford.

The inquisitive group who spoke with Mok had come on behalf of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts with a twofold purpose – to patch together Koh Ker’s history with local narratives, however incomplete, and to track down missing pieces of ancient sculptures. 

At Koh Ker, researcher Tek Soklida filmed the interview with Mok on her phone as another member of the team sat nearby, jotting details in a notebook. Senior researcher Chhoun Kunthea led the interview and interpreted for Bradley J. Gordon, a U.S. attorney representing the Ministry of Culture and working on the project. 

For Soklida, the work wasn’t just a way for her to help others understand the country’s history. She felt the sculpted figures were a way her ancestors intended to communicate with the future – in other words, with her.

“A statue is not just a stone; it’s an achievement from my ancestors, who made it,” she said. The icons show her “how hard they worked at that time, even bringing the stones to the temple and carving it into a human or animal statue to show their descendants.”

A first-time visitor to Koh Ker might see only toppled stone carvings and collapsed chamber walls, lying nearby a massive pyramid erected in the 10th century. But the research team, which has been studying the temples for years, envision the outlines of what these places looked like when they were first built. 

Assisted by other historians and archeologists, the team has created original drawings and maps of the area, scrutinised photos found on Latchford’s laptop, and gathered historical details through interviews with neighbouring communities.

In their on-site interviews, the team often uses photographs to help jog residents’ memories. Now, with the recent returns, the women have a new set of photos. Before moving on to another area of Koh Ker, Kunthea pulled up a picture of the Ganesha statue, which had been presented earlier at a celebration in Phnom Penh. 

Mok laughed, surprised to see the statue he remembered from childhood. He hadn’t yet heard about its return. 

Later, the team hiked to the back of the central structure in the complex, a seven-tiered pyramid standing more than 35 metres tall. There, Kunthea found another guard with whom she had previously spoken. Often, the team gradually gets to know people before meeting again with more explicit questions about looting. 

“The information, it is not easy to get it … We try step by step to get more and more,” she said. “The questions [have to] be careful. Sometimes it’s not direct, a little bit around, and then you get to the main point of what you want to know.”

The guard, 68-year old Run Ran, suspected he was one of the oldest living villagers from Koh Ker. 

Around 1980 he worked to clear the temple grounds for a time under the direction of Ta Mok, a senior leader of the Khmer Rouge nicknamed “the Butcher” for overseeing mass killings. After living near and working at the site for many years, Ran was sure he had a connection with the temple in his past lives. 

The guard told the researchers he remembered seeing the complex’s 10th-century dancing Shiva statue when it still had three intact faces of its original five. Shattered into more than 10,000 pieces, the seven-tonne piece is now undergoing restoration in Siem Reap. French archeologists had moved two of the heads and some other fragments to Phnom Penh before the 1970s. And while a third face was shattered before looters got it, the remaining two heads were likely looted during the early 1990s and are still missing.

After Kunthea tried to pin down when exactly Ran had seen the statue with three heads, which would help in understanding the timeline of the looting, the women were ready to move on to Koh Ker village, where they hoped to talk with more elders. 

The temple guard lamented before they left that those most knowledgeable about the statues had already died. 

Even when foreign museums have returned pieces to Cambodia, such institutions don’t always offer up all of the information or documentation that could shed light on the journey the piece took, according to U.S. attorney Gordon. Without more official information, he said details from fragmented interviews, such as the ones gathered by the team at Koh Ker, are key to tracing the supply chains of looted relics. 

“There’s a very small number of experts out there on Cambodia,” he explained. “They have their theories and they are doing their research, but we’re still at a point that we haven’t been able to connect the dots yet. We’re getting lots of individual pieces of the past. The question is: what does it all add up to? Why was this here?”

Despite the rounds of returns, many pieces are still missing or outside the country. A standing female deity on display at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is thought to be originally from the Koh Ker. 

Back in the village far from the galleries of Manhattan, the team of Cambodian researchers spoke to some older women sitting under a wooden home raised on stilts. 

Yeam Koun and her niece Deb Sem, both 63, remembered seeing the set of nine warrior statues before several were looted. Sem said she remembered the area because a family member was bitten by a tiger there. At least one of these statues has still yet to be identified and brought back to Cambodia. The women suggested the team meet up with another older man in the village who might know more.

The research team stopped at a few more places in search of the village elder. They found his son-in-law, who told them to try looking for the man at a nearby pagoda. The team wasn’t able to track him down, and decided to end their research for the day. 

But spirits were not low. The team made new connections and dug up new details. Plus, they had already received a tip with names of Thai families who may have received the missing looted dancing Shiva heads. 

The team plans to travel to Thailand this year to follow the trail of the heads. Though plenty of investigation remains ahead, efforts such as theirs are slowly, finally bringing home the lost relics of Cambodia.

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Hundreds of headless deities sit in rows in a warehouse in Siem Reap, lit by buzzing fluorescent lights and a rim of small windows. 

The largest statue, nearly five metres tall, looks down at the rest. Or, rather, it would look down if it still had its head. Five heads, in this case. 

Stone restorers and archeologists have spent more than a decade piecing back together the monumental statue of the Hindu god Shiva from the Koh Ker temple complex in northern Cambodia, which was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List earlier this month. The seven-tonne, 10th century work depicts a 10-armed Shiva in a dancing pose – but over long years of turmoil during the country’s civil conflict in the 1980s and 90s, looters gradually smashed the stone deity into more than 10,000 pieces.

Some larger fragments, including two of the heads, had been preserved in Phnom Penh before the 1970s. A third head was shattered before looters got to it, and the final two looted faces have yet to be found.

This year, the world has shone a spotlight on the return of looted relics to Cambodia, with federal indictments in the U.S. preceding returns from the Denver Art Museum and wealthy private collectors such as Netscape founder Jim Clark. The arrivals in the country met a joyous response, though much of the fanfare stopped at the point of repatriation. 

But now, even intact objects require deep historical research to fully understand their place in Khmer history. And the quiet restoration of the dancing Shiva by a team of French and Cambodian experts demonstrates the often-tedious, highly difficult process of piecing the country’s looted history back together.

The shattered statue now stands behind the gates of Angkor Conservation, an office of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts in the temple tourism hub of Siem Reap. The facility houses thousands of ancient statues in various stages of repair. Its compound is closed to the public and flanked by “No Photography” signs. 

Hang Chansophea, head of the collection at Angkor Conservation, works on inventory and documentation on the project. She labels and maintains digital records of the various fragments, creating what she likens to a person’s ID card for each piece. 

On a hot day in April, she sifted through a styrofoam tray of pieces, some mere millimetres wide, trying to find connections. Eye drops, she said, helped her get through eight-hour days of staring at minuscule fragments.

“Sometimes I’m angry with looters,” she said. “Why do they try to break [the statues]? Because this is the heritage of the nation, the heritage for all.”

By the end of the Angkorian period in the 14th century, the statue had also fallen, breaking into a few large fragments. 

The toppled statue was in relatively good condition until the 20th century, said Éric Bourdonneau, an archeologist and historian from the French School of the Far East. He’s leading the restoration project in collaboration with Cambodian authorities. 

“Ninety percent of the fragments were still inside the [Kraham Temple] tower,” Bourdonneau said. “Still, you have some hands, some fragments that were moved at different periods of history outside the tower because of some villager or some child playing with it. It’s not surprising that you have some fragments moving.”

Between the 1920s and 1960s, French archeologists moved some large pieces of the dancing Shiva, such as hands and heads, to the National Museum in Phnom Penh. Bourdonneau described the movement of many pieces during the colonial period as problematic, with historians and archeologists from France and elsewhere believing they were “the best people to tell the history of other people.” 

It’s unlikely that statues from Koh Ker were taken during the Khmer Rouge’s reign from 1975-79. But in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, and then again in the ‘80s and ‘90s, looters descended on the temples of Koh Ker. Their forays were fueled by the demands of wealthy Western art dealers and curators, capitalising on the chaos in Cambodia at the time. 

In a shift from earlier times, looters of the late 20th century sought to evade the law by cutting the link between the objects and their origins.

Antiquities dealers such as the late Douglas Latchford – a prolific collector of Cambodian relics who was criminally charged before his death with smuggling looted artefacts – made use of this tactic of misdirection. Latchford had claimed a massive, three-tonne Ganesha statue he sold was not the original but merely a replica.

The dancing Shiva was one of the last statues in Koh Ker to be looted. While vandals absconded with other nearby pieces, the Shiva remained, possibly because of its large size and because its remaining two faces were worn and in bad condition. But in the early 1990s, looters finally lopped off those faces. In order to break off the heads intact, researchers believe the looters drove chisels lower down on the statue’s body, shattering the torso in the process.

Finally, some years after this mortal blow, there were throngs of local and foreign tourists weaving through the archeological site, likely stepping on stone fragments and broken pieces of history. 

The steady crumbling of the dancing Shiva dragged on until restoration work began in 2012. 

The project is more complex than almost any other restoration project in the world, Bourdonneau said.

“It’s extremely unusual,” he said. “Of course it’s not rare that you have many examples where you have to work with some dozens of fragments or even hundreds. But here, we have collected … more than 10,000 fragments.”

The restoration is made even more challenging because about 80% of the surface of the figure is smooth, with no designs to help the team.

After the excavation and a study of the found pieces were complete, the team spent  2019 connecting the largest pieces of the torso.

“At the beginning, when we put all the pieces on the table and looked around, it was hard for us to start. From what way? From what point?” said Chhan Chamroeun, deputy director of safeguarding and conservation of ancient monuments with the Ministry of Culture.

In their first phase, the team used digital scanning of the project to create a 3D model. A centre at Heidelberg University in Germany even used this to develop an interactive puzzle.

But the monumental task of connecting the pieces has been done almost entirely by hand. Bourdonneau said technology, including artificial intelligence, is not advanced enough to assist in putting the pieces back together as there aren’t enough regularities in how the fragments were broken off. 

“I won’t say that maybe in the future it won’t be possible, but for now, there’s nothing better than the human brain,” he said.

Some pieces remain missing but a basic shape has taken form along an internal scaffolding. This skeleton for the dancing Shiva may help put it back on its feet as it was in the 10th century

“As it is broken in so many parts and as it is so huge and so heavy, one real challenge of this kind of restoration is to design the metallic structure to make it possible to have the statue standing up,” Bourdonneau said.

The group plans to complete the majority of the restoration by the beginning of 2025 and hopes to eventually display the statue in Koh Ker in a new pavilion north of its original site. Bourdonneau hopes to keep the local community connected to the statue and has invited residents throughout the restoration to see its progress. 

Despite the enormity of their task, the stone restorers and archeologists working on the project seem somewhat unfazed by what can appear to an outsider as a gruelling process. They see their work, largely unseen by the public, as part of a larger mission for Cambodia.

Asked about his reaction to recently finding the right location of an important missing piece, Chamroeun said he felt happier than if he had been gifted “a box of beer.”

But amidst his muted responses was an earnest commitment to the job at hand.  

“If we just have the experience or we have the knowledge we learn from different fields to restore this object – it’s not enough if we don’t have our heart,” he said. “It’s not just for us in this generation, this is for our country and for our next generation.”

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Eubank, 61, is the founder and leader of the Free Burma Rangers, an eclectic band of former U.S. Marines seeking new purpose, Myanmar ethnic minorities and rebels with a cause. Since 1996, the nonprofit group has gradually built a following throughout Myanmar with backing from local leaders, documenting war crimes carried out by the national military while distributing humanitarian aid. 

Eubank spoke with the Globe from a car driving outside Lutsk, Ukraine, a country that his organisation has recently entered. As the road rumbled and the connection cracked, Eubank spoke about the intense fighting in Ukraine, then switched to talk of Texas and the Alamo, a symbol of independence now nearly two centuries old. 

“I believe in the whole thing of freedom to this day,” he said.

Eubank is a devout Christian raised in Thailand by missionary parents. He and his wife, Karen Eubank, made faith and family central to their organisation, which also draws from David’s own experience as a former member of the elite U.S. Army Rangers and Special Forces.

The couple has raised three children across various conflict zones – now in young adulthood, the trio help their parents run family programmes in the field while on university breaks. With Eubank’s dual role as a combat-trained philanthropist and a spiritual leader who performs baptisms and other rites, he eludes any easy description. 

“You don’t surrender to fear or comfort or pride or the threats of the enemy,” Eubank said, adding that he only surrenders to love and God.

In Myanmar, decades of civil war and international isolation have created severe barriers to humanitarian aid. That already challenging landscape was further exacerbated after the 2021 coup that ousted the elected government of state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and unleashed a brutal chapter of widespread violence and lawlessness under yet another junta.

Amidst the scorched-earth campaign waged by the national military in its struggle to maintain control of the country, Eubank’s Rangers may be distinctly well-suited to fill a vacuum of service provision and information-gathering around Myanmar. 

Eubank said the quasi-clerical yet diverse humanitarian group operates with “no safety rules”. The organisation’s website states a total of 59 rangers have been killed since the group’s beginning. Though some died from disease, most were documented as perishing from gunshots, mortar attacks, air strikes or other actions by the Myanmar armed forces.

You don’t have to have any religion. As long as you do this for love, you don’t run, and you can read and write in some language to get the news out, you can be a Ranger.”

David Eubank

The Rangers focus on three key areas, according to Eubank. These are providing humanitarian aid such as food, shelter, clothing and medical assistance; documenting atrocities through interviews, photos and videos for media dissemination; and offering a range of trainings, from emergency medical care and logistics to what might be tactical instruction on landmine clearance and battlefield communication.

“Now there are about 150 teams deployed in every part of Burma, representing 16 ethnic groups,” Eubank said. “You don’t have to have any religion. As long as you do this for love, you don’t run, and you can read and write in some language to get the news out, you can be a Ranger.”

Though Myanmar is central to the group’s purpose, its website and prolific social media channels document missions abroad.

With an address in the U.S. city of Colorado Springs and a post office box in Chiang Mai, Thailand, the Rangers describe themselves as “a multi-ethnic humanitarian service movement working to bring help, hope and love to people in the conflict zones of Burma, Iraq and Sudan”.

Financial records on the Rangers’ website declare about 2,800 donors, mostly private individuals, churches and organisations donating to the group’s tax-exempt public charity, Free the Oppressed. For the last fiscal year, the organisation received more than $7 million for everything from medical supplies and cameras, to Bibles and Ranger-branded t-shirts. 

The group’s nonprofit revenue nearly tripled from 2020 to 2021 following the military coup in Myanmar.

Aside from records, the Rangers’ website is full of regular updates on the intense civil warfare following the coup – including graphic images from the scenes of massacres reportedly committed by the national armed forces. The military has in turn claimed the volunteer organisation “was formed by Vietnam War veterans [and] are in fact militants” who train ethnic armed groups to attack its bases.

Eubank denies these accusations and has long maintained his focus is on protecting the public, not confronting the military.

“Of course, I’m angry. Of course, I’m going to support the people against [the military]. But I also pray for them, their hearts to change,” he said.

Although Thai was Eubank’s first language as a child, he was born in the U.S. and later returned there for university in Texas. He joined the U.S. Army after that, serving as an Army Ranger reconnaissance platoon leader for counter-narcotics missions in Central and South America before joining the Special Forces.

Eubank left the military service in 1992 and entered seminary school. As he tells it, about a year after that, representatives of the Wa people – who hold a powerful, two-region enclave in Myanmar along the Thai and Chinese borders – reached out to Eubank’s missionary father to request his help. 

That would be the start of the family’s work in Myanmar.

We’re not a militia or an army, but we’re not pacifist. … If you have your own weapon, then you can take it. But you can’t use it except for defending [internally displaced persons] or yourself.” 

David Eubank

From their founding in 1996, the Free Burma Rangers have worked closely with ethnic armed organisations, including the Karen National Liberation Army and the Kachin Independence Army. These groups safeguard the Rangers, many of whom share the same ethnic backgrounds. 

In return, the Rangers typically provide expertise and training in field medicine. The organisation has trained more than 7,000 people to date. Eubank said the group does not provide arms or military training to its members or to ethnic armies – but also doesn’t forbid anyone from carrying guns.

“We’re not a militia or an army, but we’re not pacifist,” Eubank said. “If you have your own weapon, then you can take it. But you can’t use it except for defending [internally displaced persons] or yourself.”

Eubank himself was filmed taking up arms against ISIS fighters during the liberation of Mosul in 2017 in a documentary about the Rangers from a Christian production studio.

One wounded ranger from the battle claimed Eubank killed three fighters, even after he was shot in the arm. 

In Myanmar, Eubank’s policy is to get close to but avoid the military.

Still, the diplomatic concern of Rangers potentially acting as gunrunners for ethnic rebels in Myanmar has been documented in leaked cables transmitted to the Bangkok and Yangon embassies from the U.S. State Department. 

In one mishap, Eubank was caught on camera wearing a partial U.S. military uniform at a Shan National Day Rally, an annual festival where political and military leaders of the Shan people recognise and celebrate self-determination. According to the cable, this allegedly generated the perception the Rangers were providing weapons to the Shan State Army. 

The cable also suggested this incident – along with some disagreements between Eubank and the State Department over Thai refugee policy – prompted the department to limit contact with the Rangers and instruct Eubank to resign from the U.S. Army Reserve. Later, the Myanmar government claimed the photo of Eubank in uniform was evidence that the U.S. military was working with Shan militants and summoned the Defense Attache in Yangon over the issue.

While there is no evidence that the Rangers funnel weapons to rebels, State Department investigators stated in the cable they “believe there are other individuals who do help armed ethnic groups in Burma procure weapons, some of whom are former U.S. military. Due to the nature of his work, Eubank is probably aware of who they are and precisely what activities they are engaged in.” 

Generally around the world, small communities of ex-U.S. military personnel volunteering to enter foreign conflicts have caused some – such as former Human Rights Watch researcher David Scott Mathieson – to suggest “war zones (like in Myanmar) attract a rogue’s gallery of adventurers, fantasists and psychopaths. Eubank and his Free Burma Rangers (FBR) have been called all those and more.”

But Mathieson acknowledged that those who find the group’s faith-fueled humanitarian work off-putting cannot go so far as to claim that the Rangers have been ineffective.

Flitting between frontlines, Eubank doesn’t shy from the martial realities of his calling. When asked about balancing love against vengeance, he spoke about a form of justice that requires punishment motivated by the former.

“Justice has to have love in it so that when someone has done something wrong, the punishment must be one of love,” Eubank said. “That might be imprisonment or any number of other punishments to help them see the error of their ways. You might even have to shoot them, they might even die, but you’re just going to kill their body, not their soul and that’s better than letting them continue – body and soul – to wreak havoc on others and themselves.”

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