CAMBODIA
Land-grabs, logging and plantations
by Chris Lang

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There have been several plans to develop a pulp and paper industry and associated fast-growing tree plantations in Cambodia. However, the level of paper consumption remains very low at around 0.7 kg per person in 1998 (PPI 1999) and there is only one large-scale industrial tree plantation currently underway in the country.

In 1965, the Committee for Coordination of Investigations of the Lower Mekong Basin (the forerunner of the Mekong River Commission) produced a report "on the feasibility of establishing a large-scale pulp and paper industry in the Lower Mekong basin". The justification was two-fold: to utilise the electricity that would be generated from the proposed hydroelectric dams on the Mekong mainstream; and to find a use for the "seemingly unexhaustable resources of wooden fibrous raw materials within the region" (Bryde et al 1965: 1). Thirty six years later the Mekong mainstream dams have not been built (outside China) and the proposals have been dropped, because of the massive social and environmental problems associated with such large-scale dams. Meanwhile, the forests of the region have been devastated by war, logging, dam construction, conversion to agriculture (often cash crops for export) and conversion to monoculture tree plantations.

The 1965 report looks at the possibility of establishing a large-scale pulp and paper mill in Phnom Penh. Having discussed the various possible sources of raw material already existing, the study concludes that they are not suitable for economic conversion to pulp, and "a large-scale pulp and paper industry within the Mekong basin is only feasible provided correspondingly large plantations of coniferous species are established" (Bryde et al 1965: 24). Interestingly, the consultants do not suggest possibility of eucalyptus or acacia plantations. The report recommends logging the "overmatured" pine forests in Cambodia, and replacing the natural pine forests with plantations (Bryde et al 1965: 35-39).

However, the report concludes "no obvious reasons were seen for assigning high priority to a pulp and paper industry. On the contrary, it was considered likely that other types of industries may serve the interest of the Mekong countries much better, especially those calling for more labour and manual skills but less capital investment per employee" (Bryde et al 1965: 9). The plans for a large-scale pulp and paper mill in Phnom Penh were quietly shelved.

Since that time, there has been little effort made to develop a pulp and paper industry in Cambodia. Between 1985 and 1990 the Department of Forestry established approximately 2,000 hectares of Acacia auriculiformis and Eucalyptus camaldulensis plantations (White 1991: 7). These were supposedly planted to provide firewood, although neither species provides particularly good timber for burning.

Foresters, whether employed by aid agencies or NGOs, will, almost invariably, sooner or later, recommend large-scale industrial forestry, including "reforestation" involving tree plantations. In 1991, Keith White, forest advisory consultant to the NGO Australian Catholic Relief, recommended a five-year "Industrial Forestry Plantation" programme which would aim "To develop industrial wood production forests on degraded forest land and to rehabilitate them to productive forest". The consultant argues that this would provide rural employment and "viable economic growth leading to the establishment of needed forest industries" (White 1991). This programme did not take place. The consultant's assumptions about rural employment are contradicted by studies carried out in Ratanakiri province comparing the income to villagers of fruit tree planting on their own land with income from monoculture plantations. The surveys, carried out by the Ratanakiri-based NGO, NTFP project, indicate that villagers would prefer to retain control of their own land and plant their own crops, rather than becoming dependent on one crop and one company for their livelihoods (NTFP no date).

The Cambodian Forestry Department issued a study in 1999 which recommended "Rehabilitation of the country's degraded forest ecosystems" as a "priority concern for the future." The report added, "It is clear that a priority need exists to put in place an effective system for land-use planning. The question of the best ways of rehabilitating existing degraded forests is a secondary issue" (Vientiane Times 19-22 November 1999). Rather than being a secondary issue, however, who controls the rehabilitation of Cambodia's forests, and for whom the rehabilitation is carried out are crucial issues. Replacing degraded forest areas with monoculture (often exotic) tree plantations is a very different prospect for local people than community managed forest regeneration.

The Afforestation Office in the Department of Forestry, is currently carrying out a programme to plant acacia and eucalyptus which started in 1999. The chief of the Afforestation Office, Ma Sotaa said that the government-funded programme aims to "occupy the area for the pulp and paper industry" and will plant 2-300 hectares each year, with a total area of "more than 20,000 hectares". The trees are to be cut after five years. The land to be planted is "degraded forest area, with only small trees and imperata grassland" according to Ma Soktha (Ma Soktha 2000).

In January 2000, the Royal Government of Cambodia signed a contract with the Pheapimex Group giving the company a 70-year right to "develop" 300,000 hectares of "spare forest" land in the provinces of Kampong Chhnang and Pursat. Pheapimex intends to plant the land with eucalyptus and acacia trees to supply a planned pulp and paper mill in Kandal province (Bala Chandran 2001).

According to the contract for the concession, Pheapimex must plant 5,000 hectares in the first year, and a gradually increasing area each year for the first 15 years of the contract. The contract also requires that Pheapimex deposit US$20,000 with the government as a guarantee that the area proposed is planted. The amount of rent to be charged for the land, however, appears to be undecided. The contract states, "At the present time, the government is not ready to collect the annual land rental fee" and any rent due is to be agreed in the future, "in accordance with the law and decision of the government".

In December 2000, Pheapimex signed a joint venture agreement with the Chinese Farm Cooperation Group to build a pulp and paper mill. (People's Daily 25 December 2000) The US$70 million joint venture is financed with a loan to the Cambodian government from the Import-Export Bank of China. The loan forms part of a deal between the Chinese and Cambodian governments to boost trade and investment between the two countries. Under the terms of the loan, the Pheapimex and the Chinese Farm Cooperation Group will pay five per cent interest to the Cambodian government. The government will pay three per cent interest to the Chinese Import-Export Bank (Bala Chandran 2001).

The Secretary of State for Agriculture Forestry and Fishery, Chan Tong Yves, told a reporter that he welcomed the deal and said the government's efforts to draw investment into the agriculture sector were bearing fruit (Bala Chandran 2001). Pheapimex is well placed to benefit from such efforts. The company's Cambodian owner Choeng Sopheap (nicknamed Yeay Pho) has "extremely close relations" with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, according to the NGO Global Witness. Yeay Pho's husband, Lao Meng Ken, is a director of Pheapimex, and is a special adviser for foreign investment to Hun Sen (Global Witness 1999: 8) and Pheapimex is a major donor to the Cambodian People's Party.

Pheapimex-Fuchan, a Taiwanese joint venture with the Pheapimex Group is the largest logging concession holder in Cambodia, with more than 700,000 hectares of concessions. According to Global Witness, "Pheapimex-Fuchan is an example of all that is wrong with forestry in Cambodia. They enjoy the protection of Hun Sen, they cut what they like and it seems that no one has the power to do anything about it" (Bangkok Post 20 June 1998).

Global Witness has been monitoring logging in Cambodia since 1994 and is currently financed by Danida as the Independent Monitor of the Forest Crimes Monitoring Unit, which in turn is funded by the UK's DfID. The NGO has accused Pheapimex of illegally logging outside their concessions, logging in other firms' concessions, threatening and attacking forestry officials, logging without the prior approval of the Department of Forestry and logging in wildlife areas (Global Witness 1999: 7-8).

Pheapimex's plantation concession area in Kompong Chhnang and Pursat includes all the available forest land in the area. The concession is bordered by the Aural Wildlife Sanctuary to the east and by the Tonle Sap to the west. Both areas are protected. The concession may even encroach on the Aural Wildlife Sanctuary. If villagers' commons and forests are converted to monoculture tree plantations, they will have little choice other than to collect forest products from the protected areas.

Villagers in Ansa Chombok commune in Pursat province are worried that Pheapimex will destroy 6,800 hectares of forest near their village and replace it with monoculture tree plantation. The forest includes an area of lowland pine forest (Pinus merkusii) which is rare in Cambodia and protected by law.

In February 2001, villagers travelled to Phnom Penh to try to persuade the government to halt the planned plantation (Bou Sarouen 2001). In March, a meeting between government officials and villagers took place in March in Ansa Chombok commune. Over 100 villagers from seven villages turned up to the meeting but officials allowed only one representative from each village into the meeting.

Government officials started the meeting by asking villagers whether they would allow Pheapimex to work in their area. The village representatives responded by pointing out that they would first like to ask the government officials some questions:

• Before the contract was signed was an environmental impact assessment approved and if so can they see it?
• Was the National Assembly informed before the contract was signed?
• On which law is the Pheapimex land concession contract based?
• What does Pheapimex think Eucalyptus does to the soil and water table?
• What impact does Pheapimex/Government think a paper factory will have on the Tonle Sap and its fish?
• Why when Cambodia is in a process of losing its forests is the government allowing Pheapimex to destroy more forest to plant trees for paper?
• Did the Ministry of Environment see and agree to the Pheapimex contract?

The government officials offered no response.

Oum Huot, a villager from Ansa Chombok told the Phnom Penh Post, "We completely reject the idea that this land is 'degraded forest'. This is good forest and the big trees were cut by loggers only in the last few years. If they leave this land alone for 15 to 20 years big trees will grow again" (Bou Saroeun 2001). "We are worried about this plan," Luek Thuon, another villager from Ansa Chombok, told the Phnom Penh Post. "If they destroy the old forest they might as well come to kill us all. It is our rice pot" (Bou Saroeun 2001).

Villagers from seven villages that would be affected by the proposed plantations issued a statement in January 2001 opposed the project. The statement is reproduced below:

"We disagree with the company's plan to bulldoze the existing forest and plant paper trees for the following reasons:

• "We all rely upon the forest to meet our livelihood needs for it supplies resin, fruit, creepers, rattan, cassava, mushrooms, and housing materials and is also used for our cattle's grassland. The wood so far has not been depleted and is still useful and profitable for us. The cutting of trees [by the company] will cripple us and also impact on people 's fields throughout the planned location.
• "The cutting, which will lead to the clearing of 130,000 hectares in Pursat Province will affect environment that the Government have planned to protect and reforest. Instead, Pheapimex is planning to destroy the forest that is useful for protection against floods, storms, and erosion into the Tonle Sap River.
• "When planning the agro-agricultural scheme, the company did not talk with the local people and didn't examine the location of people's villages and farms within the investment area. As mentioned, we would like you to solve the problem before it is too late and to demand the whole planned land in order to be people's use and future generation's property."

An NGO visit to the area in March 2001 reported the various uses villagers made of the trees:

"Trach (Dipterocarpus intricatus) and Chhoeuteal (Dipterocarpus alatus) both tapped for resin, Kroeul (Melanorrhea laccifera) resin extracted to produce varnish, Srakum (Payena elliptica), Pring (Eugenia sp.), Kuy, Vay and Rum Doul which are all fruit trees, Rum Deng Meas one of many traditional medicine trees, Thbeng (Dipterocarpus obtusifolius) for firewood, housebuilding and resin, Krakas (Sindora cochinchinenis) for firewood and Popel (Hopea recepei) from which small amounts of wood used to preserve sugar palm sap and also occasionally used for boat building. There was also a good amount of bamboo and rattan in the forest which villagers make use of."

The contract between Pheapimex and the government states that "If there is wood with commercial value left on the land . . . [Pheapimex] must pay for the wood the whole price to [the government] in accordance with the existing forestry management law." NGOs in Cambodia report that businessmen are paying for young trees to be cut down inside Pheapimex's concession. The trees are used by fishing lot owners as poles in constructing barrages blocking rivers, in order to catch fish.

In October 2001, Chan Sarun, the Minister of Agriculture, wrote to the Department of Forestry, giving permission for the collection of non-timber forest products including "firewood, charcoal and young trees" in Pursat and other provinces. The letter seems to be an attempt to allow the degradation of the forest in the area of the Pheapimex concession. Another letter from Provincial Forestry Officials specifically allows local businessmen to collect poles in the area of the Pheapimex concession. These letters may relieve Pheapimex of the duty of paying the government for the wood cut within their concession area. The letters could also be an attempt to encourage the degradation of the forests in the area and an attempt to reduce local communities' opposition to the project.

The 2001 Land Law could also provide a mechanism for challenging the size of Pheapimex's concession.

Article 59 of the Land Law states, "Land concessions shall not be more than 10,000 hectares. Existing concessions which exceed such limit shall be reduced." In theory, at least, Pheapimex's concession area should be reduced in order to conform with the law. However, the article allows for exceptions and states, "The procedures for reductions and specific exemption shall be determined by sub-decree." The government has yet to produce any sub-decrees relating to Article 59 of the new Land Law.

Opposition to the plantations continues. Legal Aid of Cambodia is working with villagers in Pursat province to create a forest protection society aiming to establish legally villagers' right to forests for gathering and other purposes.

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