Although Southeast Asia is considered to be nearly "logged out", Cambodia’s protected areas still hold considerable environmental value.
Photo © John Brown All Rights Reserved
While Cambodia has experienced rapid economic growth in recent years much of the population remains poor and without access to the most basic facilities. The United Nations Development Program’s 2007 "Human Development Index" ranked Cambodia at 131 out of 177 nations, with
78 per cent of the population estimated to live on less than $2 USD per day (PDF). [24]
Meanwhile, life expectancy is only 58 years, and
one-third of children aged under five years old are classified as malnourished (PDF). [25]
Cambodia's mining industry has attracted little media attention over the years. While stories regarding deforestation throughout Southeast Asia have received much publicity over the past decade, a large number of trees are gone now and oil and gas exploration has been in the news.
Make no mistake about it, "There's gold in those hills" and somebody is going to get it.
MINING CONCESSIONAIRES IN CAMBODIAGlobal Witness has compiled a list of mining exploratory licenses that have been awarded by the government. Based on information from primary and secondary sources, the Cambodian government has awarded mining exploration licenses for over 100 different sites across the country, and the process seems to be accelerating.
Global Witness knows of 21 mining licenses allocated in 2008 alone. [58] Almost no information about these license allocations has been made public by the relevant ministries or by the companies themselves. The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) has been engaged in guarding five of the six mines surveyed by Global Witness investigators in Stung Treng, Preah Vihear and Pursat Provinces. On some sites, land has been taken from local people and cases of intimidation of residents have been reported.
Chapter V Article 59 of the Cambodian Constitution states:
“The state shall protect the environment and balance of abundant natural resources and establish a precise plan of management of land, water, air, wind, geology, ecological system, mines, energy, petrol and gas, rocks and sand, gems, forests and forestry products, wildlife, fish and aquatic resources.”
According to a report that appeared in
The Cambodia Daily on November 25 2008 [59] Suy Sem, minister for the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy (MIME), responded to NGO calls for stronger measures to govern the mining sector, by stating, “Companies are just walking through the forest and drilling some land to test for minerals.”
The Global Witness report asserts that Suy Sem [62] holds responsibility for the allocation of mining licenses in Cambodia. Global Witness has learned that his wife, Chea Kheng, [63] is the beneficial owner of at least one mining site in Pursat Province, Cambodia. She is reportedly a powerful figure and is known to be close to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s wife, Bun Rany. [64]
LAND OWNERSHIP IN CAMBODIAThe report states, "One of the most worrying gaps in mining legislation is the inadequate provision for those displaced by mining operations. The law states that before entering any privately owned land for exploration or mining, the concessionaire must compensate the "private land owner" for any inconvenience and damage to the land." [68]
It continues, "Private land ownership refers to those with title on the land registry. Given the massive displacement of the Khmer Rouge period, the majority of Cambodian households do not have legal title to the land on which they live. They therefore have little protection against the activities of mining companies who wish to explore on the land they depend on for their livelihoods." [69]
"Theoretically, those without legal title and indigenous communal land title should still be protected because the Cambodian government has ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) which includes the obligation to respect citizens’ right to adequate housing and forbids the destruction of land necessary for subsistence. However, as seen on numerous occasions previously, the arms of state responsible for implementing these commitments have frequently ignored and subverted them."
In 2006,
Human Rights Watch commented on the general nature of forced evictions in Cambodia by saying, “The recent evictions bear striking similarities.
Riot police armed with guns, shock batons, tear gas and shields cordon off the eviction sites before dawn to bar human rights monitors, U.N. observers and journalists. In many cases, police use or threaten unnecessary or excessive force to remove residents and tear down their homes.” [52]
PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT IN CAMBODIANominally, the
Department of Nature Conservation and Protection under the MoE has responsibility for overseeing environmental areas. [75]
“When we developed that (system of protected areas) we didn’t know all the potential of our natural resources, our richness…If I accept conservation of this area, a core zone, if we can find a billion dollars for the mining there, how can we exploit these millions of dollars in this area?”
So stated minister for environment, Mok Mareth, quoted in
The Cambodia Daily article "Conservation areas not inviolable, says minister." [72]
"Although severely depleted over the years by illegal logging, Cambodia’s protected areas still hold considerable environmental value," claims Global Witness.
In recognition of this, between 2000 and 2007 The World Bank worked with the Cambodian government on a project geared towards managing these areas more effectively.
Known as the Biodiversity and Protected areas Management Project, (BPaMP), the initiative was supposed to "develop an effective national protected areas system that is based on a consistent and well articulated set of management, financial, and institutional procedures".
BPaMP
cost roughly $5 million USD, the majority of which was paid for via a loan from the World Bank and a grant from the Global Environment Facility Trust (PDF). [86]
CAMBODIAN LAND CLAIMS: WHO GETS THE LAND USE AND HOW MUCH THEY PAYAn industry analyst interviewed by Global Witness claimed that mining companies wishing to operate in Cambodia pay a standard rate of $50,000 USD for each mining license. [112]
Other companies seem to pay more and the report claims that Kenertec (A Korean company that announced in May 2008 that it bought 85 % of the Rattanak Stone mine in Preah Vihear Province in a joint venture agreement with Rattanak Stone) has made a bonus payment of approximately $1 million USD.
Although Article 59, Land Law (2001) states, "Land concessions areas shall not be more than 10,000 hectares", Australian mining giant BHP Billiton, [113] has been cited by the Cambodian government as making significant payments in return for exploration rights to 100,000 ha of Mondulkiri Province in which to explore for bauxite. [114]
Global Witness claims that when they visited the Rattanak Stone site in 2005 and 2008, mine workers, local officials and
military personnel guarding the site all said that "the Rattanak Stone mine is owned by General Pol Saroeun", Commander-in-Chief of the RCAF and Chief of Joint Staff. [101] Pol Saroeun also owns Koh Santepheap, a pro-government newspaper published 6 times per week.
A worker at one of the mine sites described to Global Witness how General Pol Saroeun visited the site in early 2008. On this occasion the soldiers guarding the site stood to attention and saluted him. [102]
Global Witness has
previously documented General Pol Saroeun’s involvement in the illegal logging (p. 79 PDF) trade in Cambodia. [103]
Until May 2008 then, the iron mine in Preah Vihear appears to have been under the control of a Chinese state-owned company (China National Machinery & Equipment Import & Export Corporation
as reported by Xinhua News Agency), [98] Pheapimex, one of Cambodia’s most powerful companies, (Media reports claim that Rattanak Stone formed a joint venture with Pheapimex in 2005) and a company controlled by the Commander-in- Chief of the RCAF, General Pol Saroeun.
MINING INDUSTRY FINANCE IN CAMBODIA
Global Witness has obtained a copy of the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s ‘Tableau des Opérations Financières de l’Etat’ (TOFE), which provides information on annual income to the Cambodian state. According to this document, non-tax revenue from mining concessions in 2006 was $443,866 USD. [118]
Global Witness states, "If the money appears elsewhere in the TOFE, it is not clear where. This raises questions as to where BHP Billiton’s $1 million USD payment made in September 2006 has gone."
Perhaps an accounting error of $556,134 USD similar to
the unaccounted for $7,458,700 USD in funds pertaining to oil company contracts that were awarded during the same period was made somewhere.
These things happen.
GUARDING CAMBODIA'S PUBLIC ASSETSAccording to Global Witness, "Among the many serious issues highlighted by these mining case studies is the role of the RCAF in the misappropriation of public assets. In five of the six mine sites surveyed, there is obvious and extensive involvement of RCAF, either in the provision of private security services to the mine site or through beneficial ownership of the mine itself." [166]
The report continues, "Since the end of Cambodia’s civil war, the government has continued to spend approximately 25 % of its limited budget on a bloated army of around 110,000." [167]
Global Witness has "documented over many years how, despite receiving this sizeable chunk of state funding,
members of RCAF are engaged in alternative sources of illicit revenue generation. This applies in particular to those arms of the military which are loyal to the prime minister, including his own personal bodyguard unit." [168]
"Over the past ten years, Global Witness and other Cambodian NGOs have extensively documented how revenues from the illegal timber trade and other illicit activities underwrite the military arm of Cambodia’s shadow state. Those involved exploit their capacity to threaten and use armed force to maintain a dominant role in many of the shadier sides of Cambodia’s business world. The
institution’s overall profile is that of a vast organized crime network. [169] RCAF involvement in the mining industry is unwelcome on a number of fronts."
CAMBODIAN VOTERS ARE HAPPY WITH ELECTION RESULTSAccording to Rod Brazier, the outgoing country director for the Asia Foundation whose essay, "A Future in Balance" appeared in The Phnom Penh Post on May 21 2009, Cambodians are happy with the current state of the nation's affairs. In the article Brazier says, "The CPP won a resounding victory in the July 2008 national elections, elections which were recognized by the international community as free and fair."
When Brazier's Asia Foundation asked Cambodians in 2003 who they would like to hear election related information from and
found out Cambodia's voters preferred comic books (33%) over newspapers (15%) (PDF) who is anyone to argue?
If people agree with minister for environment Mok Marethif when he said, "If we can find a billion dollars for the mining there…..conservation areas are not inviolable", then that's their choice. Foreign governments, NGOs, institutions and donors should "butt out" and let Cambodian's do things on their own. If the resounding majority says it is so, that's Cambodian democracy in action and shouldn't concern Global Witness, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, The United Nations Development Program or any of us.
Assuming that just one school can be built for about $30,000 USD, Mok Marethif's billion dollars could be converted into over 33,000 schools or one for every 454 Cambodians, so maybe that's the plan.
That should put an end to the inflow of foreign donor money and might even decrease the nation's interest in comic books too. After all, comic books aren't inviolable either.
APPENDIX24 UNDP, "Human Development Report 2007-2008: Fighting climate change – human solidarity in a divided world", p. 259,
http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/hdr_20072008_en_indicator_tables.pdf
(Last accessed 20 August 2008).
25 World Bank, "2008 World Development Indicators Database," 11 April 2008; UNDP,"Human Development Report 2007-2008:
Fighting climate change – human solidarity in a divided world", p. 259,
http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/hdr_20072008_en_indicator_tables.pdf
(Last accessed 20 August 2008).
52 Human Rights Watch, "Phnom Penh’s Poor Face Evictions", 1 August 2006,
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/08/02/cambod13889.htm (Last accessed on 19 November 2008)
58 MIME, Assorted mining exploration licenses, 2008.
59 Douglas Gillison, "NGOs call for a moratorium on mining licenses", The Cambodia Daily, 25 November 2008.
62 Global Witness wrote a letter to minister Suy Sem in October 2008 to ask for his comments on the main issues raised in this report as involve or relate to him. At the time of the report’s publication, Global Witness had not received a response.
63 Global Witness wrote a letter to Chea Kheng in October 2008 to ask for her comments on the main issues raised in this report as involve or relate to him. At the time of the report’s publication, Global Witness had not received a response.
64 Personal communications with a human rights worker, 2008; Interview with a MIME official, 2008.
69 NGO Forum, "Environmental and social impacts of expansion of the extractive industries sector", November 2008; Amnesty International, "Rights Razed: Forced evictions in Cambodia", 11 February 2008
72 Douglas Gillison, The Cambodia Daily article "Conservation areas not inviolable, says minister." 14 September 2007, p. 1-2.
75 The Royal Government of Cambodia, Article 3, "Anukret on the Organization and Functioning of the Ministry of Environment", 25 September 1997; World Bank, Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management Project website,
http://www.bpamp.org.kh/main/bpamp_protect.htm (Last accessed on 11 September 2008).
76 The Royal Government of Cambodia, ‘Prakas (declaration) on the Protection of Natural Areas – Ministry of Environment declaration no. 1033’, 1994, Article 4, "prohibit[s] the exploitation of minerals and the use of explosives in protected natural areas",
http://sunsite.nus.edu.sg/apcel/dbase/cambodia/regs/cadnat.html#top (last accessed 10 September 2008); Royal Government of Cambodia, "Prakas" on the management and suppression of crimes against natural resources in the Prohibited Areas of Natural Resources Preservation, Ministry of Environment
86 World Bank, Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management Project, Annual Project Progress report 2004, p. 11,
http://www.bpamp.org.kh/download/Anual_report/BPAmP%202004%20annual%20report.pdf (Last accessed 11 November 2008).
98 Global Witness wrote a letter to China National Machinery Import Export Corporation in October 2008 to ask for comments on the main issues raised in this report as involve or relate to the China National Import Corporation. At the time of the report’s publication, Global Witness had not received a response.
99 Xinhua News Agency, "Cambodia, China to cooperate on iron mine exploration", People’s Daily Online, 20 March 2005,
http://english.people.com.cn/200503/20/eng20050320_177505.html (Last accessed 12 September 2008).
101 Global Witness field investigations, 2005, 2006 and 2008; Bill Bainbridge, ‘Another Island Resort Planned’, the Phnom Penh Post, 27 September 2002; Ministry of Defense, "Directory of the High Command’, http://www.mond.gov.kh/index/keypersonal.asp?kp=kphigh (Last accessed 19 September 2008).
102 Interview with a mine site employee, 2008.
103 Global Witness,
"Cambodia’s Family Trees", June 2007, p. 79.
112 Interview with a confidential source, 2008.
113 Global Witness wrote a letter to BHP Billiton in October 2008 to ask for comments on the main issues raised in this report as involve or relate to the company and received a response. For more information on this response, see p. 23. For a copy of the full response, please contact global Witness via
mail@globalwitness.org.114 The Cambodia Daily, "Gov’t gets $2.5 million for mine exploration contract", 22 May 2007.
166 Global Witness field investigations, 2008; Personal communications with a NGO worker, 2008.
167 Col. DJ Mead (ret.), "Reforming the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces: Leadership is the Key’, The Phnom Penh Post, 30 January – 12 February 2004; AFP, Cambodia Pushes Ahead with Military Conscription Plans,’ 19 July 2006; Global Witness, "Taking a Cut", 2004.
168 Global Witness,
"Cambodia’s Family Trees", June 2007, Chapter IV; Personal communications with NGO workers, 2008.
169 Global Witness, "Taking a Cut", 2004;
"Cambodia’s Family Trees", June 2007.
John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERSMy Mondo Library PhotographyMy Photoshelter Photography Archive HomepageCambodia, Asia, Industry, Global Witness, Mining, Environment, Politics, Current Affairs, Economy, Exploration, Photojournalism, Photography, Hun Sen, Policy, Government, Human Rights,
