on indigenous customs in Cambodia despite protests by indigenous
groups who say the project will put their livelihood at risk.
The Chinese-financed Stung Areng River Dam in Koh Kong province will
displace several thousand families.
Dam construction will destroy their forests, plantations, and
ceremonial burial sites, as well as their homes.
The community's ancestors had been living on the land since the Angkor
Wat period of the 12th century.
Environmentalists are concerned over the area's rare wildlife, such as
the Mountain Crocodile and Dragonfish.
Chinese companies are currently building two other controversial dams
in Cambodia's Koh Kong province — the Ta Tai Hydroelectric Dam and the
Russie Chhrum Krom Dam.
Dam projects in Cambodia are often the source of regional unrest as
residents face forced relocations and the loss of the natural
resources.
In March, more than 500 ethnic minority residents of river communities
in Stung Treng and Ratanakiri held protests against the construction
of a Dam that will relocate them from their ancestral land.
As many as 2,000 people—most of whom are members of ethnic minority
groups — face relocation because of the project.
Environmentalists say nearly 80,000 people will lose access to fish
whose migratory paths will be blocked by the dam.
