First published on 08/15/2014, and last updated on 05/17/2017
In the northeast of Cambodia, the Bunong community of Kbal Romeas village lives a simple but happy life thanks to their rice fields, vegetable gardens, fishing river, and cattle. The Kbal Roms residents also collect Non-Timber Forest Products in the forests around the village, with the exception of their highly respected spiritual, prohibited & burial forests. Today, however, the territory they have sustainably managed & protected for generations is now under serious threat.
A hydropower dam project approved by the government is due to flood their ICCA and displace them somewhere else (they have no idea where to). The companies that will benefit from selling hydroelectricity have not conducted proper consultations with Kbal Romeas and other communities to be affected. There is still hope, however, that their voices can be heard and the worst impacts avoided…
See how the community was assisted in the making of the Photo Story!
Story in Khmer with English subtitles:
