6,000 Hectares of Tonle Sap Conservation Land Opened Up for Farming

Protections on thousands of hectares of Tonle Sap lake’s biosphere reserve are being relaxed to allow farming, in the wake of a crackdown on illegal land use that retook vast tracts as state property. The crackdown, sparked in November by Prime Minister Hun Sen responding to reports of widespread encroachment, implicated some provincial and police officials in alleged land grabs and led to stricter prohibitions against farmers and residents.

Satellite imagery has shown major tree loss in the flooded forests beginning around 2019, but deforestation has been ongoing for years, leaving little substantial tree coverage in many areas. Last week, Prime Minister Hun Sen said people who had been living and farming protected areas around the Tonle Sap for more than a decade should have the prohibitions against them relaxed.

The crackdown should target people newly encroaching the area, not long-time residents, he said. The biosphere reserve is classified into three zones: Zone 1 allows people to live with land certificates, Zone 2 allows cultivation, and Zone 3 must be protected, according to the Information Ministry. A government sub-decree issued Tuesday said more than 6,000 hectares in Kampong Thom and Banteay Meanchey provinces would be reclassified from Zone 3 to Zone 2.

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