ឃើញរូបដូនចាស់គេងលើដី កាយស្គមរីងរៃគ្មានវិញ្ញាណ
ដាក់ខ្លួនប្រែប្រាណស្រែកឧទាន នែវើយអ្នកមានទាំងអស់គ្នា។

សព្វថ្ងៃផែនដីប្រែប្រួលខ្លាំង រញ្ជួយប្រណាំងព្យុះព្យោមា
រលកយក្សកំណាចស្លាប់ប្រជា រាំងជន់ឥតធាកើតហូរហែរ។

ដូនចាស់បើកភ្នែកដោយកំហឹង យើងប្រាប់ឲ្យដឹងបើមិនកែរ
នោះលោកអ្នកមាននៅស្រុកខ្មែរ មិនផុតពីតែបណ្តាសារ៍។

ខ្មោចព្រាយបីសាចជាម្ចាស់ព្រៃ នាំកូនប្រុសស្រីចាកព្រឹក្សា
ខឹងផងជេផងដល់អ្នកណា ឲ្យគេកាប់ឆ្ការលំនៅខ្លួន។

ដូនចាស់អង្គុយស្រែកបន្ត អាណិតអ្នកក្រធា្លប់ពឹងពួន
អាស្រ័យផលព្រៃមិនរុកគួន រក្សាថែរថួនទុកជាផ្ទះ។

ឱលោកអ្នកមានឃ្លានមិនចប់ ប៉ុន្មានទើបស្កប់ចាល់ក្រពះ
ដូនចាស់ដូចខ្ញុំសែនកម្មក្រាស់ ផែនដីមិនឈ្នះចិត្តលោភលន់។

បើអភិវឌ្ឍបំផ្លាញព្រៃ គួគិតលកលៃទុកជាមុន
កុំយកធម្មជាតិជាដើមទុន កាប់ព្រៃលក់មុនដីលក់ក្រោយ។

លូចគេងចំណេញលើធម្មជាតិ គេងឥតរបៀបគៀបអ្នកខ្សោយ
ទោះមនុស្សម៉ឺនាក់ឃ្លានក៏ដោយ អញមិនខ្វល់ឡើយឡូយតែអញ៕

និពន្ធដោយ៖ កវីសហគមន៍

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Mr.Ros Larch key person of Prey Lang leader who living in Thalaborivat, Stuengtreng province and also commune council was fire him from commune council by district and provincial governor because of he support and involve with PLN to protect the forest and others advocacy.Early of Jan,2012 Anlong Phé commune chief and Talaborivat district and Stueng Treng provincail governor issued the letter to fire his position.

On December 14, more than 200 Prey Lang Network and Friends of the Forest activists defied the efforts of Cambodian authorities to stop a prayer ceremony for Prey Lang in the renowned Angkor temple complex. The advocates peacefully insisted on their right to pray, citing the Cambodian Constitution. Eventually the group was allowed to form a procession around the Bayon temple and then pray at a nearby shrine.

At the heart of their prayers was a call for their leaders to exercise wisdom in the management of Cambodia’s environmental resources. They decried the alarming rate at which Cambodia is losing its forests and drew a parallel between modern Cambodia and ancient Angkor, once the largest and most advanced city in the world, which collapsed due to deforestation and related water problems.  They called on Cambodia and the world to heed the lesson of Angkor and preserve Prey Lang forest, Indochina’s last large expanse of lowland evergreen forest and one of the most important watersheds remaining in Cambodia.

Heavy monitoring by authorities, including dozens of uniformed police, discouraged the participation of tourists. Even so, several tourists from a variety of countries took photos and even joined the praying, singing and dancing. The activists’ message was so persuasive that even some of the police and authorities applauded at the program’s conclusion.

Early in the event, police attempted to detain several people including prominent network members and monk-activist Venerable Loun Sovath. Other advocates protected them by forming barriers around them and protesting the disruption of their prayer. Police later attempted to pursue the monk, making inquiries around town, but he had already departed.

In the indigenous Kuy language, Prey Lang means “Our Forest.”

On December 14,  we  are gathering in the Angkor complex to  pray for Cambodia and its future. Cambodia has lost its forests at an alarming rate. Now Prey Lang, the last large lowland evergreen forest, is at risk.

Prey Lang is a national treasure. Like Angkor, it belongs to the whole country and even the world. The Angkor civilization collapsed because of deforestation and related water problems. Are we repeating this now? With forests disappearing and ground water depleted by the demands of a nearby growing city and tourism industry, some Angkor temples are at now risk. While efforts are underway to save the temples, other areas of Cambodia are also experiencing water problems as forests disappear.

Let’s not repeat history.  Wherever you are, please pray with us.  And with your prayer, tie a green or blue thread to your wrist.  In our culture, these threads that we tie to our wrists, are like a prayers that stay with us. As long as we wear the threads, we are continuing our prayers.

Save our forests. Save Prey Lang.  Save Cambodia

For more information on Angkor and its environmental problems, please see:

http://www.alexandracousteau.org/node/149

http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0813-angkor_wat.html

Add the Facebook Badge to show your support: Click HERE

The forest destruction in Prey Lang area photos album ​

 សូមប្រជារាស្រ្តខ្មែរជួយមើល ហើយនិងពិចារណាអំពីអនាគតព្រៃឈើខ្មែរខ្លួនឯងចុះ…

Please Cambodian people see and analyze about Khmer forest future by own-selves .

–                           (រូបនេះប្រភពពី RFA)

http://www.sakal-news.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1521:2011-08-23-05-05-46&catid=68:2011-08-20-02-30-29&Itemid=199

Earth Action, an international NGO based in the US, has launched a letter-writing campaign to save Prey Lang.  They are encouraging folks from all over the world to write letters to Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen and several over government decision-makers to tell them why we all need to save Prey Lang.

EarthAction’s mission is to inform and inspire people everywhere to turn their concern, passion and outrage into meaningful action for a more just, peaceful and sustainable world.

Here is the letter that Lois Barber, EarthAction’s Director, has sent to the Prime Minister.

Dear Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen, 

I am writing to you as Executive Director of EarthAction, a global network of over 2,600 organizations in 16 5 countries, to urge you to do everything in your power to protect the Prey Lang forest which is an important resource for the people of Cambodia, of Southeast Asia, and of the world. 

The forest provides a home and livelihood for the almost 200,000 members of the Kuy community who depend upon it for their culture. 

In addition, Prey Lang has great environmental importance with its seven distinct ecosystems including a unique primordial swamp forest, and its great bio-diveristy. It is also a primary watershed regulating water and sedi ment flow to the Tonle Sap Basin, and is an important fish spawning area, Prey Lang is vital for Cambodia’s long-term environmental sustainability and for food and water security. Left standing, the Prey Lang forest has among the highest carbon sequestration values in the region, and is a powerhouse for fighting global warming. 

EarthAction is a global network of over 2,600 Partner Organizations in more than 165 countries that work together for peace, human rights, the environment and sustainability. We ask you to take the following actions: 

–Suspend all logging and mining concessions in the greater Prey Lang area

–Confer Prey Lang with protected status and enforce its protection

–Replant already cleared areas of the forest

–Commit to sustainably managing the forest in cooperation with the Prey Lang Community Network.

Please let us know what you will do to protect this important resource. The whole word is watching and hoping for your environmental and human rights leadership. 

Sincerely, 

Lois Barber

Executive Director

For guidance on how to writer your own letter

to Prime Minister Hun Sen and other decision-makers,

please go to

 http://earthaction.org

Prey Lang – It’s YOUR forest too!

A Cambodian Policeman Rebuffs Petitioners at Vietnamese Embassy

On August 19, Prey Lang Network members and representatives from other networks around the country, submitted petitions to 16  embassies and international organizations in Phnom Penh, urging them to take action to stop the destruction of Prey Lang and other important natural resources around the country.

The petition was received by embassies of the US, China, the UK, Germany, France, South Korea, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, and Indonesia, along with the World Bank, the Asia Development Bank, the UN, and the  European Union.  Only the Vietnamese Embassy declined the petition, even after an hour of trying to persuade them to do so.  Network representatives told reporters that they were disappointed that Vietnam did not receive the petition since many of the companies operating in the forest are Vietnamese.

According to various news reports, a  US Embassy spokesperson said that the US is monitoring the situation of Prey Lang.

Communities across the country pray for Prey Lang forest and management of Cambodia’s land as authorities clamp down on leaflet distribution in Phnom Penh

Today, 18 August 2011, 146 communities around Cambodia prepared to take part in the Prey Lang Network’s “Pray long for Prey Lang” celebration. In Phnom Penh, 200 individuals – including members of the Prey Lang network dressed as “avatars”, painted in green wearing hats made from leaves, and supporters – gathered at Preah Ang Dang Keu Shrine to pray for better management of Cambodia’s land and natural resources and, particularly, for the preservation of Prey Lang forest and the ways of life of the hundreds of thousands of the forests inhabitants.

After concluding their prayers at Preah Ang Dang Keu Shrine, the community members dispersed to 9 locations throughout the city to distribute leaflets in order to inform ordinary citizens about ongoing deforestation at Prey Lang. The event was marred by a crackdown on the peaceful activities of the community members, with as many as 106 individuals briefly detained and questioned. All the individuals detained have since been released.

The nationwide scale of the event, with events taking place in as many as 14 provinces, is unprecedented in Cambodia. The participating communities were or are themselves involved in land conflicts. While the spearhead issue of the event was the intense ongoing exploitation and deforestation of Prey Lang forest, participants prayed for better management of all of Cambodia’s land and natural resources and for the cases affecting them directly. Information about events taking place in other parts of the country is currently being collected by the Prey Lang Network and will be shared through social media platforms.

Prey Lang forest is the last large primary forest on the Indochinese peninsula and the source of livelihood for around 200,000 people, including a large portion of the country’s indigenous population. The forest is richly bio-diverse, home to 40 endangered plant and animal species and a primary watershed regulating water and sediment flow to the Tonle Sap Basin. The forest is not only essential for the Kingdom’s food and water security but, with among the highest carbon sequestration values in the region, is a powerhouse for fighting global warming.

Prime Minister Hun Sen stated publicly in February 2011 that Cambodia’s forests must be protected in order to reduce global warming while Cambodia’s Forest Administration identified Prey Lang as an important area for conservation.   This notwithstanding, developments around the forest have accelerated markedly recently with concessionaires clearing forest areas in order to create rubber plantations.

The following are quotes from members of the Prey Lang Network and other communities as well as a representative of the Community Peace-building Network:

• Minh Ny from Prey Lang, stated:  “Through this peaceful event I hope that we save Prey Lang for the next generation and make the media and public know about the importance of the forest to the lives of the residents who live within it and to the environment more generally.” 

• Kem Sokhorn from Prey Lang, stated:  “I look at the experience of Boeung Kak lake who struggled strongly and peacefully and with passion to get land back and believe this to be an excellent example for the people of Prey Lang to follow.”

• Heng Mom, from Boeung Kak Lake offered her support for the event, stating:  “The Boeung Kak Lake residents support this campaign as natural resources are vital not just to Cambodian’s but to people across the world.  Protecting Prey Lang is not just important to a few but rather it is significant in protecting the environment for our children. I share with members of the Prey Lang community the experience of the residents of Boeung Kak Lake: that advocacy is continually a struggle and everyone should be ready to face all situations”.  

• Phok Hong, an indigenous Kuy from Prey Lang, stated:  “If I lose Prey Lang, I lose my life.  Everyday I worry about losing Prey Lang.  I worry that the land broker and the company will destroy it and I will lose my way of life.  If we lose Prey Lang we lose the forest, the herbal remedies, the wild life and most importantly the indigenous traditions that have been passed down through many generations of our ancestors.  Today I will pray for the world to appreciate the importance of Prey Lang and help us put and end to this conflict”.

• Vong Phan, an indigenous Kuy from Prey Lang stated:  “The rubber plantations give only profits to wealthy individuals but if we protect Prey Lang forest it will give, not only to the ethnic Kuy people but also to everyone”.

• Seng Sokheng a representative of the Community Peace-building Network, commented:  “The scale of this event is unprecedented and yet it does not fully reflect the gravity of the threat against Prey Lang. Though all land conflicts can destroy lives those that relate to the destruction of natural resources and forest areas create environmental changes that will affect generations. It is great to see communities uniting together against injustices relating to land and, particularly, to the management of our natural resources.”

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) sent out this press release on behalf of the Prey Lang Network in solidarity with other participating communities throughout the country, on August 18.  For further information, please contact Sokheng Seng on tel: 092324668 or email: seng.sokheng@gmail.com