Be the Change Network

Last week when I spoke our school director via Skype, he told me that “the high-ranking people are now scared of the people of Charuk Tiek because they have a voice to the world. ” They do. Me. Read all about it in the News….

This local news on the heels of a report released June 1, by London based human rights group Global Witness called Cambodia’s Family Trees, detailing how the political elite is stripping Cambodia of it’s forest resources in the illegal timber trade. This is the web of “the power man” that the people in our village live in fear of. Read more here…

To convince the teachers, community leaders, monks and students to write a letter, I would pick up a single stick and say “If one person speaks out, easy to break” Snap. Then I would pick up a whole bunch of sticks and say “But if everyone speaks out together, cannot break.” And the bundle held firm. When asked if the people believe that their letters are what make the “powerman” look over his shoulder, he said yes. When asked if anyone has been threatened for writing a letter, he said no.

I am proud of them all.

Still I’m searching for the right conservation NGO to team up with to help with the sustainable forest agriculture projects at our school Here’s what a contact at Conservation International great.

Flora & Fauna International (FFI) is the international conservation organization who works with the Cambodian government in the Aural Wildlife Sanctuary. Apparently, Tra Peang Chor, is unfortunately called “timber town” and effective enforcement of natural resource laws has been difficult there.

I just don’t get why they are working with the Cambodian government, which I can tell you from personal obersavtion is utterly on the take in Trapeang Chor around out school. Yet, we have a huge number of local advocates, why aren’t they working to empower these people?

I honestly dont get it. It’s like no one ever thought of working through the school for community driven economic development and empowerment. I find this odd, because a school is a natural community meeting place, and it also serves to neutralize conflict since everybody’s kids go to school there.

Our grassroots approach is based on the premise that the government will not change. It is either unwilling or unable to support it’s schools. Change has to come from the bottom up.

Children Draw Attention to Forest Crimes With Cartoons

Sok Khemera reports from Washington-(1.87MB)
Listen Sok Khemera reports from Washington

VIEW CHILDRENS’ DRAWINGS, click here- GALLERY 1, GALLERY 2

The sun rises over a wasteland where forest once grew as animals flee the area

A surprising intervention tactic in Cambodia’s ongoing battle against poachers and loggers has emerged among students in Kompong Speu’s Oral District.

The students say they’re fed up with strangers coming and going—carrying axes and chainsaws, machetes and machine guns—illegally depleting the forests of animals and trees, apparently without fear.

Students are drawing cartoons to highlight the effects of these crimes and are sending them to authorities in the hopes that something will be done in time.

Vong Reaksmei, 15, told VOA by phone she frequently sees offenders cutting down trees. She wants it to stop, so she drew pictures with other classmates and plans to send them to relevant environment and enforcement officials.

“I’ve drawn these pictures because the forest clearly is being disrupted and the wildlife is being destroyed,” she said. “I’ve seen these things, and I feel regret, because the forest and wildlife are completely destroyed, and our future is tied to them.”

‘We have peace,’ say the birds. ‘We will be married,’ say the snakes. ‘I’m so happy that people stopped cutting the trees,’ says the elephant

Forest crimes are especially flagrant in Trapeang Chor commune, on the border of the Oral Wildlife Sanctuary, about 70 kilometers west of Phnom Penh, according to several residents who spoke to VOA anonymously for fear of their safety.

“The forest is completely destroyed, and the land is divided,” one local man said. “Some trees have been marked for logging, and now the strangers are building cottages in the area, and they grab the land too.”

“They cut the trees with chainsaws, deep in the forest, and they hire villagers to cut trees and drive the wood through the village to be sold,” another woman said. “There will be no more big logs in the future. When locals cannot prevent it, with big businessmen who have machines and trucks, they will also cut the trees to be sold as coal. They don’t have another livelihood.”

A small cottage with clear signs of occupation stands among harvested trees in Kompong Speu province

Nearly 100 primary school children, aged 10 to 16, drew cartoons, and many signed them. The bright, glittery drawings rebuke these illegal activities and explain why animals need the forest. They warn of animal extinction, flooding and erosion. In their pictures, criminals saw trees while poachers kill wildlife. Mountains are bare, and the land is stripped clean.

Primary school student Khar Kunthea, 14, said she has seen people cutting trees up to a meter in diameter. It saddens her, she said, that the trees are cut day after day.

“I hope that by speaking out that authorities can recover the forest,” she said.

“I drew these pictures because I want to address the destruction of the forest and the killing of wildlife,” she said. “I don’t want them to cut the trees and kill the wildlife, because the forest and wildlife are almost extinct.”

Birds, snakes, monkeys and other animals speak their woes.

After logs are taken from the forest, they are processed into lumber

“Don’t destroy the forest. It is my home,” advises an elephant drawn by 15-year-old Theun Thim, of Chrork Teak Primary School.

“Please help protect me because wildlife like me is close to extinction,” a deer implores in a picture by Chem John, 16, from the same school, while a tree warns: “If you cut me down and destroy me, there will be a flood.”

Kong Heang, governor of Kompong Speu, rejected the student’s accusations. There is no major illegal logging in Oral, he said, because much of the area is protected by strict measures from provincial authorities and the Ministry of the Environment, as well as non-governmental organizations.

Students from Chrork Teak Primary School, concerned over illegal logging and poaching in their area, recently drew cartoons to highlight the problem to national authorities

“Nowadays, there are two NGOs to help watch for illegal activity,” he said. “We have better protection. No big illegal logging occurs in this area. There are only small cases where people cut the wood and load it into a car, which is normal, but to load it into trucks, there is no more.”

The governor said his police have acted on illegal logging and deforestation many times, confiscating tools and arresting perpetrators.

But villagers say that armed forces like soldiers and the police, backed by businessmen, are those who actually cut down trees, confiscate land and, instead of protecting the forest, set up checkpoints to squeeze money from travelers.

Meanwhile, a complaint signed by local men and women has been submitted to public and non-government agencies, giving the name, age, and address of signatories, some as young as five.

A monk points out a tree in a typical Cambodian forest. Forests like these are under threat from rampant illegal logging

The petition demands, among other things, that the government and local and international groups stop illegal logging and land grabs, curb related corruption and support those who preserve the land.

The World Bank last year announced $14 million for forest protection. In the past, the World Bank was criticized for not doing enough by the forest monitor Global Witness, an organization that has since been banned from the country.

Cambodia has promised donor countries many reforms, including in forestry, but donors remain concerned that the loss of forest will disrupt the lives of Cambodians living in rural areas now and in the future. Much illegal logging is linked to high-level corruption, making authorities hesitant—or unable—to curb the practice.

Kari’s upcoming trip to Cambodia to work at the Grady Grossman School, Jan. 23rd-Feb. 4th, 2007 has a two-fold mission. One is to determine educational improvement priorities for the coming year. I will be meeting with American Assistance for Cambodia to discuss the Computer Hub program. And I will be meeting with Arn Chorn Pond, of Cambodian Living Arts to discuss implementing a music, dance and art program. But my most important priority is to understand the reason we have such significant drop off of attendance at the fourth grade. As the children get older less show up to school because their parents need them to work. That leads me to my second mission, looking at sustainable economic development that would afford families the luxury of sending their kids to school.

To that end, I will be traveling with Andre Carvalhaes, a Brazilian biologist, whose Abundant Forest Enterprise aims to connect local knowledge of the forest with sustainable land use techniques, agro-forestry and perma-culture. We will be networking our community leaders with other conservation groups working on the forest issues and community empowerment in Cambodia, Community Forestry International, Flora and Fauna International and the Lutheran World Federation.

The most promising piece of information comes to us from the Legacy Foundation, which has developed a simple technology charcoal press that might give villagers a sustainable, income producing alternative to chopping down their forest for survival.

By partnering with family sponsorship programs such as those offered by No Child Left Out, more families may afford to allow their children to complete primary school through grade 6, and perhaps onward to secondary school. With that achievement in mind, we will definitely need a new building!

From our School Director, Nhim So Bun:

“As a representative of the teachers and villagers in the Chrauk Tiek community would like to express deeply thanks to Kari and George that always think of us and I know that your goal want to help the Cambodian children to obtain the knowledge and eliminate the poverty, this goal is like Ministry of the Education that is trying to educate the students and find the way to eliminate the illiterate. But unfortunately the natural resource in Aural area is unable to protect because of the uneducated people whose have never received the education before. They cut down the trees to sell for exchanging rice and some for money. They don’t think about the future consequence for the children.

That is why Ministry of Education is struggling to educate the new generation to protect the environment and the natural resource, but now the forest is destroyed almost gone. Before they just cut down the best timber for the houses and for the furniture and this year they cut all kind of the trees even though they are saplings for the charcoal and wood sticks for cooking everyday. Each day they are destroying thousand trees and hunting the wild animals without any authority stops them in this action. In addition, the forest community is incapable to stop them to destroy the forest at all. We are all sorry that the former community chief, Ban Vanna was dismissed in the last July, 2006. We are incapable to solve this above problem. We are only the teachers providing knowledge to the students. So we hope that you understand about this trouble. We would like to suggest you to continue to support your school and the forest community in this area.”

Friends, what is the point in educating 485 students if they are just going to face drought and famine because of environmental destruction? On the day I received this message, I was also contacted by a friend from Brazil, Andre Cavalhaes Ph.D, who is a rainforest biologist. As I told Andre our troubles, he started to explain to me the processes of agro-forestry and perma-culture used in Brazil to grow food and forest products that restore the forest at the same time. The concept is so beautiful, we decided to form a partnership dubbed Abundant Forest Enterprizes with a mission to create economic growth through integrated, diverse, productive, healthy and sustainable land-use systems while maintaining the cultural integrity of local people. Our school will host the pilot project.

Andre will accompany me to Cambodia in January, where we will study the problem, network with other conservation organizations and develop a strategy with the teachers, monks, and community leaders in Chrauk Tiek to find a solution to the intertwined cycles of poverty and environmental destruction. You’ll be able to follow the story as it unfolds on this blog. Come back often!