Minister, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Royal Government of Cambodia
Subject: Protecting the Southern Cardamoms for wildlife, ecotourism and hydropower – not the banana company Indochina Gateway Capital Ltd.
My name is Wesley Wang and I am currently retired but up until June last year I worked as a finance professional for over 20yrs. . I currently serve on the International Advisory Board of Wildlife Alliance, the National Council of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Board of Directors of Greylock Fund Management, and on the Board of Directors of The Civilians (an investigative theatrical group) Due to my experience in finance and my extensive travels I have come to understand that all economic development must be tempered with a healthy respect for it’s impact on the eco-system.
I am writing to request your support in continuing the great success in protecting the Southern Cardamoms for wildlife, ecotourism, and hydropower development, thanks to Your Excellency’s guidance and strong support. I would offer my very special congratulations to Your Excellency for taking a very strong position in the recent two cancellations of damaging industrial developments, first of United Khmer Group’s titanium mine and second of six economic land concessions.
Today, however, it seems that the Southern Cardamoms are at a turning point, with the proposal by an industrial banana plantation to clear strategic portion of the Southern Cardamoms that links together the Western and Eastern forests. This plantation would bring 7,500 workers and their families, which would have a devastating impact on the forest, wildlife, and the local communities. This influx of workers will start a whole chain of additional destruction (forest burning, slash-and-burn farming, wildlife hunting, human waste pollution, and new infrastructure).
Industrial plantations have destroyed the forest all over Central America and Southeast Asia. This banana plantation intends to bring in 7,500 workers and pump enormous quantities of water, severing the last biodiversity link between east and west. The Indochina Gateway Capital claims that it will reforest, but will first clear the forest and destroy the only corridor free of houses and villages. Elephants rely on this area as their corridor because it has been kept free of passing through because forest patrols of the Cambodian Forestry Administration and Wildlife Alliance have maintained the forest cover.
I am writing to appeal to Your Excellency to please prevent this economic land concession, which would reverse many of our shared conservation and development successes over the past years. We care about the Cardamoms and we care about Cambodia. We are concerned about Cambodia’s forests and in your important role in ensuring the survival of these forests.
Cambodia now has a reputation as having strong policies for conservation. We have closely followed in 2009 the Koh Kong Provincial zoning regulations that clearly delineate this zone as a strictly protected conservation zone, and the Forestry Administration Management Plan that clearly reserves the area as Special Ecosystem Zone (issued for 2006-2010 and renewed for 2011-2015).
The forest area requested by Indochina Gateway Capital is not zoned for economic development, and if the Ministry of Agriculture allocates the permit, it would be a grave shock – after all Your Excellency’s accomplishments in forest protection.
Would it be possible to have a conference call with Your Excellency to further discuss these points? The members of the Advisory Board and I would be very honored if to speak with Your Excellency about this important issue.
I very much appreciate your time in considering this manner and wish you all the very best!
International Advisory Board, Wildlife Alliance
National Council Member WWF
Board of Directors, Greylock Fund Management
Board of Directors, The Civilians
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