Top: Small-scale miners look for gold near Romtom. Photo by Chris Hufstader/Oxfam America
Bottom: On a good day, miners can make $25 or $35, that is half of a monthly salary for average workers in Cambodia. Photo by Chris Hufstader/Oxfam America
Loss of land to industrial mining posing challenges in indigenous communities
December 16th, 2011
by Chris Hufstader
Read original article and see more photos at Oxfam America.
If you go to a meeting in the community of Romtom, don’t be surprised if you hear some contradictory information about the effects of industrial mining on the indigenous Kuoy people here.
A foreign-owned company is moving in to mine iron ore on nearly a thousand square kilometers of land, and taking up community-held land used for growing rice, as well as small-scale gold mining. The Kuoy people here are also concerned about the loss of forest land. The “spirit forest” is an integral part of their culture as well as an area where they gather nuts, fruit, and other products they can sell.
“So far we’ve had some issues between the company and community,” says So Sea, the commune chief and an ethnic Khmer. “But these have been resolved. Presently there are no problems.”
Bottom: On a good day, miners can make $25 or $35, that is half of a monthly salary for average workers in Cambodia. Photo by Chris Hufstader/Oxfam America
Loss of land to industrial mining posing challenges in indigenous communities
December 16th, 2011
by Chris Hufstader
Read original article and see more photos at Oxfam America.
If you go to a meeting in the community of Romtom, don’t be surprised if you hear some contradictory information about the effects of industrial mining on the indigenous Kuoy people here.
A foreign-owned company is moving in to mine iron ore on nearly a thousand square kilometers of land, and taking up community-held land used for growing rice, as well as small-scale gold mining. The Kuoy people here are also concerned about the loss of forest land. The “spirit forest” is an integral part of their culture as well as an area where they gather nuts, fruit, and other products they can sell.
“So far we’ve had some issues between the company and community,” says So Sea, the commune chief and an ethnic Khmer. “But these have been resolved. Presently there are no problems.”
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