There are numerous efforts underway to protect the planets remaining primary forests, unfortunately most seem to be failing miserably. One idea in particular has been interesting governments and conservationists around the Globe, REDD or REDD+ as it’s now touted. Having researched and produced films on REDD and seen the destruction taking place on the ground here in Cambodia I can only conclude that REDD is in fact having the opposite effect and is encouraging deforestation.

REDD began as an idea to protect our remaining primary forests by paying governments to protect biodiversity rich areas rather than developing them for business or agriculture. This was watered down dramatically and eventually became REDD+, which rewards governments for restoring forests rather than protecting them. This means that the more degraded forest you have, the more opportunity there is to earn money by “restoring” it. There is nothing in REDD+ that encourages real protection of biodiversity rich primary forests.

From the destruction taking place throughout Cambodia’s supposedly protected areas, where species of value are being “cherry picked” and huge areas have been clear cut for economic land concessions, it would appear that there may be an active effort to degrade the forests, which of course could later earn money through REDD.

It is impossible to calculate the true value of biodiversity to future human development, however it is certain that destroying our forests means potential medicines and other valuable scientific discoveries are being lost. This is every bit as important as the much-discussed global water or energy issues, yet nothing serious is being done to protect our future.

REDD in its current form fails to address the issue of protecting biodiversity. We urgently need international consensus and action NOW. We need a concerted effort by conservation groups and environmentalists and indeed the public, to push governments to introduce international laws and, more importantly, enforce them.

We are losing species on a daily basis, many of which have not even been described by science let alone researched. Whether you believe in global warming or not is irrelevant, we must stop clearing our remaining primary forests before it is too late.

There has been a great deal of criticism of conservation NGO’s working in Cambodia recently and as someone who has worked with the conservation sector here for the past decade, I would like to make a defense of their position. I have worked with all of these groups to some degree and feel that much of the criticism being leveled at them is very unfair. There have been accusations of corruption, of being overly eager to tow the government line and avoid confrontation. Some have suggested this is to keep themselves employed, others that they have failed to push the government hard enough to stop land clearance and illegal activities or to fight the ever increasing number of economic land concessions that have appeared over the past few years.

Unlike other sectors of the aid industry that concentrate for example on health or people related issues, the conservation groups are trying to protect a natural resource that has been the countries major sources of income for several decades, the forests. This is something that other sectors do not have to deal with, no one is going to complain if an Oxfam or Save the Children want to help the needy, however when a group wants to stop a forest being cut down they face huge pressure as this is a very valuable resource that many people and businesses want a piece of. Cambodia desperately needs to improve it’s economic standing and as in every other country on the planet the government here is seeking to make use of it’s natural resources, which consists largely of trees and land. Unfortunately we have to accept that some forests will be cleared, that some hydro power dams will have to be built, it is a matter of trying to persuade the powers that be to look carefully at each project and ensure that these developments have a minimal impact on the environment and rural communities that rely upon them. The Cambodian government has every right to exploit it’s forests if it so wishes and the fact is, should an NGO in any sector be too vociferous, the government could simply ask them to leave the country. As foreigner’s we should remember that we are guests here.

There has been a lot of talk of corruption and some of this is in truth fair. However, these almost entirely relate to a handful of the government staff that all of the conservation NGO’s are obliged to employ. They have no choice in this and their complaints have until recently fallen on deaf ears. I would like to make it clear that there are many good and dedicated people from both the Forestry Administration and the Ministry of Environment, so it would be grossly unfair to label them all as corrupt. However there have been several well-documented instances of collusion in illegal logging in a number of supposedly protected areas, including Virachey National Park and in the Cardamom Mountains among others. All of the groups have had problems with corrupt staff in the past and last year, when Prime minister Hun Sen very publicly removed Ty Sokun as the head of the Forestry Administration, most if not all the groups took the opportunity to raise the issue of corrupt staff with the government and have them removed.  From what I have seen most of the bad apples now appear to have gone.

There is also the issue of corruption in general in Cambodia to consider. Due to pathetically low wages corruption has unfortunately been a necessity for many to even survive. Often, higher paid positions are openly bought and sold and the purchaser in turn must recoup their ‘investment’ as it were, which just exacerbates the situation. Corruption is a hugely complex issue here and is not as clear-cut as some may believe.

For me, if it were not for the efforts of the conservation NGO’s over the past decade there would be little of Cambodia’s forests left today. One look at ‘protected’ areas like Snoul or parts of Phnom Aural, which have little or no foreign NGO involvement, have been totally decimated. In effect the conservation NGO’s have become ‘fire-fighters’, trying to keep the destruction to a minimum. They are up against so much money and power, which most other NGO sectors do not have to deal with and I feel the people criticising them would do well to remember this.

For me the main failing of the foreign NGO’s has been the lack of communication with the general public. While there’s been a lot of work with communities at a local level, little has been done to raise awareness of environmental issues with the general population. Tree-huggers like myself generally accept that the average person really couldn’t care less about some trees or a cute and cuddly animal. Let’s face it most of the population have bigger problems like feeding themselves. However, for any conservation effort to succeed in the long term there must be more involvement from Khmers, they need to be leading the fight. This can only happen when environmental issues are brought to the attention of the public, in my opinion particularly with the youth, who of course will be the future decision makers. In most other countries there are locally respected intellectuals that help to raise these kind of issues, unfortunately, due to Cambodia’s well documented recent past, the Kingdom currently has few if any such people, so the foreign NGO’s need to work to fill this void in the short term. Not an easy task.

On the bright side I have to say that students here are starting to take an interest in their environment and I have met and worked with some very good Khmers in the conservation sector in my time here. I am at least a little optimistic for the future. So long as there is something left for them to protect.

I have witnessed some interesting animal behavior over the years and one of those that stand out was some fish eagles in Kerala, Southern India. This was 1992 in the sleepy fishing village of Varkala, which I believe today is a major tourist hub. The local fishermen worked as a team each day to fish with a huge net which needed a couple of dozen of them to pull to shore. They would then leave the fish to dry on the beach, this was where the eagles came in. They would swoop in to steal fish, as it was clearly too good an opportunity to miss, the fishermen never bothered them though. Now this wasn’t particularly interesting but what I witnessed later was. I was on the cliff top with German friend as we watched a dog standing on the cliff edge. Three of the eagles took it in turns to swoop down right next to the dog brushing it with their wings. First to the left, then to the right and so on with the dog snapping wildly at them as they went by each time. This went of for several minutes and the dog seemed to be having as much fun as the eagles. As we walked off one of the birds decided to do the same to my 6’5” friend, brushing his hair with its talons and making him jump out of his skin. I guess we stood out, I am only 5’10” and bald as a coot while my huge German friend had long hair. A little latter I watched 2 eagles play fighting with a stick for maybe 20 minutes, bother holding it with their talons while spiraling towards the beach. Sometimes they would drop it and one would swoop down to catch it just before it hit the ground. Great to watch. Three crows joined in briefly, I guess they thought it was food but soon gave up when they realised it was just a stick. The eagles of Varkala certainly had it easy giving them plenty of time to play.

Another entertaining bird experience was had in the Swiss Alps. I climbed up a mountain to about 4,000 meters and was just sitting taking in the breathtaking view, when I noticed 3 crows slowly spiraling upwards on a thermal. As they reached a point roughly level with me all three, in synchrony, folded their wings back and dived at full speed towards the valley floor. It looked like the worlds craziest roller coaster ride from where I was and I swear I could hear them going, wheeeeee, as they disappeared at high speed into the distance. That can only have been for the fun of it. Personally I never underestimate any animals intelligence… well, maybe chickens, they do seem to be incredibly dumb creatures.

I understand that many people will find this year’s flood of economic land concessions across the Kingdom to be a bit of a shock to the system, but please remember this is exactly what the government proposed when they issued their “National Forest Program” documents in late 2009. I know from conversations with others in the conservation sector here that I seem to be the only person that actually read these enormous docs from cover to cover and they clearly outline plans to keep the overall forest cover at 60% (LOL) by counting various areas as concessions and community areas. In fact with some simple calculations from the details in the docs it is clear the actual area that will be protected (on paper) will be around 27%, the other 33% will be as above, continuing the long-term theme of counting rubber plantations etc as forest cover. They also seem to suggest that the community forest areas will also eventually generate money for the government and I can only assume that communities will be encouraged to use these lands to generate money, rather than as they were intended, to give communities a sustainable footing. It appears that this years concessions are hitting pretty much every protected area in the country so it would be nice to see the various conservation NGO’s and donors pulling together on this and fighting it on a national level rather than simply fighting individually for their own areas of interest.

So here we are again, election time in Thailand. Lets look at the 2 main choices for the Thai voters to choose from.

On one side we have the ironically named “Democrats”. They are Thailand’s oldest political party and everyone knows what they stand for. A continuation of the outrageously corrupt practices that have existed throughout their existence, pandering to the privileged ‘elites’. They have proved time and again that they will not allow anyone to defeat them, even when they have actually lost. One way or another I expect to see them back in power in the not too distant future.

Pro’s – They have a very handsome leader.

On the other side we have the wonderful Mr Thaksin, loved by so many poorer members of the public for giving them the 30 baht healthcare system, village loans and other populist programs.  There can be no doubt Mr T has woken the masses to the fact they do have some power and they should expect more from future governments, rather than simply accepting the current and very archaic feudal system that currently exists in the Kingdom.

Unfortunately, Mr T showed his true colours last time he was in power. Outrageous nepotism; he put relatives in charge of the police, the army and several other important positions of power. His first act upon being voted in, in 2001 was to have his cronies pass changes to the telecoms regulations that by some estimates benefitted his company to the tune of some 20billion baht annually. Not content with having control of most of the TV stations through the military he set about having Thailand’s only independent TV station (ITV) sold off, and I will give you one guess who bought it. Yes, it was of course Mr T. To ensure the print media did not kick up a fuss about any dubious dealings he cowed the Thai media through the widespread use or threat of litigation (which the democrats have continued). Under his watch numerous environmental activists were murdered, we also have the Tak Bai and Krue Sai Mosque slaughters and of course his appalling ‘War on Drugs’ that claimed around 2,500 lives, the majority of which appear to have been innocent. Additionally, when avian influenza broke out he did everything possible to cover it up for several months, during which time several people died.

Pro’s – They are not the Democrats.

So here’s my question for Thai voters out there. Which bunch of self-serving thugs and thieves are you going to vote for?

My prediction for the rest of the year, in a word, Chaos.

Personally I think Thaksin’s party will win by a small majority and just scrape enough small parties together to form a govt. This will be followed by one of 2 scenarios:

1. Someone from the party will be found guilty of cheating and the party/govt disbanded, followed by chaos on the streets.
2. New govt goes ahead with their stated aim of getting Thaksin off scot free, followed by chaos on the streets.

Of course the “Democrats” could win and in that case there will probably be… chaos on the streets.

There is another even sadder possibility. The King dies followed by total anarchy on the streets.

I genuinely fear for my wife and son in Khon Kaen.

Siamese Crocodile

I always find animal behavior interesting. I filmed a Siamese crocodile a few years back that was not impressed by a cormorant that kept coming to its lake to catch fish. The bird would dry itself in the sun on the same log after fishing and one time the croc swam close by the log clearly showing itself to the bird as a warning. I say this because normally crocs move very slowly if at all, this was a fast ‘swim by’ in plain sight so I see no other reason for it. After the bird left the croc returned and spent about half an hour moving around the log before spending some time trying to force its way into some bushes just a meter or 2 from the log and directly behind where the bird would sunbathe. In the end the frustrated croc gave up as the undergrowth was too thick but it was very clearly trying to set up an ambush. I have asked the BBC who I filmed this for if I can put this sequence online, however as it still represents the best wild footage in existence of this very rare crocodilian I doubt they will let me. Fingers crossed.

Prey Long is a half a million hectare forest and the last remaining lowland evergreen rainforest in mainland South East Asia. Elsewhere this now rare forest type has already been cleared for agriculture. Today in Phnom Penh members of the indigenous tribe the “Kuy” have been protesting against the incredible destruction that can be seen across Prey Long, a forest they have depended upon for hundreds if not thousands of years. In an effort to attract attention to their plight they came up with this Avatar inspired protest.

Prey Long is not only important from a botanical and biodiversity standpoint, it’s also a vital watershed for much of Cambodia. Currently it is not protected by law so illegal loggers are hard at work removing the last remaining luxury woods from the forest. Additionally the government is busy awarding huge economic land concessions for large areas. These concessions include rubber and sugar cane plantations and an iron mine among others. Huge areas have also been cleared to grow cassava, largely for the bio-fuel market. As in many other parts of the world the rush for “eco-friendly” ethanol is only fuelling the destruction of our last remaining rainforests.

The Kuy communities in and around Prey Long have been protesting against this rampant destruction for the past 2 years, while the natural resources they rely upon disappear around them. They are hoping to persuade the Cambodian government to create a protected area in the forest before it is too late. A botanical team from a top European University recently conducted several surveys in Prey Long and postulated that at the current rate of destruction the entire forest would be gone within five years. From my own experiences in Prey Long over the past four years I can assure readers that this no exaggeration.

Traditional Dance Display

Protesters voice their concerns

Protesters in Freedom Park in Phnom Penh

Kuy protester

I have finally managed to track down Tonle Sap satellite images to compare last year’s low levels with a normal year. These images were taken at the peaks in 2009 (a fairly average year) and 2010. It makes worrying viewing. Interestingly 1998 is the lowest on record (only slightly lower than 2009) and 2000 is the record high. The lake also reached its peak some 6-7 weeks later than normal. (cont below)

Tonle Sap Early Oct 2009, an average year

Tonle Sap Late Sept 2010

The effect of this was that fish were unable to reach their normal breeding grounds around the lake, which failed to flood. Many fishermen reported catching pregnant fish and the government’s annual test for fish spawn was almost 60% lower than normal.

Hyrdo dam reservoir in Southern Laos May 2010

As this year’s weather patterns seem to be similar to last years this could happen again. I do wonder what the knock on effects would be on already under pressure fish stocks, not to mention the lack of siltation will have on rice farming around the lake? The Vietnamese must be worried too, as last year many farmers were unable to grow rice due to the increased salinity of the water on the delta. This is because in a normal year the shear volume of water reaching the delta pushes the sea water back allowing farmers to grow a wider ranger of crops.

Why did this happen? Reduced rainfall is certainly partly to blame, however, having visited several reservoirs in Laos and northern Thailand last year and seen just how low they were, it is clear they also played a big part. They would have taken several weeks to fill before any excess would have been allowed to flow through to the Mekong.

Hyrdo dam reservoir in Southern Laos May 2010

With around 60 more dams planned for tributaries in the lower Mekong region, the Tonle Sap and the millions who rely on its normally abundant resources, look to be under great threat.

Destruction in Prey Long

I have just returned from a 9-day expedition to Prey Long forest in central Cambodia, which I visited in 2008 and 2009. On this expedition we had leading botanical experts from Denmark, the US and Cambodia as well as a camera crew from Denmark. With the addition of 2 military police that the Forestry Administration insisted we take and 4 locals we had a huge team of 15 in the end.

The Team

This was a tough trip in many respects but what really sticks in the mind is the utter destruction everywhere we went. The journey into the forest consisted of mile, after mile of cleared forest. Every day from dawn to dusk we listened to chainsaws in the distance clearing the last remaining luxury wood trees. It’s systematic and most of this has happened in just the last 2 to 3 years.

Prey Long is the last remaining intact lowland evergreen forest in all of mainland South East Asia and it’s also a vital watershed for much of central Cambodia. As with all forests around the world Prey Long holds hundreds of plants that locals claim to be medicinal, the vast majority of which have never been studied. Prey Long is unique in many ways and its loss will be dramatic.

Luxury Timber

Seeing how fast it is disappearing it was generally agreed at our campfire chats in the evenings that it will take just 4 to 5 years for the entire forest to be gone… this is in no way an exaggeration. It would appear that most of the luxury wood trees of any significant size are already gone and it will not take long for the smaller less valuable tress to be cut. Logging is a touchy subject in Cambodia as the forests have been the traditional cash cow of the rich for as long as anyone can remember. The trouble today is that the clearing of forests is wholesale and the huge areas being cleared are gone for good, in other areas entire species are becoming extinct through selective logging.

What many people fail to understand is that it takes many thousands of years to create these habitats and their numerous endemic species. A look at the forest that over took Angkor Wat shows how dramatically different an 800 year old forest looks and how denuded it is of species by comparison to virgin forest like Prey Long.

Danish Film Crew

I was asked to join this expedition to help film the flora and fauna and as a second camera, while the Danes concentrated on Ida and Lars the botanical team from the University of Copenhagen. I didn’t expect to end up being part of the film the Danish team are making and I have to say It’s rather strange being on the other side of the camera.

Another tree bites the dust, Mr Sai my guide

Ida brought a couple of camera traps from Denmark which I set up at some mineral licks in the area in the hope of recording some of the more significant species to be found there. The cameras were the old film type not digital so I have to wait until the guys return to Denmark before I find out what’s on the films. We got a roll and a half from 1 site and just half a dozen from the other. I feel like a kid at Christmas waiting to find out what we got, hopefully something a bit more interesting than wild pigs.

We found numerous bomb craters around our camp. These are massive, you could almost fit a tennis court in one and according the one of the old locals with us they were dropped in 1973. I have filmed anti tank mines being blown up by de-miners here and those create a small crater maybe 1.5 meters across and thigh deep. I could feel the blast from those explosions from over 250 meters away so I dread to think what the blast was like from these. Someone told me that if you were within 1km of the explosion it would likely have blown your eardrums out. I have seen these craters all over Cambodia over the past decade and one thing that stands out is that almost 40 years later nothinggrows in them. One of the team took a soil sample this time so I am hopeful we might discover what the hell was in the bombs.

B52 bomb crater

For anyone wondering, these bombs were dumped on Cambodia and Laos when the American bombers were unable to see their targets in Vietnam. Bizarrely the US military decided it was wrong to drop bombs in Vietnam when they could not see the targets clearly, yet it was completely acceptable to dump them on neighboring countries that they were not even at war with. If you care to find out more on the bombing of Laos and Cambodia there are many web sites on the subject including official US ones that have some amazingly detailed information. I spent several months looking into various issues regarding the Vietnam war in Cambodia and found some fascinating reports from US pilots. One I read said they were told that if they had bombs left when returning over Cambodia/Laos and saw wild elephants they were to target them as they had the potential to be used by the Vietcong to transport weapons on the Ho Chi Minh trail. What planet are these people from?

Cassava

The return journey took us through a couple of villages I have not seen before and I was disappointed but not surprised to see numerous piles of luxury woods waiting to be collected. After a couple of hours we started to come across more huge areas of forest that had been cleared to grow cassava. Over the past 3 years I have seen massive clearing of Cambodia’s forests across the country and most of it is to feed the ethanol/bio-fuel market. Being “green” is feeding the destruction of not just Prey Long, but all of Cambodia’s primary forests, and at a frightening rate. Sadly subsidies from governments around the world are funding this massive destruction, supposedly in an effort to reduce global warming… clearly these policies are having the opposite effect.

The Noodles

Lastly, the noodles! We came across this box of noodles with a quite extraordinary claim. Not sure the tag line of “First in, First out” is exactly suitable for food either.

I just heard that a short film I put together for Conservation International recently was shown at a board meeting a few days ago. Apparently the audience included Harrison Ford and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film was shown as part of an internal competition among a number of projects, which was won hands down by the Cambodia programs entry.

I’m in the process of constructing a rig for my new camera. These new SLR stills cameras give amazing HD video, however they have several drawbacks when trying to film without a tripod. Most have pretty poor audio so you need to have a separate recording system or at least a proper mic. Most importantly they are next to impossible to hand hold so to get around this I am building a light frame, or rig, that I can mount an audio recorder and mic on as well as lights if I need them. The idea is you then have something with multiple ways to hold it as with a real video camera. Also the extra weight makes it much easier to reduce camera shake. You can buy various rigs but they tend to be upwards of $500.

I’m going the homemade route as I am fairly good with my hands and I have several more important things to spend 500 bucks on. I’m using the light aluminum box used for making cheap aluminum furniture or windows, the slightly thicker stuff seems pretty solid and it makes attaching brackets and mounts very easy. It will be interesting to see how it works when the quick release mount I need for the camera arrives in a day or so. I’ll post some pictures when it’s finished.