The Digest
For renewable energy, Cambodia risks ‘final frontier’ Virachey National Park
For renewable energy, Cambodia risks ‘final frontier’ Virachey National Park
Hello readers,
Confidential documents and maps leaked to Southeast Asia Globe from meetings between developers and government officials this year indicate at least two hydropower projects are underway in Cambodia's Virachey National Park.
Nestled in the Kingdom’s northeastern corner on the borders of Laos and Vietnam, Virachey was among the first Cambodian forests declared a protected area 30 years ago. At more than 3,300 square kilometres – nearly five times the size of the capital, Phnom Penh – it was the largest national park in the country at the time.
But as Southeast Asia races to cut reliance on fossil fuels, Cambodia is risking this regional biodiversity hot spot for renewable energy. The leaked files show initial assessment work has begun at the dam sites in the core of Virachey, which is also a heartland for the indigenous communities along Cambodia’s borders.
Conservationists fear dams may jeopardise hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of conservation funding from the U.K. earmarked for Virachey for the sake of “clean” energy, the very definition of which they challenge.
To counter the thirst for development, researchers are monetising the national park in a different way by putting a dollar sign on Virachey’s value as a potential carbon credit project. This in an attempt to prove the protected area may be worth more standing than if felled.
With support from The Pulitzer Center's Rainforest Investigations Network, Anton L. Delgado's latest story for Globe digs into this tightrope between conservation and development, tackling the growing debate over the true definition of "clean" energy. A Khmer version of the article can also be found here.