Kui in Prame Commune, District of Tbaeng Mean Chey, the capital of Preah Vihear Province. At the end of 2012, the villagers saw their paddy fields, gardens and around 600 resin trees owned by approximately 74 families cleared off the land. The companies involved also cleared the remnants of an ancient Kui temple, which is a sacred site, and the nearby site of an ancient Kui village. The ELCs in Prame virtually destroyed the means of subsistence and traditional occupations of the Kui. This in turn has imposed further burdens on the Kui women, who lost their access to food sources and livelihood. Land speculation. Land concessions also generated land speculation in indigenous areas, further limiting indigenous peoples’ access to their traditional lands. Since the granting of the New Cosmos eco-tourism concession in Aural district, Kompong Speu province, Suy indigenous communities have faced land alienation and increased pressure on land available for their use. The commune authority has sold land reserved for future community use, including land used for the collection of non-timber forest products. (Special Rapporteur, 2007) Illegal logging. According to the latest report by Global Witness (2013), most of the illegal logging is taking place on ELCs granted to rubber and agricultural companies, which use it as a cover to cut down large swaths of forest. Migration. Land grabs of IP lands strips them of their means of subsistence and forces many to either migrate to cities or to work on rubber and/ or sugar plantations. Intimidation. Incidences of coercion and intimidation are common in these land disputes. The case of Busra Commune, Mondulkiri province describes how a 10,000 ha rubber plantation is evicting indigenous community members. Some community members reported being forced to “sell” their land to the company. Indigenous people in this case and others report that they are frequently told by Government officials that the land under dispute is state land (even their agricultural land), that they have no rights to it, and thus they have two options: (1) settle now, or (2) risk losing the land in the future without any compensation (IPNN et. al., 2010). New influences. New influences include the “Concessions granted to Cambodian and overseas companies are viewed as the biggest threat to land rights, livelihoods and sheer existence of the indigenous groups in Cambodia...” monetization of the household economy which has led to less sharing within the community, encouragement of individual interests over communal ones, and devalued traditional cultural artifacts, clothes, jewelry, gongs, etc. Exposure of the IP youth to modern media and Khmer culture has contributed to their lessening interest in maintaining their cultural history. Deforestation, climate change. Economic land concessions, mining concessions, Special Economic Development Zones and largescale hydroelectric projects are direct drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Cambodia. Lok Niti 31

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