(1 Oct 2018) LEADIN:
Coastal mangroves in southern Cambodia are important fish breeding grounds supporting the livelihoods of thousands of people.
However major developments planned for the area - while promising jobs - threaten the mangroves' future.
STORYLINE:
As the Trapeang Sangke estuary empties into the Gulf of Thailand, mangrove forests gradually recede to form a perfect natural frontier.
As well as combating erosion, mangroves are vital breeding grounds for many species of fish and other marine life, helping to support the livelihoods of hundreds of local fishing families.
Dotted along this 25-kilometres coastal strip, at least six large-scale developments are planned including a golf course, a polo club, yacht clubs and at least two large-scale beach resorts.
The two earthen strips just visible are the result of dredging to service a large passenger ferry terminal that is also planned.
While benefiting the well-connected, locals worry that the developments will place a kind of decadent barrier between themselves and the bay they depend upon.
"We've already lost a lot of resources," says local fisherman Mith Sen. "Wide areas of mangroves were already chopped down so we catch less crabs, less prawns, less fish. It was even worse before we started our organisation, it's a bit better now, but it's not the same as before they chopped the mangroves."
The loss of mangroves means fish supplies close to home are reduced, forcing fishermen to travel further out to sea and wasting time and income on fuel.
"The most important point is that we're losing lots of mangroves now," says fisherman Neth Sen, village chief of Prey Smach.
"All the people are affected because they lose income from various sources. They lose food sources when the trees are destroyed. Also it's not only mangrove trees that have been destroyed, fishing grounds too. When we lost the mangroves we lost a lot of fish and our income fell."
Aside from being a vital nursery for marine life and a barrier to erosion, mangroves are a very effective carbon neutraliser, capable of capturing and storing it for millennia.
Thomas Gray is the Director of Science and Global Development at Wildlife Alliance based in Phnom Penh.
"Mangrove soils are among the most carbon rich soils on the planet and the destruction of mangroves is having a major contribution to releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and driving global climate change," he says. "But equally importantly, functioning mangroves are critical for biodiversity. They're a wonderful nursery for fishes and play an amazing role in nurturing the biodiversity of fish and other aquatic life that's so critical to coastal communities in Cambodia."
In an effort to try to preserve what remains of the mangroves, locals set up non-profit Kampot Mangrove Forest seven years ago.
The group has planted more than 200-thousand mangroves by hosting environmentally minded travellers and students.
They sprout and nurture mangrove saplings and replant them where the forest meets the sea.
Sim Him, the founder and owner of Kampot Mangrove Forest, says rising land prices fuelled a land grab in the area.
"So when the land became expensive quite a few bad people came into the area and they just took the land for themselves," he says. "When they had possession of the land they started chopping down the mangroves to clear the land. They destroyed the mangroves near where we used to fish."
He says that toxic sediment has spread to the plantation from dredging in the construction zone.
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