Protection
Decree for Tonle Sap Lake Signed
Legislation
to protect the Tonle Sap lake has been passed following two years of often
fierce debate, but critics worry the decree adopted last month by the Council of
Ministers was so weakend during negotiations that it won’t adequately protect
the region’s largest freshwater body.
The
decree grants the lake recognition as a Biosphere Reserve, a special status
suggested three years ago by the UN Educational Scientific Cultural Organization
but held up by wrangling between the Ministry of Environment and other
ministries.
Under
the new decree, three “core areas, “located at Preak Toal on the
northwestern top of the lake, Boeng Chhmar on the east-central shore, and Stoeng
Sen on the southern end, will be off0limits to development such as dams or oil
and gas production.
Fishing,
which was forbidden in these areas under the original proposal, will now be
allowed, though it will be greatly curved through tighter regulations and
increased patrols.
Fishing
lots in the core areas will be allowed to continue operating, but the government
will inspect the areas every four years to ensure the fishing does not damage
the ecosystem.
Debate
on the decree greatly reduced the number of hectares that fall under its
protection, from the approximately the 70,000 first proposed to the 36,287 now
included in the core areas.
Some
environment and fisheries officials say that is not enough to control the umber
of fish caught from the lake, which remains country’s largest source of food
for millions of Cambodians living on or near its shores.
Allowing
even limited fishing in the core zones and halving their size could harm fish
migration patterns and drive fish into legal waters, making them too easy to
catch, said Touch Sean Tana, a Cambodian fisheries scientist.
But
Noev Bonheur, chief of the technical cooperation unit for the Tonle Sap, said
compromises had to be made or the decree would not have passed. “ Generally,
the core zones don’t allow any activity, including fishing, but the adopted
royal decree does because of compromises between agriculture and environment
ministries, “Noev Bonheur said.
Pro-development
supporters, including Water Resources Minister Lim Kean Hor and Agriculture
Minister Chhea Song, claim the decree will harm the economy by chasing away
development and costing the government as much as $500,000 a year in lost
fishing revenue.
They
also point out that investor interest in possible oil and gas reserves near or
on the lake could wane in the face of restrictions found in the decree.
However,
it is estimated that donor money for conservation and income generated from
low-impact eco-tourism could more than make up for the losses.
A
UN Development Program survey of the area in 1997 showed that eco-tourism alone
could generate $1 million a year, officials said last year.
“Every
year, about $400,000 to $500,000 is collected from fishing income in the core
zones, “ said Nao Thuork, director of the Ministry of Agriculture’s
fisheries department.
“But
this will remain smaller than the foreign aid we will get to conserve our Tonle
Sap environment. We will have more fish and economic profits will rise when the
conservation is properly managed.â€
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