Oil drilling plans for Cambodian lake opposed
Oil drilling plans for Cambodian lake opposed
PHNOM PENH (AP): Reported plans to drill for oil and gas near
the Tonle Sap lake system, a source of water and fish for
millions of Cambodians, sparked concerns last week from
environmental specialists.
Local newspapers reported that the government is negotiating
drilling rights in the Tonle Sap basin with as many as five
foreign companies, including Harrods Energy, owned by department
store mogul Mohammed Al Fayed.
Environmentalists and a Cambodian Environment Ministry
official warned that development - not to mention an
environmental accident - in the Tonle Sap basin could threaten
rice and fish stocks.
Chay Samith, director of nature conservation at the
Environment Ministry, urged the government to require an
environmental impact assessment from any company that wins rights
to explore for petroleum.
"Any development on the Tonle Sap, the rice bowl of the people
in this country, must be considered seriously," said Mam Kosal of
environmental group Wetlands International.
The Tonle Sap is a river and lake in central Cambodia that is
fed by the 4,200-kilometer (2,600-mile) Mekong River. Seasonal
flooding of the Mekong, driven by monsoon rains and melting snow
in the Himalayas, causes the Tonle Sap to reverse its flow twice
each year, the only river in the world to do so.
It has spawned a unique ecology, a rice-growing flood plain
and fishing runs that are the main source of protein for the
entire country.
"Conservation organizations have identified the Tonle Sap as a
critically important part of the freshwater ecosystem in the
Mekong basin," said Jack Hurd of the World Wide Fund for Nature.
"Any possible exploitation and activity that compromises the
environmental integrity of it could have far-reaching effects."
Cambodian officials involved in negotiations have assured that
drilling would not occur on the lake system itself, according to
a report in The Cambodia Daily.
"We are also concerned about our fish," Te Duong Tara,
director general of the nation's petroleum authority, was quoted
as saying. "I don't see any problems."