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."