New satellite imagery and drone photos of Cambodia's protected Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary have recently surfaced, revealing a strip of land cleared in the forest for a massive transmission line project.
Conservationists worry that if work is allowed to continue, it will disrupt wildlife habitats and further stress already-strained rainforest ecosystems.
What's happening?
Mongabay reported that work began on the electricity transmission lines in early October. The lines are scheduled to run 40 miles through the sanctuary and connect Cambodia's electric grid with that of neighboring Laos to the north.
The 500-kilovolt transmission line project was initially approved in 2020, but it has been on hold due to financing issues and the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the satellite images reveal a strip of land — measuring 100 feet by 3.6 miles — cleared through the sanctuary's northeastern territory, suggesting the project is back in business. While this may be a boon for Cambodia's economy, experts say it will be "a death sentence" for the 1.2 million-acre protected rainforest and the numerous animals that live in it — some of which are critically endangered.
Even without the energy project, Prey Lang's valuable natural resources have long been threatened by illegal logging and land grabbing, poaching, and mining operations, per Mongabay.
While the Prey Lang Community Network — a local group working to save the forest from industrial activities — has warned the Cambodian government that the project will harm biodiversity and cause economic hardship for Indigenous communities, their pleas have been largely ignored.
"We don't [know] how to deal with it," Keng Ko, a group representative, told Mongabay in an interview.
Why is the energy project concerning?
According to Mongabay, the transmission lines will negatively impact the rainforest and wildlife habitats, along with two ongoing REDD+ projects, which aim to reduce pollution from deforestation in developing nations.
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The rainforest near the route cleared for the project is home to diverse animal and plant life, including the endangered Asian elephant and the critically endangered Sunda pangolin. Furthermore, 14 plant species classified as at risk of extinction on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List are found in the sanctuary.
According to Global Forest Watch data cited by Mongabay, Prey Lang lost over 250,000 acres of forest cover between 2001 and 2023. The transmission lines will result in further deforestation, destroy animal habitats, and reduce the forest's ability to absorb carbon pollution.
Some experts believe the government deliberately routed the lines through the most biodiversity-rich section of the forest to access valuable timber in the heart of Prey Lang.
"The deforestation and forest fragmentation are another blow to everyone fighting for the right to a healthy, clean environment and against global warming. Prey Lang forest has a cooling effect, and once gone, it will be felt across the country. People will suffer," Ida Theilade, a University of Copenhagen professor who proposed the theory and has extensive knowledge of Prey Lang, told Mongabay.
What's being done to protect the forest?
Mongabay stated that Cambodia's environment and energy ministries have pledged to boost forest coverage to 60% nationwide by midcentury. However, opening Prey Lang to energy development seems counterproductive to this goal.
Perhaps government officials can take notes from a recent study that found Amazon restoration projects have reduced deforestation in Brazil by over 80%. The conservation win was largely due to land protection initiatives enacted by Brazil's government.
As a backup plan, scientists have proposed a rather radical idea to protect Earth's biodiversity: setting up a biological repository on the moon.
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