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Traveling over the past 8 months through South-America I have seen a vast and lush continent mainly covered by jungle with stunning sights, amazing wildlife and eaten fruits in a variety I couldn't imagine before. Coming to Cambodia, I was expecting a similar environment, based on the similar climate. Living here in Banlung now since 2 months, talking to people who grew up here and having taken trips out in the deep country have shocked me properly.
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It is just sad and I guess I am not telling anybody any news, but it is shocking to personally experiencing it. Experiences like the following:
- Wherever in Ratanakiri you drive, it really does not matter if you stay on the main road or travel 3 hours into the complete wilderness, all you see is Rubber-Tree-Plantations or Cashew-Nut-Plantations. If you drive through this armada of 2 types of trees it is completely silent - which feels weird being in a "forest". There are no birds anymore around nor any other animals - therefore no noises - all gone.
- At every corner you see land burning. Logging is only going after the valuable trees in the jungle (for example Mahagoni - one tree of decent size is worth several hundred dollars) - all mid-sized trees are not interesting and left behind... but then building the plantations people are burning down the left-overs of the jungle as it is the easiest and most cost efficient way to get rid of the remainders of the jungle, as well as the ashes are actually a good fertilizer.
- If you talk to indigenous people, they actually are facing a difficult time as they are mainly illiterate and all they learned growing up is handcraft as well as living in a forest. Means hunting, farming on a small scale and fishing. Now with the forest gone - there is no hunting anymore and farming only on big scale. There are actually indigenous people around 30 years old which were still hunting Tigers in their young years.
- Young children here in the school I am teaching are choosing to talk about "deforestation" in public speaking contests as they realize that it is changing their environment and they want to stop it.
I don't write this blog-entry trying to change anything, cause I certainly know it won't. But having this matter "in your face" makes you think about the effects of Globalization - driving through the country side here feels a bit like "earth is bleeding" and we are causing it. I know this sounds very melodramatic and naive. And I don't claim that I am not part of the cause for this by traveling around the world and having grown up in a industrialized nation.
A friend of mine told me 6 months ago "Earth is Paradise, we people are just not realizing it". Since then this sentence comes to my mind every-time I see a magnificent natural sight - but unfortunately also when I witness how we carelessly destroy it.
- Young children here in the school I am teaching are choosing to talk about "deforestation" in public speaking contests as they realize that it is changing their environment and they want to stop it.
A friend of mine told me 6 months ago "Earth is Paradise, we people are just not realizing it". Since then this sentence comes to my mind every-time I see a magnificent natural sight - but unfortunately also when I witness how we carelessly destroy it.
Wangari maathai's Green Belt Movement can be a start for hope...
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