"It's development according to one person. The people in urban areas can't live without electricity. The people here can live without electricity but we can't live without fishing, without land, without animals."
- Sah Voeurn, Srekor village resident.
Late one night, scores of people packed into a wooden home located just meters from the Srepok river. As the rain pounded down and water slipped imperceptibly up the bank, more than a hundred people watched in rapture as Yun Lorang spoke.
STUNG TRENG, Cambodia - For days, indigenous Cambodians from across the country had been trickling into remote Kbal Romeas village in Stung Treng province. The country's largest hydropower dam, the Lower Sesan 2, had recently begun closing its gates for a test run – sending hundreds of millions of gallons into a 335-kilometer-square reservoir. The visitors were there to help fight the rising tide.
Located near the confluence of the Sesan and Srepok rivers, key tributaries of the Mekong, the Lower Sesan 2 has been held up by the Cambodian government as a crucial project for development. More than a third of the country's electricity is imported, and nearly half of the 15 million population is still not yet connected to the grid. The $816 million dam is a joint venture between a Chinese state-held company, a Vietnamese state-held company, and a company owned by own of Cambodia’s most powerful tycoons.
While more than 4,000 families from Kbal Romeas, nearby Srekor, and elsewhere had already moved to make way for the floodwaters, a handful had refused. Most are members of the Bunong and Kuy indigenous minorities, and have occupied the land for generations. The reasons for resisting have been both person and practical—the land encompasses burial grounds and sacred forests; it is also highly fertile. For generations, those living here have survived off of the fish, farm, and forest.
Sah Voeurn, 57-year-old from Srekor village
"The government is building the dam to get more income for the government, not for the villagers. The villagers get poorer and poorer and the money that comes in just goes to the government," - Sah Voeurn
All throughout the village lay neat piles of freshly-cut bamboo. The residents, visitors and activists say they intend to lash the heavy wood houses to bamboo in an effort to float them as the floodwaters come.
Some people here say they would rather die on their ancestral land than be forced to leave.
“I don’t want to throw away everything I have… I don’t want anything in exchange for my land. My grandfather took one pair of elephant tusks to give to King Sihanouk to get this land. They made a commitment to him.”
- Srang Lang
The dam gates are closed; the rainy season is sending heavy deluges across the country. In the holdout villages, the reservoir rises. Floodwaters in Srekor recently sent two dozen families to higher lands. Officials say they have boats at the ready should evacuation become necessary.
If they are forced to leave – by nature or by human hand – most will likely wind up in New Srekor and New Kbal Romeas. The houses are big, each flanked by electricity lines, water pumps, and toilets. Few of their residents are happy to be there.
"I didn't want to come, but the water was getting higher and higher and I was afraid, so I moved... Before I left the old place I made a small prayer to the ancestors saying that I left, don't be angry." - Jirup Lai
