A Social Motion to #SavePhnomTamao
My boss, Nick Marx who’s Director of Wildlife Rescue and Care Packages, and Wildlife Alliance Founder & CEO, Suwanna Gauntlett, launched an all-out marketing campaign to Save Phnom Tamao, interesting to Prime Minister H.E. Samdech Hun Sen to intervene. Wildlife Alliance produced dozens of movies and social media posts, similar to this ‘Forest at Phnom Tamao could possibly be cleared’ video, coordinated with allies and liaised with reporters to assist elevate public consciousness in regards to the menace to the forest. I’ve by no means been prouder of the folks with whom I work, nor extra fearful that such an iconic a part of Cambodia’s pure heritage could be destroyed.
European Area Company Sentinel Satellite tv for pc photographs of the deforested space (NE quadrant), remaining Phnom Tamao Forest and Wildlife Rescue Centre (SW nook)
Regardless of realizing for months that Phnom Tamao was beneath menace, it was nonetheless a horrible blow to study that bulldozers and excavators had abruptly appeared over the last weekend of July and the forest was quickly being razed. Our workers took dramatic drone footage of the clearing, which was extensively shared on social media and within the press to lift alarm bells. Photographs taken by the European Area Company’s Sentinel Satellite tv for pc confirmed 130 hectares of forest destroyed inside 5 days and native villagers reported they noticed our sambar deer fleeing the bulldozers, bounding into adjoining plantations – they usually heard gunshots fired that night time.
When the information broke, I used to be on vacation in Vermont visiting household. In a state of shock akin to the moments after studying a beloved one has died, I known as Nick, who has poured a lot coronary heart, soul and sweat into Phnom Tamao. I spent many hours grieving, weeping tears, each heartbroken and bitter, for the 1000’s of animals Wildlife Alliance has rescued, beloved and launched into that forest. Every morning I might study what had occurred at Phnom Tamao whereas I used to be sleeping, and message colleagues and associates as we mobilized our social networks to beg the Prime Minister to halt the destruction and shield the remaining forest.
The general public outcry was nearly as swift because the clearing. Inside days, tens of 1000’s of individuals posted feedback on the Prime Minister’s Fb web page, and outraged Cambodians who’re totally unaffiliated with Wildlife Alliance organized a boycott of the businesses behind the event. That weekend I went tenting in a pristine state park in my homeland, going offline to digitally detox from the occasions unfolding on state forestland in my adopted nation. I anticipated even worse information upon my return and reconnected to the web with dread. Amazingly, the ‘Kingdom of Marvel’ by no means ceases to shock me, even after a decade of residing right here.
