Pol Pot: He Talks To The Animals

He may not initially spring to mind as your kind-hearted Khmer equivalent of Doctor Dolittle, but Brother Number One is often attributed as playing, however inadvertently, the role of protector of Cambodia’s once-abundant wildlife.

Most books with sections describing environmental and ecological exploitation in this country point out that Cambodia has retained a bigger share of its primary forests and the animals living within these habitats than any other country in the region. The Cardamom Mountains have been singled out as an area of outstanding biodiversity and scientific interest, and are commonly described as the largest single stand of upland virgin forest in mainland SE Asia. And it’s often written that part of the success in preventing habitat destruction and preserving animal populations was the influence of the infamous Pol Pot. But rather than being some modern day St Francis of Assisi, dressed in black PJ’s instead of coarse brown robes, the late Saloth Sar had a more indirect role in protecting all creatures great and small.

The conventional wisdom on the matter is that the Khmer Rouge unintentionally acted more effectively in safeguarding the nation’s flora and fauna than Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth could dream of. These accidental animal lovers sporting recycled car tyre sandals affected things in three separate phases: The effects of the struggle to overcome the US-backed Lon Nol forces crippled the economy, thus limiting development, deforestation for timber and the opening up of new lands for agriculture; then, the dark years of Democratic Kampuchea forced everyone to work the land, aside from a few hardy young adults arranged into work crews ordered into the forests to cut lumber; and finally, the retreat of the KR cadres following the invasion-liberation by Vietnamese troops led Pol Pot’s men to fall (or rather climb) into more secluded areas, heading up into the hills.

Hills and forests generally go hand in hand in the Cambodian landscape. Here the DK troops based themselves, making tactical progress in the rainy season and getting a hiding when things dried up enough for the Phnom Penh government’s troops to advance with tanks and heavy artillery. The holed up soldiers enjoyed nothing more of a quiet late afternoon than planting landmines, spreading them willy-nilly across their front yards and beyond. These unmapped ‘sleeping sentinels’ again by default led to the survival of the animals living in these forested havens.

So if we follow the received wisdom regarding the wildlife that remains today in the Kingdom, the influence of Pol Pot’s KR movement was, aside from the unfortunate beasts treading on an anti-personnel mines, largely a blessing in disguise. Yet how well does this picture sit alongside the reality of large scale logging to finance rearguard KR activities in the Pailin area? Or the open sale of the skins and bones of incredibly rare animals in former staunchly KR areas in northern Cambodia? Or for that matter Democratic Kampuchea?s own Ministry of Commerce invoices that list in black and white the pillage of the heavyweights of endangered species: tigers and elephants?

On deeper examination, it becomes ever clearer that far from protecting Cambodia’s biological resources, Khmer Rouge policy actively and systematically stripped forests of animals for sale at bargain basement prices on the open market or export to preferred nations. The highly regarded historian, Ben Kiernan, has referred to the KR’s role in the global trade in medicinally prized body parts of animals close to extinction as ‘Cambodia’s fauna fire sale.’

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