Buddhist monks, local villagers and government officials ordain over 500 trees in Siem Reap’s Srey Snam district on Tuesday. FB
More than 2,000 people including monks, teachers, students, Forestry Administration officials, local authorities and residents gathered to ceremonially ordain trees in the O’Teuk Chenh forest community in two villages of Tram Sasar commune in Siem Reap town on March 8.
Tech Tep Vongsa, deputy head monk at Chan Rangsey pagoda, participated in the ceremony and told The Post on March 9 that the ordination was aimed at protecting them from loggers for the next generation.
He said there were many kinds of trees that have been ordained such as Kusum (Schleichera oleosa), tamarind (Tamarindus indica) and thnong (Pterocarpus macrocarpus), among others.
Tep Vongsa said the ordinations are partly fund raising events to provide the O’Teuk Chenh forest community with resources to use in their protection efforts. Over 17.6 million riel ($4,200) has now been collected.
He said the forest has a great deal of meaning in Buddhism as Buddha finally achieved enlightenment and went into nirvana in the forest.
“The forest is home to many kinds of creatures. If there are more trees – they can shelter more creatures. I also love the trees and I want everyone to love the trees and refrain from destroying them. This is the reason we organised this event,” he said.
Khut Choch, head of the O’Teuk Chenh forest community, said this is the first time that the monks, local people and authorities held an event together to raise money to be used in forest protection. The proceeds will be used to dig canals around the forest to prevent wildfires and to demarcate its borders.
He said his community is trying to preserve as much of the forest as possible because the community currently does not receive any support from outside sources. He also called on the public to contribute their financial support to the community to protect the forest.
According to Choch, the community forest was established in 2001 covering 1,080ha and with about 500 families in two villages of Tram Sasar commune living there.
He said that previously the community forest has been encroached upon by some people but the problem was later solved through education by officials and enforcement of the law.
Dao Phearut, head of the Srei Snam district Forestry Administration, said the authorities and local people have been working closely with each other to protect the forest and prevent forestry crimes from happening.
“This community cooperates together to protect the forest. So, we don’t have to patrol this area often. We normally patrol other areas that have more forest crimes taking place,” he said.
Srei Snam commune chief Lat Seub said his officials had also encouraged local people to take part in this ordination event to protect the forest.
“We have been trying to raise funds to dig a canal around the forest and make it the forest border. We will make roads to patrol on too. As we don’t have much money now, we’ve just dug 50m then we planted one post and painted it blue and red. That is to let people know that it’s the forest border,” he said.
