In Cambodia, 10,000 families living near the temples of Angkor will be expelled by the government.
Some 120,000 people lived in the 400 km2 protected area in 2013 - six times more than twenty years earlier.
The local authorities assure that this expansion of the population, parallel to that of tourism, threatens the integrity of the site.
The cause: the waste generated and the excessive use of water.
The government intends to reforest the spaces hitherto occupied by makeshift houses, without running water or mains drainage, and sometimes deprived of electricity.
Their rehousing program does not concern people who have been there for generations, and is based on voluntary work, they insisted.
They hope to be finished by June.
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"We are helpless"
At Run Ta Ek in Cambodia, residents are trying to build their house after being dislodged from the ruins of Angkor.
TANG CHHIN SOTHY / AFP
Chan Vincent is one of those displaced.
The painter lives and works 500 meters from the famous ruins classified as World Heritage by Unesco, from where he draws his inspiration for the works he sells to tourists.
Soon, he will have to leave, reluctantly, this piece of land he has occupied for seven years.
Once his house is demolished, he will move with his family to Run Ta Ek, 25 kilometers from Angkor.
Far from the routes taken by tourists, worries the artist who fears for his livelihood.
There, earthmoving machines are busy on land formerly dedicated to rice cultivation to implement the promises of the authorities: a school, a clinic, a covered market, a pagoda... New residents receive a right to property on a plot of 20 meters by 30, 350 dollars,
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Heav Vanak, 51, who lost his leg to a mine, watches his grandson play in the dust under the tarpaulin of a construction site.
“
I don't have enough money to buy the materials needed to build my new house
,” he explains.
“
We are helpless.
How can we protest?
“, he breathes.
"
It's a livable place
," defends Long Kosai, spokesman for the public body managing the site (Apsara).
The families are "
happy to move
", he insists, recalling the job prospects allowed by the planned opening in October of a new international airport in Siem Reap, the big city which adjoins Angkor.
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Preserving a cultural gem or populations?
The temples of Angkor, which welcomed more than two million foreign visitors in 2019, are preparing for the strong comeback of tourists, with the end of travel restrictions linked to Covid-19.
If the site is not well protected, "
in the future, our Angkor Wat will be removed from the World Heritage List
", on which it has appeared since 1992, Prime Minister Hun Sen, in power for nearly forty years, had warned in September. years.
In 2008, Unesco expressed concern about the risks associated with urban development.
But the organization assures in a press release that it has never called for the displacement of local populations.
According to Unesco guidelines, relocations must be carried out with the consent of the people concerned, and local communities must be the primary beneficiaries of tourism.
This sensitive question has arisen elsewhere, such as at Petra in Jordan, or at Luxor in Egypt.
