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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Fiona Kelliher and Mech Dara

‘Why do we have no rights?’: Phnom Penh lake community make a last stand against developers

Kong Toeur, whose fishing plot was recently destroyed, stands in front of a neighbour’s home on Boeng Tamok lake.
Kong Toeur, whose fishing plot was recently destroyed, stands in front of a neighbour’s home on Boeng Tamok lake. Photograph: Fiona Kelliher

The lake where Prak Sophea lives on the outskirts of Phnom Penh is unrecognisable from when she built her stilted shack more than 20 years ago.

Back then, she could barely see the other side of the lake. Now, signs of rapid development are everywhere as bulldozers haul freshly dug earth from the shoreline and signs advertise new boreys, or gated communities.

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