LAND grabs and encroachment on protected forest are becoming more rampant in northern Cambodia, said environmental activists.
Cambodian forest and wildlife conservationists said it was increasing, especially in the Phnom Tnout-Phnom Pok Wildlife Sanctuary, which spans two districts in Preah Vihear province and one district in Siem Reap province.
They said it was a bad sign for the future of Cambodia's wildlife sanctuaries if the trend continued.
Ben Davis, a United States conservationist working in the sanctuary, told The Phnom Penh Post that while illegal logging in the area had persisted, there was an increase in migrants from other provinces trying to occupy the land.
He said they had invaded the sanctuary and occupied its land by cutting down trees to set up outposts or camp sites and then used spray paint to mark the supposed boundaries of their newly-acquired land.
Davis said these people told him that they came from the Battambang province and that there were a large number of border posts placed within the sanctuary's boundaries.
"It's not so much individual people or families who encroach on the land to live there themselves.
"Most are working for businesses or have been hired by rich people to do so.
"People are told that if they seize the land, they will get a piece of it for themselves," he added.
Davis said many of them immediately tried to sell the land because they did not actually want to live there.
However, he said, the sanctuary's land was largely useless for farming and agriculture because of the rocky soil.
He said he though they probably wanted to use it for other activities, such as mining, adding that the encroachments also seem to be an organised effort.
Lor Chan, the Preah Vihear provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc, said he had been informed through unofficial channels that a large group of people had encroached and illegally occupied the sanctuary.