Security forces shot and killed a 15-year-old girl on Wednesday during a clash with about 200 villagers armed with axes and crossbows in eastern Cambodia, in the latest of several violent evictions aimed at clearing land for development.
It allows for few exceptions, such as clearing land for development, farming and creating fire breaks to protect life and property.
In the year before onset, considerable deforestation had occurred near her residence to clear land for housing developments.
Fires set to clear land for plantations spread into forests.
The native people known as the Lenape probably burned the brush to clear land for hunting.
Similar problems occur in forests where trees are illegally cut to clear land for agricultural use and grazing.
In the mid-1950s, afthe the Korean War, the Bureau of Reclamation brought in demobilized Han soldiers to clear land for rubber.
With bulldozers now clearing the land for development, the vast majority of residents have left after accepting offers of compensation or alternative modern housing.
A big army base in largely-Catholic west Belfast is to close, clearing land for possible industrial development.
In developing countries, where the rule of law is weak and enforcement spotty, simply declaring a forest off-limits does little to prevent illegal logging or clearing land for agriculture or development.
We have all played our part in creating these environmental issues, be it by clearing out lands for development or by creating companies that pollute our water-ways resulting in chronic kidney diseases.
