Place
Koh Kong
កោះកុង
Koh Kong (កោះកុង) is a province on the coast of southwest Cambodia, on the Gulf of Thailand, with the Cardamom Mountains behind it.[1][2] The provisional 2019 census grouped it with Cambodia's coastal provinces.[3] Much of its coast is covered by large mangrove forests.[4]
Geography
Koh Kong borders Pursat (ពោធិ៍សាត់) province.[5] The border with Thailand starts on the Koh Kong peninsula and runs north along the watershed of the coastal range of the Cardamom Mountains.[6] The province covers 10,090 square kilometers (3,896 square miles), and with Mondul Kiri it has the fewest people per square kilometer of any province.[3] Parts of it lie in the Cardamom Mountain National Park, nearly 930,000 hectares across five provinces.[7]
The provincial town is Khemarak Phoumin (ខេមរភូមិន្ទ), about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border crossing into Thailand.[1][2] Koh Kong island is a large island in Chroy Pros commune, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the town. In 2019 it had almost no residents, and environmental activists asked the Ministry of Environment to make it a protected area.[1]
Mangroves and fishing
The Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary was set up in 1993 to protect one of the world's last intact coastal mangrove systems.[8] In 2003, 70 percent of the province's people lived by fishing. The provincial fisheries director said fishermen had grown in number through the 1980s and early 1990s, as fear of Khmer Rouge fighters kept people from working in the mountains. By 2000 much of the coast's mangrove forest was gone or badly damaged. In Koh Sralau village, on an island in the sanctuary, officials said the mangroves had grown back with help from the Ministry of Environment and aid groups.[4] A study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature found that a beach barrier at Peam Krasop had moved 390 meters (1,280 feet) inland since 1973, and that 0.6 square kilometers of mangrove forest had been lost.[9]
Waterfalls
The province's waterfalls include Tatai, Koh Por and Stung Phong Ruol.[2] Ta Chat waterfall, near Khemarak Phoumin, falls 20 meters (66 feet) into a pool, and a small funicular carries visitors to the top, the only one in Cambodia.[10]
Population
The 2019 provisional census counted 123,618 people in Koh Kong, up from 117,481 in 2008.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Radio Free Asia Khmer, Activists and residents ask the Ministry of Environment to protect Koh Kong island (July 22, 2019; in Khmer)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Phnom Penh Post, Adventures await in Koh Kong (undated)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 National Institute of Statistics, Provisional Population Census 2019 (2019)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Cambodia Daily, Nhem Chea Bunly, Koh Kong Fishermen Face Dwindling Catches (November 18, 2003)
- ↑ Koh Santepheap, The origin, location and name of Pursat province (July 5, 2020; in Khmer)
- ↑ The Geographer, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, International Boundary Study No. 40 (Revised): Cambodia – Thailand Boundary (November 23, 1966)
- ↑ The Phnom Penh Post, 930K ha Cardamom park established (undated)
- ↑ The Phnom Penh Post, Sand mining spikes in Koh Kong estuaries (June 24, 2008)
- ↑ The Phnom Penh Post, Cambodia's mangroves under threat (undated)
- ↑ The Phnom Penh Post, Ride Cambodia's only funicular to visit the waterfalls of Ta Chat (undated)