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Created page with "{{Infobox Mountain |name = Cardamom Mountains |local_name = ជួរភ្នំក្រវាញ (Chuŏr Phnum Krâvanh) |feature_type = Mountain range |country = Cambodia |province = Koh Kong |province_label = Provinces |coordinates = 11.500000, 103.500000 |elevation = 1,813 m (Phnom Aural) |length = ~160 km |area = ~20,000 km² |rock_type = Granitic plutons, metamorphic basement |age = Late Cretaceous (~75–98 Ma) |borders = Thailand (northwest), Gulf of Thailand (..."
 
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{{Infobox Mountain
{{Infobox Growing Area
|name = Cardamom Mountains
|area_name = Cardamom Mountains
|local_name = ជួរភ្នំក្រវាញ (Chuŏr Phnum Krâvanh)
|other_names = Kravanh Mountains, Chuor Phnum Kravanh
|feature_type = Mountain range
|image =
|image_caption =
|show_map = yes
|gene_pool = Southeast Asian Gene Pool
|regional_complex =
|growing_region = Southern Cambodia
|country = Cambodia
|country = Cambodia
|province = Koh Kong
|provinces = Koh Kong, Pursat, Kampong Speu
|province_label = Provinces
|coordinates = 11.500000, 103.500000
|coordinates = 11.500000, 103.500000
|elevation = 1,813 m (Phnom Aural)
|elevation_range = 0-1,813 m
|length = ~160 km
|area_extent = ~20,000 km2
|area = ~20,000 km²
|terrain = Steep escarpments, incised valleys, dense tropical forest
|rock_type = Granitic plutons, metamorphic basement
|climate = Tropical monsoon
|age = Late Cretaceous (~75–98 Ma)
|rainfall = 3,000-5,000 mm (windward), 1,000-1,500 mm (rain shadow)
|borders = Thailand (northwest), Gulf of Thailand (southwest)
|seasons = Wet (May-Nov), Dry (Dec-Apr)
|growing_region = Southern Cambodia
|status = Endangered
|growing_area = Cardamom Mountains
|description = Mountain range corridor spanning Koh Kong, Pursat and Kampong Speu provinces; epicentre of commercial cannabis production in the 1990s, now harbouring dispersed deep-forest cultivation
|show_map = yes
|map_property = growing area
|map_value = Cardamom Mountains
|data-center = 11.500000, 103.500000
|data-base-layer = terrain
|category = Mountains
}}
}}


The '''Cardamom Mountains''' (Khmer: ជួរភ្នំក្រវាញ, ''Chuŏr Phnum Krâvanh''; Thai: ทิวเขาบรรทัด, ''Thio Khao Banthat''), also known as the '''Krâvanh Mountains''', are a major mountain range in southwestern [[Cambodia]] extending into eastern [[Thailand]]. The range runs along a northwest-southeast axis from Chanthaburi Province in Thailand through [[Koh Kong Province|Koh Kong]], [[Pursat Province|Pursat]] and [[Kampong Speu Province|Kampong Speu]] provinces in Cambodia, where it connects to the [[Elephant Mountains]] (Dâmrei Mountains) to the southeast.<ref name="britannica">Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Krâvanh Mountains." [https://www.britannica.com/place/Kravanh-Mountains]</ref> The highest point, Phnom Aural (1,813 m), is Cambodia's tallest peak.<ref name="wp">Wikipedia. "Cardamom Mountains." [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardamom_Mountains]</ref>
The '''Cardamom Mountains''' growing area encompasses the [[Kravanh Mountains]] (Khmer: ជួរភ្នំក្រវាញ) and their southeastern extension, the [[Damrei Mountains]] (Elephant Mountains), a continuous mountain corridor across southwestern [[Cambodia]] spanning [[Koh Kong Province|Koh Kong]], [[Pursat Province|Pursat]], [[Kampong Speu Province|Kampong Speu]] and [[Kampot Province|Kampot]] provinces. The range reaches 1,813 m at Phnom Aural, Cambodia's highest peak.<ref name="britannica">Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Kravanh Mountains." [https://www.britannica.com/place/Kravanh-Mountains]</ref>
 
''For the physical geography, ecology and archaeology of the mountain range, see [[Kravanh Mountains]].''


The Cardamom Mountains are significant to [[landrace cannabis]] documentation for three reasons: as the epicentre of large-scale commercial cannabis cultivation during the 1990s and early 2000s, as a corridor where dispersed deep-forest cultivation persists under eradication pressure, and as one of the largest remaining tracts of primary tropical forest in mainland Southeast Asia, whose inaccessibility has historically sheltered both cannabis cultivation and other illicit extraction economies including safrole oil production.<ref name="incsr2003">US Department of State. "International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2003: Cambodia." Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, March 2003. [https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/18168.pdf]</ref><ref name="cable07">US Embassy Phnom Penh. Cable 07PHNOMPENH1376, "2008 INCSR Submission: Cambodia." 2 November 2007. [https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/07PHNOMPENH1376_a.html]</ref>
As a [[landrace cannabis]] growing area, the Cardamom Mountains were the epicentre of large-scale commercial cultivation during the 1990s and early 2000s, centred on [[Koh Kong Province|Koh Kong province]]. The sole academic botanical identification of cannabis from this region classifies the Koh Kong cultivar as ''[[Cannabis indica]]''.<ref name="vca">"Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment of Koh Kong and Kampot Provinces, Cambodia." [https://www.academia.edu/101412088/Vulnerability_and_Capacity_Assessment_of_Koh_Kong_and_Kampot_Provinces_Cambodia]</ref> The same inaccessibility that preserved the range's primary forest also sheltered cannabis cultivation and other illicit extraction economies including safrole oil production.<ref name="cable07">US Embassy Phnom Penh. Cable 07PHNOMPENH1376, "2008 INCSR Submission: Cambodia." 2 November 2007. [https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/07PHNOMPENH1376_a.html]</ref>


== Geography ==
== Geography ==


The Cardamom Mountains occupy the western quarter of Cambodia, running roughly northwest to southeast from the Thai border to the Central Plains. The range lies principally within [[Koh Kong Province|Koh Kong]], [[Pursat Province|Pursat]] and [[Kampong Speu Province|Kampong Speu]] provinces, with extensions into adjacent areas. The massif falls broadly between 10°50' N to 12°45' N latitude and 102°30' E to 104° E longitude.<ref name="wp" />
The growing area spans the full extent of the Kravanh-Damrei corridor, from the Thai border in the northwest to Kampot province in the southeast. Cannabis cultivation has been documented across multiple provinces within the range, with different areas active at different periods. The western slopes receive 3,000-5,000 mm of annual rainfall from the southwest monsoon, while the eastern rain shadow receives only 1,000-1,500 mm. Dense tropical rain forest covers most of the range, with access limited to a few roads and river corridors.<ref name="britannica" />


The topography consists of steep escarpments, deeply incised valleys and pronounced ridges. Elevations rise abruptly from near sea level along the southwestern coastal plain to over 1,500 m, with several peaks exceeding 1,350 m. Phnom Aural (1,813 m) in the eastern part of the range is the highest point in Cambodia. Other significant summits include Phnom Samkos (1,717 m) in the northwest and Tumbol Hill (1,563 m) near the Thai border.<ref name="britannica" /><ref name="wp" />
The terrain consists of steep escarpments, incised valleys and pronounced ridges. The remote, heavily forested interior provided both concealment and logistical difficulty for enforcement operations, making it an ideal environment for illicit cultivation. The coastal plain along the Gulf of Thailand, accessible through [[Koh Kong Province|Koh Kong]] and [[Sihanoukville]], served as the primary export corridor.<ref name="incsr2003">US Department of State. "International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2003: Cambodia." Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, March 2003. [https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/18168.pdf]</ref>


To the southwest, the range borders the Gulf of Thailand through a narrow coastal plain. To the northwest, it meets the international boundary with Thailand. To the east and north, it transitions into the lowland plains of the Tonle Sap basin. The [[Elephant Mountains]] extend as a southeastern continuation, rising to 500–1,000 m.<ref name="britannica" />
== Cannabis cultivation ==


The mountains form a major watershed: rivers drain southwestward toward the Gulf of Thailand rather than into the Mekong system. Dense tropical rain forest prevails on the windward western slopes, which receive 3,000–5,000 mm of rainfall annually, while the eastern slopes in the rain shadow receive only 1,000–1,500 mm.<ref name="britannica" />
=== Post-conflict cultivation (1980s-1991) ===


== Geology ==
The earliest documented cannabis cultivation in the Cardamom corridor dates to the immediate post-Khmer Rouge period. At Koh Sralao commune in [[Koh Kong Province|Koh Kong]], mountain forest was cleared from 1980 to 1990 specifically to plant ''Cannabis indica'', driven by conflict refugees who "moved to Koh Sralao motivated by personal safety." At nearby Koh Kapik commune on the Thai border, cannabis was "widely grown from 1980 to 1985." Cultivation at Koh Sralao ended in 1991 when the Ministry of Environment declared the area protected.<ref name="vca" />


The Cardamom Mountains are composed primarily of granitic plutons and associated metamorphic rocks formed during the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 75 to 98 million years ago, as part of broader Indochinese magmatism and tectonism.<ref name="wp" /> These igneous and metamorphic foundations create impermeable bedrock that fosters steep slopes prone to erosion and produces the range's dramatic relief. Overlying sandstone and alluvial deposits occur in places.<ref name="wp" />
=== Commercial production era (1992-2002) ===
''Main article: [[Thai investment in Cambodian cannabis]]''


The same geological processes that created the Cardamom Mountains are responsible for the [[Bayong Kor Range|Bayong Kor pluton]] (~86 Ma) in [[Takeo Province|Takeo province]], where gem-bearing miarolitic pegmatites have been documented.<ref name="piilonen2023">Piilonen, Paula C., et al. "The Mineralogy of the Gem-Bearing Miarolitic Pegmatites And Hydrothermal Veins At Phnom Bayong, Kirivong, Takeo Province, Cambodia." ''Rocks & Minerals'', 98 (4), 2023, pp. 310–327.</ref>
As Cambodia opened to foreign engagement through the UNTAC period, Thai-financed commercial cultivation transformed the Cardamom corridor. By 2002, Reuters described Koh Kong as Cambodia's "Wild West" and a production zone for high-quality marijuana. Drug lords provided farmers with tools, seeds and fertiliser, and a two-tier quality system emerged: poorly cured bulk cannabis for domestic sale and superior export-grade product channelled through [[Sihanoukville]] and Koh Kong to international markets.<ref name="reuters2002">"Cambodia's Wild West." Reuters, 18 May 2002. [https://www.dawn.com/news/34922/cambodia-s-wild-west]</ref>


== Ecology ==
The 2003 INCSR identified the Cardamom provinces as primary producing areas, with national output estimated at 700-1,000 tons annually.<ref name="incsr2003" /> The deep-water port at Sihanoukville and the Koh Kong coastline near the Thai border were identified as major trafficking routes.<ref name="incsr2003" />


The Cardamom Mountains are the core of the Cardamom Mountains rain forests ecoregion, one of the largest remaining areas of mostly intact tropical moist broadleaf forest in mainland Southeast Asia. The range supports several distinct vegetation zones: lowland evergreen forest, montane cloud forest above 700 m, and dwarf conifer forests (''Dacrydium elatum'') on the southern slopes of the Elephant Mountains.<ref name="wp" />
The same inaccessibility that sheltered cannabis cultivation also supported large-scale illicit safrole oil extraction from ''Cinnamomum parthenoxylon'' trees, suggesting a shared economic logic driven by remoteness from law enforcement.<ref name="cable07" />


The range is thought to shelter at least 62 globally threatened animal species and 17 globally threatened trees, including the largest population of Asian elephant in Cambodia. Other species include Indochinese tiger, clouded leopard, dhole, gaur and banteng.<ref name="wp" /> Pearic-speaking indigenous communities historically occupied the foothills and retain distinctive languages and ecological knowledge.<ref name="wp" />
=== Decline and dispersal (2000s-present) ===


The isolation that preserved these ecosystems was partially compromised in 2002 when a transborder highway to Thailand was completed south of the Cardamoms along the coast, fragmenting habitats for large mammals and opening areas to slash-and-burn agriculture and poaching.<ref name="wp" />
Road infrastructure and sustained enforcement pressure reduced Koh Kong's viability as a production centre, shifting the main locus of Cambodian cannabis cultivation southeast to [[Kirivong]] in [[Takeo Province|Takeo province]]. However, dispersed cultivation continues within the Cardamom corridor. In 2015, [[Pursat Province|Pursat]] police destroyed thousands of marijuana plants in deep-forest plots concealed among sesame crops, with plants traced to seed stock from [[Kandal Province|Kandal province]].<ref name="pursat2015">Khouth Sophak Chakrya. "Thousands of marijuana plants seized, burned by Pursat police." ''Phnom Penh Post'', 6 May 2015. [https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/thousands-marijuana-plants-seized-burned-pursat-police]</ref>


== Historical significance ==
Modern cultivation across the corridor follows the pattern documented elsewhere in [[Southern Cambodia]]: remote mountain plots, intercropping for concealment and rapid replanting after eradication.


The Cardamom Mountains hold historic sites dating from the 15th to 17th centuries, including jar burials containing ceramic jars and rough-hewn log coffins set on remote rock ledges. A rock art cave site known as Kanam depicts elephants, elephant riders, deer and wild cattle in red ochre paint.<ref name="wp" />
== Accessions ==


The range's inaccessibility made it one of the last strongholds of the Khmer Rouge after Vietnamese forces toppled the regime in 1979. The border with Thailand served as a conduit for foreign support and a sanctuary for fleeing fighters and refugees. This period of conflict displaced populations and disrupted traditional land use patterns across the range.<ref name="wp" />
{{#ask:
[[Category:Accessions]]
[[Has growing area::{{PAGENAME}}]]
|?Has descriptive name=Name
|?Has conservation priority=Priority
|?Has collection date=Collected
|?Has locality=Locality
|mainlabel=Accession ID
|format=table
|class=wikitable sortable
|sort=Has collection date
|order=desc
|default=No accessions documented yet.
}}


== Cannabis cultivation ==
== Conservation status ==
''Main article: [[Southern Cambodia]]''


=== The Koh Kong era (1980s–2000s) ===
'''Conservation status: Endangered''' -- Historically significant production zone, now largely suppressed; no known preservation of cultivar genetics.


The Cardamom Mountains were the epicentre of commercial cannabis production in Cambodia during the 1990s and early 2000s. An academic Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment documented cannabis at coastal communities in [[Koh Kong Province|Koh Kong province]]: at Koh Sralao, mountain forest was cleared from 1980 to 1990 specifically to plant ''Cannabis indica'', driven by conflict refugees. Cultivation ended in 1991 when the Ministry of Environment declared the area protected.<ref name="vca">"Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment of Koh Kong and Kampot Provinces, Cambodia." [https://www.academia.edu/101412088/Vulnerability_and_Capacity_Assessment_of_Koh_Kong_and_Kampot_Provinces_Cambodia]</ref>
The cultivars grown across the Cardamom corridor during the 1980s and 1990s were never systematically collected, characterised or preserved before enforcement eliminated large-scale cultivation. The sole academic botanical identification classifies the Koh Kong cultivar as ''Cannabis indica''.<ref name="vca" /> Whether isolated deep-forest cultivation maintains genetic continuity with the earlier Koh Kong populations is unknown.


By the mid-1990s, Thai-financed commercial cultivation had transformed the Cardamom corridor. A 2002 Reuters report described Koh Kong as Cambodia's "Wild West" and a production zone for high-quality marijuana grown in large quantities. Drug lords provided farmers with tools, seeds and fertiliser.<ref name="reuters2002">"Cambodia's Wild West." Reuters, 18 May 2002. [https://www.dawn.com/news/34922/cambodia-s-wild-west]</ref> The 2003 INCSR identified the Cardamom provinces as primary producing areas, with national output estimated at 700–1,000 tons annually.<ref name="incsr2003" />
The Cardamom Mountains' cannabis heritage faces the same constellation of threats affecting all [[Southern Cambodia|Southern Cambodian]] landraces: active eradication, habitat displacement into increasingly marginal sites, cultural disruption and potential genetic contamination from imported varieties.


The same inaccessibility that sheltered cannabis cultivation also supported large-scale illicit safrole oil extraction from ''Cinnamomum parthenoxylon'' trees during this period, suggesting a shared economic logic driven by remoteness from law enforcement.<ref name="cable07" />
== Recent News ==


=== Dispersed cultivation (2000s–present) ===
{{#ask:[[Category:News Item]][[Has country::Cambodia]]
 
|?Has event date=Date
As road infrastructure and enforcement pressure reduced Koh Kong's viability as a production centre, the main locus of cultivation shifted southeast to [[Kirivong]] in [[Takeo Province|Takeo province]]. However, dispersed cannabis cultivation continues within the Cardamom corridor. In 2015, [[Pursat Province|Pursat]] police destroyed thousands of marijuana plants in deep-forest plots concealed among sesame crops, with the plants traced to seed stock sourced from [[Kandal Province|Kandal province]].<ref name="pursat2015">Khouth Sophak Chakrya. "Thousands of marijuana plants seized, burned by Pursat police." ''Phnom Penh Post'', 6 May 2015. [https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/thousands-marijuana-plants-seized-burned-pursat-police]</ref>
|?Has admin subdivision 1=Province
 
|?Has event category=Category
The pattern of cultivation across the Cardamom range follows the general characteristics documented elsewhere in [[Southern Cambodia]]: remote mountain plots, intercropping for concealment, and rapid replanting after eradication.
|sort=Has event date
 
|order=desc
== Conservation ==
|limit=10
 
|format=broadtable
Large portions of the Cardamom Mountains have been incorporated into government-declared protected areas and wildlife sanctuaries, managed under coordination between Cambodia's Ministry of Environment, provincial authorities and international conservation organisations. Key protected areas include the Cardamom Mountains Wildlife Sanctuary and the Central Cardamom Protected Forest.<ref name="wp" />
|class=wikitable sortable
 
|headers=plain
From a landrace cannabis conservation perspective, the Cardamom corridor represents a historically significant but now largely suppressed growing area. The cultivars grown in the Koh Kong corridor during the 1980s and 1990s, classified as ''Cannabis indica'' in the only academic botanical identification,<ref name="vca" /> were never systematically collected, characterised or preserved before enforcement effectively eliminated large-scale cultivation. Whether isolated deep-forest cultivation maintains genetic continuity with the earlier Koh Kong populations is unknown.
|mainlabel=Article
|default=No recent news items.
}}


== See Also ==
== See Also ==


* [[Kravanh Mountains]]
* [[Damrei Mountains]]
* [[Southern Cambodia]]
* [[Southern Cambodia]]
* [[Cambodia]]
* [[Cambodia]]
* [[Koh Kong Province]]
* [[Koh Kong Province]]
* [[Pursat Province]]
* [[Pursat Province]]
* [[Elephant Mountains]]
* [[Kirivong]]
* [[Kirivong]]
* [[Bayong Kor Range]]
* [[Bayong Kor Range]]
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<references />
<references />
[[Category:Growing Areas]]

Latest revision as of 15:53, 28 March 2026

Cardamom Mountains
Kravanh Mountains, Chuor Phnum Kravanh
⛶
Hierarchy
Gene Pool Southeast Asian Gene Pool
Growing Region Southern Cambodia
Geography
Country Cambodia
Province/State Koh Kong, Pursat, Kampong Speu
Coordinates 11.500000, 103.500000
Landscape
Elevation 0-1,813 m
Area ~20,000 km2
Terrain Steep escarpments, incised valleys, dense tropical forest
Climate
Climate Type Tropical monsoon
Rainfall 3,000-5,000 mm (windward), 1,000-1,500 mm (rain shadow)
Seasons Wet (May-Nov), Dry (Dec-Apr)
Documentation
Appellations 0
Accessions 4
Conservation
Status Endangered



The Cardamom Mountains growing area encompasses the Kravanh Mountains (Khmer: ជួរភ្នំក្រវាញ) and their southeastern extension, the Damrei Mountains (Elephant Mountains), a continuous mountain corridor across southwestern Cambodia spanning Koh Kong, Pursat, Kampong Speu and Kampot provinces. The range reaches 1,813 m at Phnom Aural, Cambodia's highest peak.[1]

For the physical geography, ecology and archaeology of the mountain range, see Kravanh Mountains.

As a landrace cannabis growing area, the Cardamom Mountains were the epicentre of large-scale commercial cultivation during the 1990s and early 2000s, centred on Koh Kong province. The sole academic botanical identification of cannabis from this region classifies the Koh Kong cultivar as Cannabis indica.[2] The same inaccessibility that preserved the range's primary forest also sheltered cannabis cultivation and other illicit extraction economies including safrole oil production.[3]

Geography

The growing area spans the full extent of the Kravanh-Damrei corridor, from the Thai border in the northwest to Kampot province in the southeast. Cannabis cultivation has been documented across multiple provinces within the range, with different areas active at different periods. The western slopes receive 3,000-5,000 mm of annual rainfall from the southwest monsoon, while the eastern rain shadow receives only 1,000-1,500 mm. Dense tropical rain forest covers most of the range, with access limited to a few roads and river corridors.[1]

The terrain consists of steep escarpments, incised valleys and pronounced ridges. The remote, heavily forested interior provided both concealment and logistical difficulty for enforcement operations, making it an ideal environment for illicit cultivation. The coastal plain along the Gulf of Thailand, accessible through Koh Kong and Sihanoukville, served as the primary export corridor.[4]

Cannabis cultivation

Post-conflict cultivation (1980s-1991)

The earliest documented cannabis cultivation in the Cardamom corridor dates to the immediate post-Khmer Rouge period. At Koh Sralao commune in Koh Kong, mountain forest was cleared from 1980 to 1990 specifically to plant Cannabis indica, driven by conflict refugees who "moved to Koh Sralao motivated by personal safety." At nearby Koh Kapik commune on the Thai border, cannabis was "widely grown from 1980 to 1985." Cultivation at Koh Sralao ended in 1991 when the Ministry of Environment declared the area protected.[2]

Commercial production era (1992-2002)

Main article: Thai investment in Cambodian cannabis

As Cambodia opened to foreign engagement through the UNTAC period, Thai-financed commercial cultivation transformed the Cardamom corridor. By 2002, Reuters described Koh Kong as Cambodia's "Wild West" and a production zone for high-quality marijuana. Drug lords provided farmers with tools, seeds and fertiliser, and a two-tier quality system emerged: poorly cured bulk cannabis for domestic sale and superior export-grade product channelled through Sihanoukville and Koh Kong to international markets.[5]

The 2003 INCSR identified the Cardamom provinces as primary producing areas, with national output estimated at 700-1,000 tons annually.[4] The deep-water port at Sihanoukville and the Koh Kong coastline near the Thai border were identified as major trafficking routes.[4]

The same inaccessibility that sheltered cannabis cultivation also supported large-scale illicit safrole oil extraction from Cinnamomum parthenoxylon trees, suggesting a shared economic logic driven by remoteness from law enforcement.[3]

Decline and dispersal (2000s-present)

Road infrastructure and sustained enforcement pressure reduced Koh Kong's viability as a production centre, shifting the main locus of Cambodian cannabis cultivation southeast to Kirivong in Takeo province. However, dispersed cultivation continues within the Cardamom corridor. In 2015, Pursat police destroyed thousands of marijuana plants in deep-forest plots concealed among sesame crops, with plants traced to seed stock from Kandal province.[6]

Modern cultivation across the corridor follows the pattern documented elsewhere in Southern Cambodia: remote mountain plots, intercropping for concealment and rapid replanting after eradication.

Accessions

Accession IDNamePriorityCollectedLocality
ZOM-KHM-KOH-0420230002Koh Kong 'Prek Svey' General Population 2023Critical15 April 2023Secret
ZOM-KHM-KOH-0420230001Koh Kong 'Chamka Kas' General Population 202315 April 2023Secret
ZOM-KHM-PUR-0420220001Pursat General Population 2022Critical15 April 2022Secret
ZOM-KHM-KOH-0420220001Tatai General Population 2022Critical15 April 2022Secret

Conservation status

Conservation status: Endangered -- Historically significant production zone, now largely suppressed; no known preservation of cultivar genetics.

The cultivars grown across the Cardamom corridor during the 1980s and 1990s were never systematically collected, characterised or preserved before enforcement eliminated large-scale cultivation. The sole academic botanical identification classifies the Koh Kong cultivar as Cannabis indica.[2] Whether isolated deep-forest cultivation maintains genetic continuity with the earlier Koh Kong populations is unknown.

The Cardamom Mountains' cannabis heritage faces the same constellation of threats affecting all Southern Cambodian landraces: active eradication, habitat displacement into increasingly marginal sites, cultural disruption and potential genetic contamination from imported varieties.

Recent News

ArticleDateProvinceCategory
News:2025-02-17/Enforcement/military-police-destroy-7-755-cannabis-plants-in-keng-raing-valley-kampong-speu17 February 2025Kampong SpeuEnforcement
News:2025-02-03/Enforcement/authorities-burn-3-365-marijuana-plants-in-raid-on-bayang-kor-mountain-cambodia3 February 2025Takeo ProvinceEnforcement
News:2024-07-24/Enforcement/two-farmers-detained-over-767-marijuana-plants-in-sesan-district-stung-treng24 July 2024Stung TrengEnforcement
News:2024-03-29/Enforcement/400-marijuana-plants-seized-on-cashew-plantation-in-battambang-province29 March 2024BattambangEnforcement
News:2023-03-07/Policy/cracking-down-on-marijuana-plantations-a-tough-task-for-authorities-in-takeo7 March 2023Takeo ProvincePolicy
News:2023-02-10/Policy/kampong-speu-governor-rejected-malaysian-investors-marijuana-plantation-proposal10 February 2023Policy
News:2023-01-10/Policy/takeos-kirivong-district-cited-as-cambodias-top-marijuana-cultivation-area10 January 2023Takeo ProvincePolicy
News:2022-06-23/Enforcement/10-marijuana-plantations-destroyed-in-ta-o-commune-kirivong-takeo23 June 2022Takeo ProvinceEnforcement
News:2021-12-27/Policy/new-takeo-police-chief-vows-to-eliminate-all-marijuana-plantations27 December 2021Takeo ProvincePolicy
News:2021-12-06/Enforcement/takeo-police-chief-orders-crackdown-on-kirivong-marijuana-cultivation-blames-local-authorities-lack-of-will6 December 2021Takeo ProvinceEnforcement
... further results

See Also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Kravanh Mountains." [1]
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment of Koh Kong and Kampot Provinces, Cambodia." [2]
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 US Embassy Phnom Penh. Cable 07PHNOMPENH1376, "2008 INCSR Submission: Cambodia." 2 November 2007. [3]
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 US Department of State. "International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2003: Cambodia." Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, March 2003. [4]
  5. ↑ "Cambodia's Wild West." Reuters, 18 May 2002. [5]
  6. ↑ Khouth Sophak Chakrya. "Thousands of marijuana plants seized, burned by Pursat police." Phnom Penh Post, 6 May 2015. [6]
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