As Singapore dredges sand out from beneath Cambodia’s mangrove forests, an ecosystem, a communal way of life, and one woman’s relationship to her beloved home are faced with the threat of erasure. For over a decade, the government of Cambodia has granted several private companies concessions to mine these mangrove forests for sand. Each year, millions of metric tons of sand are shipped to Singapore to enlarge this island nation’s landmass, while Cambodia destroys its only natural protection against erosion, rising sea levels, tsunamis, and hurricanes and lays waste to a vital and fragile ecosystem that thousands of families depend on for their livelihood.
In this accompanying essay, Kalyanee Mam reflects on the experience of filming Lost World. As she encountered Cambodia’s mangrove forests and witnessed the mass movement of land from one country to another, she wondered: what worlds are we building and what worlds are we leaving behind?
