Narrator: This milky white sap is latex,
and it feeds the world's appetite for natural rubber.
Over 70% of the global supply goes into making tires
for cars, trucks, and planes.
But the explosion of rubber tree plantations
here in Cambodia over the past few decades
has devastated lives and displaced thousands of people.
Sal Thang is one of them.
Narrator: Sal takes this path every day to reach his rice fields.
He has to walk through
a massive rubber plantation to get there.
Around 3 1/2 acres of land
is all he has left to provide for his family.
The government leased more than a third of the land
he used to farm to a rubber producer.
Sal was only able to secure a land title
for his remaining rice fields.
Narrator: Every acre counts for Sal,
who grows rice, cassava, and potatoes on his land.
Narrator: He used to be able to forage for vegetables
and hunt wild animals in surrounding forests
to feed his family.
But those were also uprooted.
Narrator: Sal is part of the Kachok ethnic group.
They're one of more than a dozen Indigenous groups
in northeastern Cambodia who have been losing land
to a big Vietnamese rubber company
called Hoang Anh Gia Lai, or HAGL.
And it's been difficult for them to get it back,
because even though the Kachok
and other groups have lived here for generations,
many didn't have state-recognized ownership of their land.
It wasn't until 2009
that the government created a legal process
for Indigenous communities to apply
for collective land titles.
The rush for rubber in Cambodia began
when global prices for natural rubber peaked in 2011.
Companies started looking for places
to develop plantations in Southeast Asia,
a region that produces most of the world's natural rubber.
The Cambodian government saw an opportunity to cash in.
By 2012, it had leased three-quarters
of the country's farmland to mostly foreign companies.
Nearly half of that land
was turned into rubber plantations,
and the people who already occupied that land
say they only found out
when developers showed up to clear it.
Narrator: Rochom Lorn used to grow crops
and feed dozens of chickens, pigs, and cows on 12 acres,
but the government leased most of that land to HAGL.
Narrator: Now Rochom doesn't have enough land to grow crops,
and he has just two cows left.
Narrator: Despite the risk, Rochom wanted to take us
to the other side of the fence
to a cluster of trees surrounded by HAGL farmland.
Narrator: This is what's left of a burial site
that has been sacred to Rochom
and his community for generations.
Rochom and local NGOs say HAGL cleared
the surrounding forest in 2011.
It was only through community protests
that they managed to save a fraction of the burial site.
Narrator: Rochom says the graves of his grandchildren were destroyed,
and his son's gravesite happened to be spared.
Narrator: The fight to reclaim Indigenous land still rages on.
In 2014, 17 villages including Rochom's
filed a complaint against the World Bank,
which funded HAGL's growth.
The World Bank says it funds projects
that help reduce poverty in developing countries.
But a 2015 report by the International Consortium
of Investigative Journalists found
that the World Bank financed governments
and companies accused of human rights violations
such as rape, murder, and torture.
In 2019, the Cambodian government ruled
that HAGL must return 1,800 acres
to the Indigenous communities in Ratanakiri province.
That's less than 2% of all of HAGL's land leases.
Still, HAGL initially refused to return it.
Then, in 2021, an auto company called THACO
took over all of HAGL's land leases.
Kia, BMW, Peugeot, and Mazda
order cars and other auto parts from THACO.
Insider repeatedly reached out to HAGL
and these other companies.
None of them responded.
HAGL still recently cleared land they promised to return.
Thapa Yuth, a member of the Charai ethnic group,
took us to a place
local Indigenous communities refer to
as a spirit mountain.
They believe the spirits of their ancestors reside here.
But in 2020, while many villagers were under COVID lockdown,
HAGL mined part of this mountain, according to local media.
This footage was filmed by locals,
who caught developers excavating with a backhoe.
Narrator: HAGL didn't respond when we asked about
the clearing of the spirit mountain and burial site.
Demand for natural rubber is growing around the world.
It's expected to jump nearly 30% in the next decade alone.
But most of the world still relies on Southeast Asia.
Synthetic rubber has become a popular alternative,
but it isn't strong enough to replace natural rubber
and things like airplane and truck tires.
The governor of Ratanakiri told Insider
that HAGL agreed to return
the 1,800 acres of land in January,
but Indigenous communities are still waiting.
Meanwhile, they've been working with local NGOs
to secure land titles for the few plots they have left.
Narrator: NGOs and Indigenous people say the process is slow,
and titles only grant them a small portion
of their traditional land.
Narrator: As of 2021, less than 10% of the 455 Indigenous communities
in Cambodia have collective land titles.