In Cambodia, climate disinformation systematically undermines the ability of Indigenous Peoples to take meaningful actions against climate change and deforestation. This is the intended result of deliberately constructed false and misleading narratives designed to discredit Indigenous Peoples and weaken their role in climate action. Treating this disempowerment as an unavoidable consequence only reinforces a strategy that benefits state and corporate interests at the expense of Indigenous communities and the environment.
In Cambodia, independent media have a role to play not only by ensuring truthful information reaches Indigenous communities, but also by facilitating Indigenous voices to be heard by the public.
This is the key finding from Asia Centre’s latest report, “Climate Disinformation in Cambodia: Undermining Indigenous Peoples’ Agency.” The report identifies four distinct forms of climate disinformation prevalent in the country: state-aligned one-sided climate discourses, the promotion of false climate solutions, corporate greenwashing, and the outright denial of deforestation narratives. These tactics, which range from strategically omitting inconvenient truths to intentionally spreading falsehoods, manipulate public understanding and allow exploitative practices to persist under the guise of environmental progress.
State-aligned media outlets in Cambodia frequently present government initiatives in an overwhelmingly positive light. They highlight efforts like tree-planting campaigns and international collaborations while omitting critical environmental and social issues, such as deforestation linked to these projects or forced evictions.
Similarly, climate solutions such as REDD+ projects and hydropower dams are promoted as beneficial for economic growth and clean energy, despite evidence of their limited effectiveness and severe ecological and socio-economic impacts on Indigenous Peoples. The Lower Sesan II hydropower dam, for example, was framed as a national benefit but led to the forced resettlement of approximately 5,000 people, primarily Bunong Indigenous Peoples, who faced intimidation and inadequate compensation.
Corporate greenwashing further contributes to this deceptive landscape. Companies make exaggerated claims of sustainability and environmental conservation while facing accusations of extensive deforestation and illegal mining operations within protected areas. These discrepancies between claims and reality demonstrate a deliberate use of disinformation to obscure harmful activities.
Additionally, government authorities frequently deny widespread deforestation within designated protected areas, despite overwhelming scientific evidence and community reports. Such denials discredit Indigenous communities and independent monitoring efforts.
The impact of this climate disinformation on Cambodian Indigenous Peoples is multifaceted and severe. First, it leads to their exclusion from climate discussions. While limited internet access in remote Indigenous areas might seem to reduce exposure to online disinformation, it also severely restricts their ability to share credible information and voice their concerns through digital platforms. This digital divide, compounded by language barriers, leaves them vulnerable to offline manipulation and prevents their invaluable ecological knowledge from influencing broader climate discourse.
Second, climate disinformation facilitates the forced displacement of Indigenous Peoples from their ancestral lands. Climate disinformation is used to obscure the severe social and ecological harm of ecological and business efforts, thereby legitimizing the dispossession of Indigenous communities. The principle of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent, essential for the legitimacy of such interventions, is routinely sidelined or reduced to a mere procedural exercise. This not only threatens their livelihoods and cultural heritage but also undermines their crucial role in forest monitoring and sustainable stewardship.
Third, intimidation tactics are systematically employed by state and commune-level authorities to instill fear among Indigenous communities. Through face-to-face meetings, public forums, and even door-to-door visits, officials pressure communities to adopt government-aligned climate disinformation and reject independent information. This atmosphere of fear stifles open discussion and further delegitimizes Indigenous voices in climate dialogue.
Finally, climate disinformation plays a central role in the criminalization of Indigenous environmental defenders. By falsely portraying their forest protection efforts and traditional land practices as illegal, official and media discourse frames Indigenous Peoples as environmental threats rather than stewards. This distortion justifies legal actions against Indigenous activists, such as charging them with clearing state forest land or “spreading fake news” for documenting illegal logging.
Beyond the immediate evidence of climate disinformation and impacts on Indigenous Peoples, the report also surfaces three critical insights. First, climate disinformation must be understood as a deliberate strategy, not merely a communication failure. Second, it must be recognized as a concerted effort to nullify agency by negating the truth. Finally, the Cambodian experience reflects and validates a wider transnational pattern that impacts Indigenous Peoples across the region.
Together, these insights underscore the urgent need for a reimagined approach to climate governance. The Cambodian government should strengthen legal and policy frameworks to curb climate disinformation, protect Indigenous Peoples’ rights, and ensure their meaningful participation in climate action. Civil society, media, and INGOs should amplify Indigenous voices, document and counter harmful narratives, and foster inclusive platforms for dialogue. Technology companies and international actors should enforce stronger safeguards against disinformation, expand access to credible information, and invest in building Indigenous communities’ resilience.
Beyond this, a shift in cultural understanding of the position of Indigenous Peoples in Cambodia is needed. Recognizing them not as peripheral communities but as knowledge-holders and equal partners is essential to dismantling entrenched stereotypes and ensuring that climate solutions are both just and sustainable. Central to this is restoring and safeguarding Indigenous agency – the ability of Indigenous Peoples to shape decisions, defend their lands, and advance their own climate strategies – without which governance risks remaining extractive and exclusionary.
Tackling climate disinformation would not only restore agency to Indigenous Peoples but also the agency of the Cambodian public to take collective action toward just and effective climate solutions.
This op-ed is based on Asia Centre’s report, “Climate Disinformation in Cambodia: Undermining Indigenous Peoples’ Agency.” Download the full report here. For more information about Asia Centre, visit https://www.asiacentre.org.
