When a large Chinese dam project threatened a remote and stunningly beautiful valley in western Cambodia the local people weren’t sure how to fight back. One of the most bio-diverse places in SE Asia the flooding of the Areng Valley would be a real tragedy. Soon a Buddhist environmental movement began to grow, lead by monks and followed by concerned villagers, whereby large trees in forests at risk, were ordained as sacred thus hoping to deter loggers and developers, slow down the destruction and maybe even help to stop the construction of the dam itself.