Logging in the wild west

Illegal logging of staggering proportions abetted by military personnel is decimating stocks of luxury rosewood in the Central Cardamom Protected Forest, while the conversation group tasked with protecting the area and its government counterparts deny the trade is even happening. In a period of several hours beginning late on Sunday night, the Post witnessed at least nine industrial transport trucks, seven pick-up trucks and one Land Rover packed with timber drive out of Koh Kong province’s Thma Bang district in the CCPF on one road alone. Large numbers of trucks could also be heard using a nearby connecting road. Several of the trucks that the Post was able to inspect closely were carrying heavy loads of illegal rosewood. Villagers, loggers and conservationists have verified that Forestry Administration officials, military officers and rangers working in partnership with the NGO Conservation International are making no effort to stop the massive trade in protected rosewood. In many cases, it is alleged, they are actively profiting. Thuy Pet, 50, a former soldier from military division 5 now living in Thma Bang district’s Russey Chrum village, estimated that during peak logging periods, anywhere from 80 to 90 trucks carried timber out of the protected area every night. “I think nobody can stop this until they finish. When they finish, they will go to another area,” he said. Another villager, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that about 2,000 people were now logging in the area. “Residents used to be farmers, but now they’ve become loggers because of money,” he said. Chut Wutty, director of the Natural Resources Protection Group, estimates that tens of thousands of dollars worth of rosewood, which fetches between US$5,000 and $8,000 per cubic metre, is being transported out of Thma Bang district every day…

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011122153536/National-news/logging-in-the-wild-west.html