As China Builds, Cambodia’s Forests Fall

China’s demand for natural resources is being felt in a big way in Cambodia. Illegal logging and economic land concessions are threatening Cambodia’s dwindling forests, which now echo the sound of chainsaws. Prey Lang forest — an eight-hour journey north and east of the capital, Phnom Penh — is one of the forests where illegal loggers see money signs on the trees. … “You also have the fact that other countries have been culling or reducing the extraction of their own luxury wood,” Farrell says. “Thailand has been becoming much more strict about illegal wood leaking out of their country, so that puts the pressure on the countries that are less strict. … Laos and Cambodia are really, really struggling.” … It’s a resin tree, one of the men explains — its trunk still oozing sap. It’s worth about $750 to a logger, he says. But for those who live here, a source of sustainable income has now been eliminated forever. The chainsaw draws the group deeper into the forest. … “I know it’s illegal,” he says, “but what can I do? I don’t have any other work, and I have to support my family.” …

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