Cambodian forest campaigners fight rampant logging

KOH KONG, Cambodia – Frustrated by government inaction, Cambodian citizen patrollers are risking their lives to take on the country’s illegal loggers in a bid to save their shrinking forests. The shooting of a prominent environmentalist by a military policeman last month after he refused to hand over logging photos rocked the kingdom and shone an unflattering light on government conservation efforts. Forest communities who depend on the woodlands for their survival say they plan to keep Chhut Vuthy’s brand of grassroots activism alive by stepping up the patrols he introduced last year to monitor forest crimes. “We are all Chhut Vuthy,” supporters said at a recent memorial rally in the remote jungle in southwestern Koh Kong province where the 45-year-old was gunned down. Rampant illegal logging contributed to a sharp drop in Cambodia’s forest cover from 73 per cent in 1990 to 57 per cent in 2010, according to the United Nations. …

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