Striving to save the forest, Prey Long villagers launch patrols

For the several hundred villagers who have been camping and patrolling in a remote part of the jungle in northern Kompong Thom for several days as part of their campaign to save Prey Long forest, the strain is starting to show. Human rights workers say that dozens of villagers, who all live around Prey Long forest, have fallen ill because they have been living in rough outdoor conditions while seizing piles of illegally logged timber and several chainsaws. Last week, about 300 members of the Prey Long People’s Network, a group of activists, began walking from their villages in Preah Vihear, Stung Treng and Kompong Thom to a part of Prey Long forest called O’Chrok, an area in the north of Sandan district that has reportedly been heavily targeted by illegal loggers. The villagers have been patrolling this area since Sunday, and since then, they have come across three logging camps where they seized three chainsaws and large piles of cut luxury wood that had been left behind by the fleeing loggers, Chheng Sophors, senior monitor at human rights group Licadho, said yesterday…