Cambodian forest campaigners fight rampant logging

Cambodian villagers from other provinces inspect piles of timber in Koh Kong province on May 11. 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. (AFP Photo/Tang Chhin Sothy)

Cambodian residents march toward the location where Chhut Vuthy -- president of the Natural Resource Conservation Group -- was shot dead in Koh Kong province on April 26. (AFP Photo/Tang Chhin Sothy)

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. (AFP Photo/)

Cambodians held a memorial service on May 11 in a remote forest where prominent environmental activist Chhut Vuthy was shot dead two weeks ago, vowing to keep his legacy alive. 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. (AFP Photo/Tang Chhin Sothy)

A Cambodian Buddhist monk living in the Aoral wildlife sanctuary leads children through the forest in Kampong Speu province. (AFP Photo/Tang Chhin Sothy)

05/25/2012
By Suy Se | AFP

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.

Search for justice for Chut Wutty in Koh Kong by about 600 human rights and community defenders - Video by Ven. Loun Sovath

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G06XGxnhGnQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH5BagX7yoc

Leader lost, but activists fight on

Chut Wutty, who was gunned down last month while investigating illegal logging, walks on a dirt road in Botum Sakor National Park in Koh Kong province in February. Photograph: Reuters

Wednesday, 09 May 2012
May Titthara and David Boyle
The Phnom Penh Post

An estimated 600 people will travel to parts of the Cardamom Mountains in Koh Kong province to investigate illegal logging and commemorate the death of slain environment activist Chut Wutty tomorrow.

Communities from eight provinces that have been affected by deforestation will travel to Koh Kong province from May 10 to 13, a statement released yesterday by the Cambodian Center for Human Rights said.

They will first travel to Thma Bang district before moving on the next day to Veal Bei Point in Mondul Seima district’s Bak Khlang commune where Chut Wutty was shot, the statement said.

CCHR president Ou Virak said yesterday that the purpose of the trip was to show the government that those fighting deforestation would continue to stand up despite the loss of a leader.

Photos from Koh Kong Campaign led by Prey Lang forest community

Community members being questioned by the authority. They were asked why they came here and how many of them are coming. (All photos: CCHR)

Community members being questioned by the authority.

Community members being questioned by the authority.

Community members being questioned by the authority.

Sharing water supply.

Preparing tent shelter for the night

Move ‘worries’ Prey Lang reps

Friday, 03 February 2012
Mom Kunthear
The Phnom Penh Post

More than 100 conservation activists from across four provinces are “worried” about a recent government sub-decree aimed at protecting Prey Lang forest, claiming the measure lacks broad input and will not prevent illegal logging in the area.

The representatives of the Prey Lang network, a group that advocates for the protection of the forest, met earlier this week to discuss a sub-decree establishing the Prey Lang forest as a conservation area.

Network member Seng Sok Heng said yesterday that the group “found some points that we don’t like, such as the fact that the Prey Lang communities were not invited to join discussions of the sub-decree, and some articles are unclear”.

Forest Communities Worry Over Future

By Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Original report from Pursat
05 August 2009

Rubber, rattan and honey are all valuable resources for the Bangkorng Khmum community village. The villagers of the Beehive community, in Pursat province’s Krokar district, go to the forest each day to collect these things to earn a living.

But in a recent interview, Tan Sarim, the head of the community, said the villagers now fear losing these sources of income and worry they don’t have the legal right to manage the forest on which they rely.

Likewise, Kong Vuthy, head of Borei O’svay forest community in Stung Treng province, said since its inception, in 2002, his forest community has not been given legal title to manage itself.

“If our forest cannot be legally managed by the community, there will be exploitation and anarchic logging,” he said on the sidelines of a forest community network meeting in Pursat in July. “If we manage it, we will use it in a sustainable way and protect it for our next generation.”

Forest communities were first set up in Cambodia in the 1990s to preserve forests after they were heavily, illegally logged at an alarming level the decade before.

Now 377 forest communities exist across the country, covering nearly 350,000 hectares of land, according to June statistics at the Ministry of Agriculture’s forestry administration.

Based on the 2002 Forestry Law, a forest community can use and manage its forest to benefit the community for 15 years, following an agreement with the forestry administration.

However, there are currently only 59 forest communities among the 377 have been legally allowed to manage themselves, said Lao Setha Phal, acting director of forestry administration office.

“The slow process of legalization is due to problems of an overlap between forest community areas and economic land concessions,” he explained, adding that the forestry administration will have signed an agreement with all 124 forest communities with official agreements with the Ministry of Agriculture by the end of this year, or early next year at the latest.

“For the rest of forest communities, we will work that out as fast as we can,” he said.

Nevertheless, the process of forest community legalization is slow and a bit complicated, said Francis Perez, Cambodia director for Oxfam Britain, adding that hundreds of forest community applications are still pending in offices of both provincial governments and the forestry administration.