English subtitles for clip: File:Cambodian Villagers Express Helplessness to Protect Prey Lang Forest.webm

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Here inside Prey Lang, in Krati Province, Hean 

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Chhit and his grandchild are preparing to collect

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resin used for making torches and mending boats

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from their trees.

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The 62-year-old farmer says he used

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to own a few hundred of these trees,

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but now only a few dozen remain after

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logging companies came into the area.

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I've been living here for over 30

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years, depending on that plot of rice field

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and these trees, vines and rattans.

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But since the loggers came to destroy this

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Prey Lang, what can we rely on for

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our living?

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His wife, Prak Rith, says they need the

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forest so that they can still lead their

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traditional tribal lives.

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We depend on the resins so that we

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can buy other necessary commodities and other groceries

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for our daily life.

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Prey Lang is one of the few remaining

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large evergreen forests in Cambodia, covering approximately 3

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,600 square kilometers across four provinces.

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On the way into the forest, this VOA

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reporter saw several big machines, including excavators and

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bulldozers.

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A group of men guarding them claim the

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machines are for paving roads to surrounding villages.

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But locals say they are used to clear

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the forest instead.

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According to the Prey Lang Community Network, about

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200,000 mostly indigenous people depend on the

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forest for their livelihoods and traditional way of

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life.

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But the group says the forest has been

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under threat since the implementation of a government

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land concession policy.

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Kim Sukorn, a representative of the Prey Lang

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Community Network, says patrols by the forest community

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have been ineffective at preventing the rise of

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illegal logging.

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In fact, that is the role of an

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authority like forestry administration officials who are on

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the state's payroll to do the job of

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preventing and cracking down on illegal logging in

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the Prey Lang area.

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But they serve the company's interests instead.

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Authorities deny the community's accusation, saying the government's

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forest and land concession policy is aimed at

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boosting the national economy and providing jobs to

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the local community.

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For Simoni, I'm Colin Lovett, VOA News.