Two community activists who have been outspoken against the illegal logging and land concessions within the Prey Lang forest in Cambodia are being targeted by local police.  Roeun Sopheap and Sim Sean have reported patrols of police waiting outside their homes and have been living in hiding throughout the past month.

This short documentary about threats to the Prey Lang forest and the Kuy community’s efforts to protect it was produced by Cambodian student Kim Samath as part of the Southeast Asian Student Documentary Award Competition. To make her film, "Prey Lang - Fire of Light, Light of Hope," she traveled to the Prey Lang Forest to investigate how people live within Cambodia’s largest forest, which is under constant threat of deforestation.

See the film here:

Over 250 activists were confronted by police during a Buddhist prayer ceremony for the protection of Prey Lang forest in Cambodia.  Held at the Angkor Wat complex on December 14^th, the event was organized by the Prey Lang Network to call attention to the destruction occurring within the Prey Lang forest, an area that is currently under threat from 33 separate

Forest activists in the Prey Lang Network are gathering today in Cambodia’s famed Angkor complex to  pray for Cambodia and its future. Cambodia has lost its forests at an alarming rate. Now Prey Lang, the last large lowland evergreen forest, is at risk.

This Al Jazeera news clip shows protesters at the end of their one-week march through the Prey Lang forest. Police broke up their protest against the illegal logging and rubber plantations that are destroying the forest and their livelihoods.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh8Bt_dTei8

See our action alert to save Prey Lang here.

After marching for almost a week from areas surrounding the Prey Lang forest, some 400 Cambodian villagers were confronted by police who prevented them from going further. The confrontation with 30 armed police occurred at the site of the CRCK rubber plantation, where the protesters planned to hold a vigil.  The Vietnamese military-linked company holds a 15,000-acre concession to carve a rubber plantation out of the Prey Lang forest.

Aljazeera reports today that 500 armed police have been sent to confront villagers who are trying to prevent the destruction of one of Cambodia's last primary forests, Prey Lang.  Several hundred villagers have been trekking deep through the forest for the past several days to protest illegal logging and government-granted concessions, according to the report.

In this 10-minute video, Kuy villagers in Cambodia show their determination to protect Prey Lang (“Our Forest”) as bulldozers tear it down for agro-industry expansion and mining projects.  

Walking along a narrow path through ancient trees, Kuy elder Ru Lark says, “Our people are worried. How long can Prey Lang survive? Kuy people know we can look after it. It is part of our belief. We have lived here for many years, and the forest has not been lost. If the government can work with our communities, we know that we can save this forest.”