A Cambodian company has been illegally logging in protected areas and exporting the timber to Vietnam and China, according to a report by Mongabay’s Gerald Flynn. The year-long Mongabay investigation, led by Flynn and involving several Cambodian journalists, showed that Angkor Plywood has been illegally logging timber, including rare tree species, from protected forests, particularly within Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary in Kratie province. Angkor Plywood was established in 2011 by Chea Pov and Taiwanese national Lu Chu Chang, who formerly headed the Cambodian Timber Industry Association. Chang was also previously involved in the illegal felling of protected trees on Indigenous lands. Chang owns Think Biotech (now known as Holy Plantation), which has a 34,000-hectare (84,000-acre) concession on the eastern border of Prey Lang. Previous Mongabay investigations suggest that Chang and Pov have been colluding with mining companies and local loggers while allegedly bribing authorities to illegally log inside protected forests. The logged timber is then laundered through the Holy Plantation concession, which supposedly operates a “sustainable” timber plantation, before being sold to Angkor Plywood. Chang and Pov have denied the accusations despite numerous investigations. In this investigation, Mongabay looked at shipping records from 2021 to late 2023, and found that Angkor Plywood has been exporting timber listed as Grade 1, the most valuable grade of luxury timber, even though the export of such timber remains banned. A government source said species listed under Grade 1, such as sralau (Lagerstroemia calyculata), krakoh (Sindora siamensis) and sokram (Xylia xylocarpa), are rare or endangered species mainly found in protected areas where…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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