Chasing Deforestation in Cambodia

It was on the third day of the trip into the jungles of northern Cambodia when three Mongabay journalists found themselves surrounded by government rangers pointing rifles at them.

Narrowly avoiding arrest, Mongabay combined satellite imagery, geospatial data, paper trails and a lot of hours in the jungle to expose how a network of politically connected timber traffickers are plundering Cambodia’s protected forests.

At CIJ’s Summer Conference, Gerald Flynn explains how he and his colleagues were able to put together the pieces, investigating environmental crimes in authoritarian Cambodia and tying illegally logged timber to global supply chains.

Logging route cut into Cambodia’s Prey Lang from Think Biotech’s concession. By Gerald Flynn, Andy Ball and Meng Kroypunlok. For Mongabay. 5 October 2023.

Video. The truth about Cambodia’s Prey Lang sanctuary. Chasing Deforestation. Mongabay.

Angkor Plywood, the ‘timber cartel’ shipping Cambodian forests internationally. By Gerald Flynn. For Mongabay. 14 October 2024.