Villagers Speak of Bribes to Cut Wood in Kampong Speu Sanctuary

ORAL DISTRICT, Kampong Speu — A long dirt road in Trapaing Chor commune sees trailers traveling to the foothills of the Oral mountains and coming back with firewood and other pieces of timber. In front of each house is a small collection of wood, mostly to be used for fence posts.

At a wooden bridge in the area, a woman says she asks for a toll from trailers carrying wood out of the Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary every day.

She suggested that reporters wait and count how many vehicles come through. VOD reporters saw at least six trailers pass by in the next hour.

Last month, several residents in Trapaing Chor spoke to reporters that illegal logging is rampant to support livelihoods in the village, and that getting permission to cut the protected trees was a matter of paying a small, regular bribe.

Mol Rim, 43, said her family had recently bought a trailer for family members to go logging in the Oral mountains and haul timber out.

Residents needed the work to pay their debts, she said. “Most of the villagers here owe money to the bank,” Rim said. The family pays local environmental officers 150,000 riel a month, about $37.5, to be allowed to cut the wood, Rim said.

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