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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
VICTORY:
Cambodia to Prosecute Malaysian Logging Firm
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06/12/00
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY
In a
potentially major step forward towards the rule of law in the
operation
of transnational timber companies, Cambodia has filed
charges
against an illegal logging operation.
Given the political
will,
this could be done in any number of tropical forest countries.
Throughout
major remaining rainforests, a handful of logging
companies
are running roughshod over ecosystems, local peoples and
their
laws. An important precedent may be set
in Cambodia.
g.b.
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RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Cambodia to prosecute Malaysian logging
firm
Source: c 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Status: Copyright 2000, contact source for
permission to reprint
Date: June 12, 2000
PHNOM
PENH - Cambodia has filed its first charges against a private
company
for illegal logging, Cambodian Forestry Director Ty Sokun said
on
Saturday.
The
government has accused GAT International Co Ltd of Malaysia of
illegally
cutting logs worth nearly $105,000 within its own and
another
company's concession areas in the Cardomom Mountains in
southwest
Cambodia, Ty Sokun told Reuters.
"We
have suspended all of GAT's logging activities in the Cardomoms
and
will pass the case to the courts," Ty Sokun said.
"The
court will decide on what the specific criminal charges will be
and if,
or when, the logging suspension will be lifted."
GAT
officials could not be reached for immediate comment.
The
move follows an investigation by environmental watchdog Global
Witness
and Cambodian officials.
The
government said GAT had cut trees from its own concession area and
that of
Samling International, also of Malaysia.
The
Cardomom Mountains, in Cambodia's Koh Kong province, are
considered
one of Southeast Asia's most pristine conservation areas
and are
home to scores of endangered species.
Global
Witness has called for a halt to all logging activity within
the
Cardomom Mountains.
The
World Bank estimates that illegal logging has halved the amount of
forest
cover in Cambodia to 30 percent over the past decade.
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