海角大神

Ouch Leng sidles around a haul of illegal timber. A group of loggers, who have been apprehended here in one of Cambodia鈥檚 largest forests, are forced to slash the binding ropes; the timber falls to the red earth.

As the patrol of local activists, known as Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN), takes names and confiscates chainsaws, Mr. Leng stands to one side, listening. Somewhere, in the tree-sliced light, the grind of more chain saws can be heard.

Leng has spent the past 15 years investigating logging tycoons听in Cambodia, a small tropical kingdom that has long been pushed around by more powerful nations. Rampant corruption has flourished under an elite that operates within a culture of impunity.听

As a result, Cambodia has become the world鈥檚听most rapidly听deforested country, with 1.5 million hectares (about 3.7 million acres) destroyed since 2001, according to data collated by Global Forest Watch in Washington, D.C. There are now roughly 7.5 million hectares of forest left in a country of 15 million people.

In recognition of his dogged and dangerous work, Leng, a lawyer in his early 40s, is among the recipients of year鈥檚 Goldman Environmental Prize, the world鈥檚 largest such award by value.听The prize will provide $175,000 to support Leng's grassroots work at a ceremony today in San Francisco.

Leng says he won鈥檛 shy away from outlining the risks to him in his acceptance comments, as well as his hopes to inspire others.

鈥淢y job involves grave risk and much danger,鈥� reads a draft of his speech. 鈥淚 imagine that I could be killed or imprisoned because of the threats made against me for many years鈥� I hope I am a good role model for the young people who want to fight for positive change and protect the small amount of remaining forest in Cambodia.鈥�

Starting under cover

Leng started听working undercover in 2001 for companies owned by Try Pheap, a timber magnate听who is accused of using his political ties to听Prime Minister Hun Sen听to get concessions to cut down valuable forests and remove thousands of families from their land.

Leng听first worked听as a cook for logging teams dispatched to the deep jungle before eventually getting a job as an administrative assistant. 鈥淭hey have to know you well before they let you deal with information,鈥� he explains.听

He was never found out and revealed the results of his investigation in several听reports听via his NGO, Cambodian Human Rights Taskforce.

The reports detailed how 300,000 people had been evicted since 2005 due to development deals and concessions awarded to Mr. Pheap and other tycoons.听The displaced听forest dwellers were听sometimes employed by the tycoons to cut the forest down. They included indigenous groups and people who had settled there after being uprooted by the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime that ruled Cambodia from 1975-1979.

The remnants of the Khmer Rouge used the forests as a base to wage guerrilla warfare into the 1990s. The conflict protected much of the forest from exploitation as loggers and poachers were too afraid to enter. As peace returned, industrial logging resumed. Tycoons took advantage of a weak state that exercised little control over valuable natural resources.

In 2001, Cambodia passed a land law that was designed to protect people at risk of being evicted to make way for plantations and other development projects. Indigenous tribes and long-term squatters were allowed to apply for property deeds. However, most don鈥檛 possess the education or funds to make such a claim, allowing the tycoons to swoop in.

What to do with an illegal haul听

In recent years, Global Witness, a UK-based campaign group, gathered听evidence showing that Pheap and his government backers had amassed vast fortunes based on trading protected species such as Siamese Rosewood and Mreas Prov. Sei La, an operations manager for Pheap鈥檚 group, rejected the accusations last year. 鈥淲hat Global Witness says in the report is not true.鈥� We only buy confiscated illegally logged wood from the government for export,鈥� he told the Cambodia Daily.

In fact, Pheap has exclusive rights to purchase illegally logged wood seized by forestry officials despite a law requiring such timber be publicly auctioned off.听Which is why Leng looks so dismayed when the PLCN patrol decides to leave the seized wood, worth as much as $6000, for Cambodia鈥檚 Forestry Administration to pick up.

鈥淚 say burn it,鈥� says Leng. 鈥淏ecause the forestry officials will eventually sell it to a logging tycoon.鈥�

The other patrol members bristle. Their听donors, mostly foreign-funded aid groups, deplore 鈥渧iolent methods.鈥澨齀t might not look good to be torching someone鈥檚 cargo. And听it鈥檚 the dry season:听the timber鈥檚听spindly twigs and leaves could听spread fire through听the forest.听

Leng doesn鈥檛 care if his methods are seen as extreme. He is frustrated at what he sees as the equivalent of street-level drug busts by the patrol. 鈥淚t鈥檚 depressing sometimes,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hen you fight against something your whole life and it just seems to continue.鈥澨�

The apprehended loggers听are听thin, malnourished men with sun-blackened skin.听Under questioning by the patrol, they confess: An illegal sawmill is operating in the forest, hidden down one of the tangled tracks the leads deep into the forest.

Leng wants to investigate but the patrol decides it is too risky. 鈥淚 will come back on my own,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd gather enough evidence to force the authorities to close it down.鈥�

The dangers of activism

Leng听knows that the tycoons that control the wood industry are dangerous people. His colleague, Chut Wutty was killed in 2012 by military police officers while he was investigating illegal logging.听 No charges were ever brought; military officers are widely accused of transporting illegal timber.

鈥淏usiness in Cambodia is incestuous, dominated by a small coterie of government officials, military commanders, and grandees who are bound tightly together by ties of money and marriage,鈥� says Sebastian Strangio, author of 鈥淗un Sen鈥檚 Cambodia.鈥�

PLCN members make the loggers press inked thumbs 鈥� many rural Cambodians are illiterate 鈥� to a contract promising not to do it again. After Leng leaves the forest the patrol continues. Two days later a female member was reportedly gashed with an axe while she slept, severely wounding her leg. The activists suspect a gang of disgruntled loggers.

Leng鈥檚 family is now in hiding after months of intimidation by local officials. 鈥淚 have taken care to make my home look like an office so they can鈥檛 find me easily,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut they have made clear now my family aren鈥檛 safe.鈥澨�