News from Prey Lang
APRIL UPDATE
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One year after the attack on Sopheak, what has happend?
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It’s been a year since the young Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) activist Phorn Sopheak was attacked, while she was on patrol in the Prey Lang forest. Sleeping in her hammock during the night, she was attacked by an unknown offender with an axe. Her foot was seriously injured.
Today, she is still struggling with the after-effects of the attack.
“It is hard for me to walk or stand for long periods of time. The injury affects my work at our farm. I cannot work as hard and good as I could before the attack”.
After the attack, Sopheak handed in a complaint to the local police. There have been no arrests and no further follow up by the local police.
“I have not heard anything from the police since the attack. They did not get back to me with any information about my case. This worries me. If the authorities don’t act to investigate attacks like these, what will then happen in the future to my fellow PLCN members?”
See the video above to learn more
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Truck with illegal wood seen on company compounds
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Trucks transporting illegal wood are often seen by PLCN members in the surrounding areas of Prey Lang.
Recently this truck loaded with both construction and rosewood logs, was seen by our members on the Think Biotech compounds in Kratie.
The Think Biotech Company is placed in the Prey Lang forest bordering the Wildlife Sanctuary of Prey Lang.
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An anonymous PLCN member states that there are deep connections between the Think Biotech company and illegal loggers.
“The company hires loggers to go into the deep forest and cut the wood and bring it to the company. Then they transport the wood to the river and ship it off on a boat to Stung Treng and from there out of the country”.
There are 25 Economic Land Concessions in the Prey Lang forest covering 2000 square kilometers. In total, there are 274 Economic Land Concessions covering about 21,400 square kilometers Cambodia. See where they are
located on this map made by LICHADO.
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We Love The Forest
The International Day of Forest was celebrated worldwide and in Cambodia on 21 March. We encouraged our supporters to show their love for the forest, by taking a selfie with a tree and posting it on social media, using the hashtag #LoveForests
Check out the pictures and see some of the many people, who wanted to show their love for the forest.
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Did you know that the Prey Lang forest can cure you from all kinds of diseases?
In Prey Lang there are several hundred different trees and animals, but also medicinal plants that have been used for generations to cure medical conditions.
While patrolling the forest, we use the Prey Lang app to register all the resources that the forest offer, among these medicinal plants. In the latest reporting period, from August to November 2016 we recorded many natural resources (700 cases). Read more about the plants we found in the latest monitoring report here.
Here you can see some of the medicinal plants that we found on patrols.
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This plant is called Lagerstroemia speciose and ក្រោល (Kraol) in Khmer. It can heal several different medical conditions such as stomach ache and diarrhea, and is good for skin rashes and makes wounds heal faster. The plant was photographed in Preah Vihear province.
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This flower is called Ixora javanica or Pkakroham ផ្កាក្រហម and can help you treat cold sore and skin rashes.
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This gorgeous flower, was found in Preah Vihear province. It is called Costus speciosus and តាថ ក (Tar Thok).The root is used for medicinal purposes for women after giving birth.
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Source: Turreira-García, N. et. al (2017). Ethnobotanical knowledge of the Kuy and Khmer people in Prey Lang, Cambodia.
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