US-Cambodia tensions grow as USAID cuts forest protection project

Illegal logging by well-connected companies reportedly accelerating despite denials

20210616 Rangers patrol Prey Lang Forest

Rangers patrol Prey Lang Forest, one of Southeast Asia's last remaining evergreen woodlands. (Photo by Peter Guest)

SHAUN TURTON, Contributing writer

PHNOM PENH -- The U.S. announced on Thursday it would prematurely end its flagship $21 million forest protection program in Cambodia.

In a statement, the embassy in the Southeast Asian nation said the USAID agency would stop funding the Greening Prey Lang project because Cambodia's government was not doing enough to stop deforestation in protected areas. Instead, the situation was "getting worse," the embassy said.

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