A group of activists in northwestern Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey province said Tuesday that their forest is under threat from illegal loggers in neighboring provinces and could be completely cleared within months if authorities do not step in to deal with the problem.

The activists from local conservation group Forest Protection Community said that around 6,300 hectares (15,570 acres) of forest in Anlong Veng district face destruction as loggers clear the area to build plantations.

“Several hundred people are cutting down the forest daily,” community director Sa Tlai told RFA’s Khmer Service, adding that the loggers from neighboring Siem Reap, Kampong Thom and Kampong Cham provinces had “already cleared a few hundred hectares of forest already.”

Sa Tlai said that his group had asked district authorities to take action against local corruption, which it alleges has enabled the illegal logging, and called on forestry administration officials to prevent trespassing in the forest areas, but received no response.

He said Forest Protection Community would dispatch its own staff members to patrol the forest for loggers, as local authorities had ignored the group’s repeated requests. ..