Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated:
1
00:00:00,959 --> 00:00:05,119
The illegal timber trade
is worth up to 100 billion dollars a year,
2
00:00:05,698 --> 00:00:10,008
double the annual revenue
of all of Macau's casinos put together.
3
00:00:11,248 --> 00:00:14,348
It has funded warlords
and genocidal regimes,
4
00:00:14,489 --> 00:00:17,499
and has powerful allies
in very high places.
5
00:00:18,224 --> 00:00:21,584
Cambodia is one of the centres
of illegal timber production,
6
00:00:21,790 --> 00:00:26,110
where unlawful timber barons
have created their own private kingdoms,
7
00:00:26,251 --> 00:00:28,141
making millions in the process.
8
00:00:31,408 --> 00:00:33,028
It's an absolutely massive amount
of money,
9
00:00:33,112 --> 00:00:34,242
and who can turn it down,
10
00:00:34,322 --> 00:00:36,602
especially in a poverty stricken country
like this.
11
00:00:36,851 --> 00:00:40,691
A growing group of activists are fighting
against the illegal loggers.
12
00:00:40,912 --> 00:00:42,862
But with millions of dollars at stake,
13
00:00:43,089 --> 00:00:47,559
the logging cartels are willing to bribe,
bully and even kill!
14
00:01:13,163 --> 00:01:16,283
Cut off from the world
during the 1970s and '80s...
15
00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:17,870
...because of civil war,
16
00:01:18,092 --> 00:01:20,282
Cambodia's rainforests lourished...
17
00:01:20,364 --> 00:01:23,904
...while those of neigbouring countries
succumbed to the chainsaw.
18
00:01:25,594 --> 00:01:27,664
But the '90s changed all that.
19
00:01:29,007 --> 00:01:32,737
The government gave out
basically all the forest...
20
00:01:32,821 --> 00:01:34,261
...to foreign companies...
21
00:01:34,550 --> 00:01:36,480
...and it was all a gigantic mess.
22
00:01:36,558 --> 00:01:41,918
Companies running all over the place,
no control, no law,
23
00:01:41,998 --> 00:01:44,928
military involved,
government forced logging.
24
00:01:45,762 --> 00:01:48,882
Cambodia was on a downward
environmental spiral,
25
00:01:49,336 --> 00:01:52,526
and the government was forced
to step in and step up.
26
00:01:53,255 --> 00:01:58,075
Cambodia has very good,
very strong laws on forestry.
27
00:01:58,186 --> 00:01:59,946
Both under the constitution,
28
00:02:00,029 --> 00:02:02,599
which there are laws
which protects resin trees...
29
00:02:02,676 --> 00:02:04,766
...and the forest products,
30
00:02:04,847 --> 00:02:07,527
things that indigenous
in forest community rely on.
31
00:02:07,672 --> 00:02:09,672
Unfortunately, this is not being followed,
32
00:02:09,753 --> 00:02:12,503
if the law is being followed,
there wouldn't be any problem here.
33
00:02:13,570 --> 00:02:17,610
Today, Cambodia,
once rich with lush tropical forest,
34
00:02:17,686 --> 00:02:21,096
has only 3 percent
of its primary forest remaining.
35
00:02:22,407 --> 00:02:23,947
Despite the strict laws,
36
00:02:24,033 --> 00:02:26,733
Cambodia has a mighty battle on its hands.
37
00:02:27,596 --> 00:02:32,036
Unfortunately since 2008,
we are going backwards,
38
00:02:32,119 --> 00:02:34,599
we are going back
into the old ways rapidly.
39
00:02:34,676 --> 00:02:38,336
We have high level organized
illegal logging...
40
00:02:38,728 --> 00:02:40,948
...and I am not talking
about some villagers...
41
00:02:41,026 --> 00:02:42,756
...cutting down some trees here and there.
42
00:02:42,842 --> 00:02:44,672
It's a gigantic timber grab.
43
00:02:45,343 --> 00:02:49,073
With the average wage of a Cambodian
being 20 dollars a day,
44
00:02:49,423 --> 00:02:52,783
illegal logging is an easy way
to earn good money,
45
00:02:53,023 --> 00:02:56,213
not just for the loggers,
but for everyone involved.
46
00:03:30,536 --> 00:03:33,446
Illegal loggers often work in small teams,
47
00:03:33,535 --> 00:03:37,815
with just two drivers and two lookouts
accompanying the tree fellers.
48
00:03:38,108 --> 00:03:40,728
Such teams work
surprisingly efficiently...
49
00:03:41,401 --> 00:03:44,031
...as long as they remember
to spread the wealth around.
50
00:04:25,386 --> 00:04:29,226
With so many people taking a cut
from the lucrative logging pie,
51
00:04:29,324 --> 00:04:32,114
protecting the business soars
to new levels.
52
00:04:32,723 --> 00:04:36,053
And it is the bigger companies
that have more to lose.
53
00:05:22,321 --> 00:05:23,841
On government-leased land,
54
00:05:23,972 --> 00:05:27,402
clearing forest to develop agriculture
is actually legal.
55
00:05:27,766 --> 00:05:29,946
The resulting timber can even be sold.
56
00:05:31,177 --> 00:05:33,317
But when the legal timber runs out,
57
00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:36,210
loggers turn
to Cambodia's protected forests...
58
00:05:36,293 --> 00:05:37,513
...to make their money,
59
00:05:38,239 --> 00:05:40,969
often under the guise of another project.
60
00:05:41,836 --> 00:05:44,536
We have one example with the dam permit...
61
00:05:44,623 --> 00:05:46,563
...that was given out
in the cardamom mountains.
62
00:05:46,652 --> 00:05:50,042
But the company
was basically collecting rosewood...
63
00:05:50,123 --> 00:05:52,453
...from all over the mountain,
which are protected area.
64
00:05:52,603 --> 00:05:58,963
And conservative estimates saying
that action alone netted them...
65
00:05:59,041 --> 00:06:02,581
...around 200 to 250
million dollars.
66
00:06:03,184 --> 00:06:05,954
With more money to lose
if they get found out,
67
00:06:06,035 --> 00:06:09,585
the larger illegal logging cartels go
that extra mile...
68
00:06:09,666 --> 00:06:11,296
...to protect their assets.
69
00:06:12,137 --> 00:06:14,867
In fighting this,
you are actually dealing with people...
70
00:06:14,951 --> 00:06:17,261
...who's willing
to commit illegal activities.
71
00:06:17,345 --> 00:06:20,655
When it become gangs
or a groups of gangs...
72
00:06:20,741 --> 00:06:22,451
...willing to arm themselves,
73
00:06:22,504 --> 00:06:23,984
willing to corrupt the judges,
74
00:06:24,059 --> 00:06:26,759
willing to corrupt the police,
willing to corrupt the military.
75
00:06:27,282 --> 00:06:30,522
You are actually dealing
with a dangerous group.
76
00:06:31,715 --> 00:06:34,805
Those who get in their way
are harassed, intimidated,
77
00:06:34,892 --> 00:06:36,802
threatened or worse.
78
00:06:39,232 --> 00:06:43,102
In September 2012,
a journalist who had often reported...
79
00:06:43,184 --> 00:06:45,804
...on illegal logging activity was killed.
80
00:06:46,252 --> 00:06:50,932
Hang Serei Oudum had written
a string of exposes about forest crimes...
81
00:06:51,015 --> 00:06:54,195
...involving the social elite
and powerful officials.
82
00:06:54,977 --> 00:06:58,567
His last story accused
a military police commander's son...
83
00:06:58,655 --> 00:07:01,795
...of smuggling logs
in military plated vehicles...
84
00:07:01,962 --> 00:07:06,082
...and extorting money from others
who were illegally transporting wood.
85
00:07:06,618 --> 00:07:10,068
Hang Serais body was found
in the trunk of his own car...
86
00:07:10,148 --> 00:07:12,278
...with two axe wounds to the head.
87
00:07:13,842 --> 00:07:17,952
Well, here is the problem
with deforestation.
88
00:07:18,449 --> 00:07:21,169
It's actually an illegal activity...
89
00:07:21,542 --> 00:07:24,592
...and because
it is an illegal lucrative activity,
90
00:07:24,669 --> 00:07:26,339
many of these people responsible...
91
00:07:26,418 --> 00:07:30,418
...for clearing the forest
and selling timbers,
92
00:07:30,502 --> 00:07:32,822
are actually behaving like drug cartels.
93
00:07:33,906 --> 00:07:36,556
Others who have taken
on the illegal logging industry...
94
00:07:36,637 --> 00:07:39,767
...have also died
under mysterious circumstances.
95
00:07:40,636 --> 00:07:44,296
Uncovering the truth behind their deaths
involves going deep...
96
00:07:44,376 --> 00:07:47,556
...into the country's shadowy network
of corrupt officials,
97
00:07:47,638 --> 00:07:50,718
powerful timber barons
and dangerous criminals.
98
00:07:54,179 --> 00:07:56,059
Koh Kong Province, Cambodia.
99
00:07:56,358 --> 00:07:58,118
April 2012.
100
00:07:58,612 --> 00:08:02,002
48-year-old conservation environmentalist
Chut Wutty...
101
00:08:02,076 --> 00:08:03,856
...is found dead in his car.
102
00:08:04,010 --> 00:08:06,730
A few feet away,
a military police officer...
103
00:08:06,807 --> 00:08:10,087
...by the name of In Rattana
lies in a pool of blood.
104
00:08:11,119 --> 00:08:13,399
It is clearly not the scene
of an accident.
105
00:08:55,152 --> 00:08:59,442
With no witnesses, investigators turn
to the dead man for clues.
106
00:09:00,927 --> 00:09:03,257
Chut Wutty was a well-known activist.
107
00:09:03,474 --> 00:09:04,814
He had fearlessly taken on...
108
00:09:04,894 --> 00:09:07,784
...some of Cambodia's
biggest logging warlords.
109
00:09:08,217 --> 00:09:09,997
Over the course of 15 years,
110
00:09:10,084 --> 00:09:14,244
this young Khmer environmentalist
had made some powerful enemies.
111
00:09:16,291 --> 00:09:19,391
He was the only person that was prepared
to stand up and speak his mind...
112
00:09:19,468 --> 00:09:20,968
...and speak the truth,
113
00:09:21,439 --> 00:09:26,599
educating villagers who knew nothing
about their rights under the law.
114
00:09:28,531 --> 00:09:30,221
Chut Wutty had been investigating...
115
00:09:30,303 --> 00:09:33,213
...the 100 billion dollar-illegal
timber industry...
116
00:09:33,289 --> 00:09:34,689
...for 15 years...
117
00:09:34,774 --> 00:09:36,594
...and he didn't like what he found.
118
00:09:37,231 --> 00:09:40,311
Powerless to take on the logging warlords
directly,
119
00:09:40,580 --> 00:09:44,560
Wutty encouraged local villagers
to stand up for what was theirs,
120
00:09:44,751 --> 00:09:45,971
the forests.
121
00:09:46,366 --> 00:09:50,576
The forests were a lifeline for thousands
of villagers across Cambodia,
122
00:09:50,766 --> 00:09:53,966
giving them products
like honey, resin and rattan.
123
00:09:54,514 --> 00:09:57,384
With the forests disappearing
in front of their eyes,
124
00:09:57,464 --> 00:09:59,214
so was their livelihood.
125
00:10:00,408 --> 00:10:02,948
The villagers at that time,
they are getting no compensation,
126
00:10:03,031 --> 00:10:03,941
absolutely zero.
127
00:10:04,021 --> 00:10:07,481
They get a tiny poor land
that some of them have, for growing rice,
128
00:10:07,569 --> 00:10:09,009
and they don't know what to do.
129
00:10:09,094 --> 00:10:10,514
These people don't have any education.
130
00:10:10,586 --> 00:10:13,816
This was something that I heard
from villager after villager.
131
00:10:13,898 --> 00:10:15,718
I just don't know what to do.
132
00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:16,820
I'm terrified.
133
00:10:16,994 --> 00:10:18,294
We have lost everything.
134
00:10:20,121 --> 00:10:23,301
Chut Wutty helped
such desperate villagers fight back.
135
00:10:23,643 --> 00:10:26,223
He would lead them
in patrolling their local forests...
136
00:10:26,305 --> 00:10:28,415
...in search of illegal timber dumps.
137
00:10:30,174 --> 00:10:31,614
When they came across one,
138
00:10:31,727 --> 00:10:34,797
it would be set ablaze
in front of a ravenous media...
139
00:10:34,879 --> 00:10:36,199
...looking for news.
140
00:10:37,447 --> 00:10:40,017
Not only did this
hit the loggers' profits,
141
00:10:40,100 --> 00:10:43,030
it put the offending companies right
in the spot light,
142
00:10:43,273 --> 00:10:46,053
and publicity
was the last thing they wanted.
143
00:10:46,298 --> 00:10:48,848
Chut Wutty knew he was playing with fire.
144
00:10:50,368 --> 00:10:53,838
He was fearless for sure,
because he knew the rest,
145
00:10:53,923 --> 00:10:56,733
he knew the people get killed
over these things here,
146
00:10:56,808 --> 00:10:59,648
enormous amount of money involved
in illegal logging...
147
00:11:00,113 --> 00:11:02,693
...and very well-connected,
people involved in it.
148
00:11:09,851 --> 00:11:13,851
Chut Wutty had already clashed
with the timber barons several times,
149
00:11:13,926 --> 00:11:15,516
but he didn't back down.
150
00:11:18,012 --> 00:11:20,332
On April 12th 2013,
151
00:11:20,414 --> 00:11:23,214
he was investigating
suspected illegal logging...
152
00:11:23,290 --> 00:11:27,160
...in a forest in western Cambodia
when he was ambushed.
153
00:12:11,339 --> 00:12:13,259
Police investigating the crime said
154
00:12:13,344 --> 00:12:16,734
that Wutty had taken photos
that could prove illegal logging.
155
00:12:17,421 --> 00:12:21,361
They say that the police officer
on the ground at the time, In Rattana,
156
00:12:21,438 --> 00:12:24,998
had demanded Wutty hand over
his camera's memory stick.
157
00:12:25,189 --> 00:12:27,749
When Wutty refused, Rattana shot him.
158
00:12:29,671 --> 00:12:32,491
Police went on to say
that plagued with guilt,
159
00:12:32,567 --> 00:12:35,207
Rattana then fatally shot himself...
160
00:12:35,594 --> 00:12:36,594
...twice.
161
00:12:37,308 --> 00:12:39,528
Friend and activist Chhim Savuth,
162
00:12:39,743 --> 00:12:43,593
baffled by this inexplicable suicide
of Chut Wutty's killer,
163
00:12:43,715 --> 00:12:46,645
decided to carry out
his own investigation.
164
00:13:13,655 --> 00:13:16,695
Chhim Savuth's theory
was that Chut Wutty had been shot,
165
00:13:16,780 --> 00:13:20,890
not by Rattana, as the police claimed,
but by a third man.
166
00:13:21,522 --> 00:13:25,302
Rattana was simply a witness
who needed to be silenced.
167
00:13:26,371 --> 00:13:29,241
Well, the official explanation
certainly doesn't hold water.
168
00:13:29,324 --> 00:13:30,414
It's a joke.
169
00:13:30,491 --> 00:13:32,761
Government came up
with four different explanations,
170
00:13:32,844 --> 00:13:33,934
one after another,
171
00:13:35,731 --> 00:13:38,621
including one guy shot Wutty,
172
00:13:38,696 --> 00:13:42,356
and then immediately out of remorse,
he shot himself.
173
00:13:42,910 --> 00:13:44,950
It's just nonsense.
174
00:13:45,383 --> 00:13:47,653
When police reopened the investigation,
175
00:13:47,726 --> 00:13:50,696
they maintained
that Rattana had killed Chut Wutty.
176
00:13:51,143 --> 00:13:54,203
But they arrested a man
for the killing of In Rattana.
177
00:13:54,649 --> 00:13:59,509
Two weeks after his conviction,
Rattana's supposed killer walked free.
178
00:14:00,908 --> 00:14:03,618
Chun Wutty's son
is still waiting for justice...
179
00:14:03,699 --> 00:14:04,659
...for his father.
180
00:14:30,944 --> 00:14:33,774
Chut Wutty's murder
made international headlines,
181
00:14:33,854 --> 00:14:34,944
and was a heavy blow...
182
00:14:35,025 --> 00:14:38,365
...to those fighting
the ubiquitous illegal logging cartels.
183
00:14:40,901 --> 00:14:42,101
Wutty achieved a lot.
184
00:14:42,177 --> 00:14:43,447
How are you gonna replace this guy?
185
00:14:43,526 --> 00:14:46,216
I mean, it takes three or four people
to do what he can do on his own.
186
00:14:47,710 --> 00:14:51,710
Following the death of Chut Wutty,
villagers continue to fight back .
187
00:14:59,144 --> 00:15:02,254
But when the enemy
is a multi-million dollar industry,
188
00:15:02,396 --> 00:15:04,656
it's not always clear what they can do.
189
00:15:06,383 --> 00:15:09,743
Cambodia's illegal timber
mostly goes to Vietnam...
190
00:15:09,822 --> 00:15:12,022
...and, increasingly, China.
191
00:15:12,548 --> 00:15:14,288
From source to destination,
192
00:15:14,367 --> 00:15:17,947
the value of timber can multiply
by over 10 times.
193
00:15:18,516 --> 00:15:21,786
The grand prize of illegal logging
is rosewood,
194
00:15:21,879 --> 00:15:24,439
a commodity more valuable than oil.
195
00:15:25,834 --> 00:15:30,294
A cabinet made from rosewoood
can sell for over 20,000 dollars.
196
00:15:31,703 --> 00:15:34,823
With Cambodia's supplies of rosewood
drying up,
197
00:15:34,987 --> 00:15:37,647
poor Cambodian villagers cross the border,
198
00:15:37,731 --> 00:15:40,261
and hunt for it in Thailand's forests.
199
00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:46,050
Illegal timber dealers will pay them
a hundred dollars...
200
00:15:46,128 --> 00:15:48,358
...for just the stump
of a rosewood tree,
201
00:15:48,556 --> 00:15:51,746
nearly half of what they earn
as farmers in a year.
202
00:15:52,426 --> 00:15:56,126
But to collect that money,
they have to make it back alive.
203
00:16:01,291 --> 00:16:04,141
Thailand is determined
to protect its forests.
204
00:16:04,268 --> 00:16:06,958
In the first half of 2012 alone,
205
00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:11,260
nearly 40 Cambodian loggers were killed
by Thai border patrols.
206
00:16:12,653 --> 00:16:15,353
I mean, there are real wars going on
at the Thai side,
207
00:16:15,448 --> 00:16:16,888
at the Thai side of the border,
208
00:16:17,250 --> 00:16:19,740
where Cambodian loggers,
organized Cambodian loggers...
209
00:16:19,821 --> 00:16:23,151
...crossed into Thailand
and logged the last rose wood trees...
210
00:16:23,229 --> 00:16:24,449
...in the national parks.
211
00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:29,040
And there are regular shootouts
with the Thai border patrols...
212
00:16:29,950 --> 00:16:31,250
...and the Thai rangers.
213
00:16:31,453 --> 00:16:34,543
Sometimes like 20 against 30.
214
00:16:34,729 --> 00:16:37,739
It's really large scale stuff right now.
215
00:16:38,419 --> 00:16:41,579
Because the rosewood is just the...
216
00:16:41,690 --> 00:16:45,510
Like rhino horns, ivory,
it's really high value stuff.
217
00:16:46,306 --> 00:16:49,866
While illegal loggers risk their lives
trying to smuggle logs...
218
00:16:49,952 --> 00:16:51,492
...from across the border,
219
00:16:51,570 --> 00:16:53,970
innocent villagers
are risking their own lives...
220
00:16:54,047 --> 00:16:56,697
...to protect the forests
in their own back yards.
221
00:16:58,127 --> 00:17:01,737
About a third of rural income comes
from forest products,
222
00:17:01,849 --> 00:17:06,579
income that is lost to illegal loggers
clearing wide swathes of forest.
223
00:17:07,283 --> 00:17:11,163
Fed up with the situation,
villagers are taking a stand.
224
00:17:34,744 --> 00:17:37,614
Action by villagers is having some effect.
225
00:17:37,687 --> 00:17:41,137
But it's nowhere near enough
to stop the illegal loggers.
226
00:17:42,707 --> 00:17:45,367
Meanwhile, local
and international pressure...
227
00:17:45,446 --> 00:17:48,666
has resulted in the making
of new laws and regulations,
228
00:17:48,750 --> 00:17:51,500
designed to preserve Cambodia's forests.
229
00:18:26,317 --> 00:18:28,827
As with all crime, the stakes are high.
230
00:18:29,673 --> 00:18:32,943
Increasingly aware of the consequences
of getting caught,
231
00:18:33,236 --> 00:18:38,216
illegal logger Chheang Vuthy
decided to get out before it was too late.
232
00:19:09,835 --> 00:19:12,565
Chheang Vuthy
has now turned his life around...
233
00:19:12,655 --> 00:19:15,055
...and is working
to destroy the very industry...
234
00:19:15,138 --> 00:19:17,448
...that he invested most of his life in.
235
00:19:38,056 --> 00:19:41,586
But with such deep pockets
and contacts in high places,
236
00:19:41,764 --> 00:19:44,544
captured illegal loggers
are often able to play...
237
00:19:44,623 --> 00:19:47,013
...their get out of jail free card.
238
00:19:48,592 --> 00:19:50,942
That the money involved...
239
00:19:51,179 --> 00:19:54,889
...is so large and large enough
that probably you can buy,
240
00:19:54,970 --> 00:19:58,110
just about anybody in Cambodia.
241
00:19:58,262 --> 00:20:02,522
With that amount of money
you can buy judges,
242
00:20:02,599 --> 00:20:04,759
you can buy the protection
of the military police,
243
00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:08,920
you can buy quite significant amount...
244
00:20:09,016 --> 00:20:11,016
Quite significant amount of influence.
245
00:20:11,435 --> 00:20:14,175
Seeing the logging world
stuck in a vicious circle...
246
00:20:14,257 --> 00:20:16,287
...of money, power and corruption,
247
00:20:16,644 --> 00:20:18,784
it is the hope of many campaigners...
248
00:20:18,879 --> 00:20:21,989
...that people will simply come
to their senses.
249
00:20:23,906 --> 00:20:25,516
Can we return to the good old days?
250
00:20:25,604 --> 00:20:26,904
The answer is probably not.
251
00:20:27,098 --> 00:20:29,348
Can we protect what's remaining there?
252
00:20:29,872 --> 00:20:31,592
I'm, I'm hopeful, I'm optimistic.
253
00:20:31,670 --> 00:20:32,650
I think...
254
00:20:32,729 --> 00:20:37,169
I think that as long as we continue
to, to support them,
255
00:20:37,254 --> 00:20:39,874
as long as the community themselves
continue to fight,
256
00:20:40,343 --> 00:20:45,833
I believe eventually, they can protect
what remains a Prey Lang.
257
00:20:45,883 --> 00:20:50,433
Repair and Synchronization by
Easy Subtitles Synchronizer 1.0.0.0
22018
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get subtitles in any language from opensubtitles.com, and translate them here.