The documentary, “Real carbon, false credits? Investigating mass deforestation in Cambodia” found that mass deforestation in supposedly protected areas led to 121,000 hectares of forest, an area equivalent to the size of Los Angeles, being lost in 2023 alone.

The exclusion of Flynn marks a new departure in Cambodia’s attempts to control media reporting. The country’s Khmer and English language media have for years been largely under the control of the government, but foreign journalists have usually been able to enter and operate. The decision shows that the government now also aims to control reporting by international outlets. If the trend continues, Cambodia will approach the information blackout example set by North Korea.  

Illegal deforestation has long been a sensitive subject in a country which is consistently losing forest cover faster than anywhere in the world. Deforestation since the early 1990s has served as a source of revenue for the country’s ruling élite. The Cambodian environmental activist Chut Wutty was shot dead in April 2012 in a protected forest area in Koh Kong province. In December 2024, Cambodian journalist Chhoeung Chheng died after being shot in Siem Reap province while investigating deforestation.

Leng Ouch has since been arrested three times since he was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for exposing illegal logging in Cambodia’s forests in 2016. He is currently part of a group of Cambodian environmentalists who have fled to Thailand, yet remain at risk of transnational repression and being sent back to Cambodia.

The KMD calls on investors in carbon credit schemes in Cambodia to recognize the reality of the regime they are dealing with. Far from protecting the environment, carbon credit schemes in Cambodia simply help finance illegal deforestation and create reputational dangers for the participants. Responsible investors must urgently review their participation in such schemes.