In Cambodia, illegal logging and land grabs are rapidly reshaping the landscape while journalism exposing these issues comes with serious risks. This piece explores the challenges of environmental reporting in a country where natural resources are being exploited under government protection.
Journalist Gerald Flynn paints a stark picture of Cambodia's environmental crisis, where forests disappear overnight and reporting on such issues can lead to exile or worse. After covering environmental crimes for years, Flynn was permanently banned from Cambodia in early 2025 for his work exposing ties between environmental criminals and government officials.
Cambodia functions as what Flynn describes as "a mafia state with lots of different fiefdoms," where elites connected to the government are granted permission to extract resources in exchange for kickbacks. Since the COVID-19 pandemic devastated Cambodia's key industries, there's been an acceleration of illegal logging, mining, and land-grabbing as the country falls back on exploiting its natural resources.
Environmental journalists face significant dangers in Cambodia. While foreign journalists might only face deportation, local Cambodian reporters risk much more, including violence and death. Despite these risks, Flynn describes a collaborative journalism community supporting each other's work to document these crimes.
Carbon offset programs have become particularly controversial. Flynn's involvement in a France 24 documentary exposing problems with REDD+ projects—where forests are supposedly protected to generate carbon credits—led directly to his ban. The documentary revealed indigenous communities losing their land and livelihoods while illegal logging continued within project boundaries.
For environmental journalists worldwide, Flynn offers sobering advice: "You're going to write some incredible stories, and they're probably not going to change anything." Yet he emphasises the value in documenting these issues and giving voice to affected communities, bringing transparency to problems that would otherwise go unnoticed.
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