The Khmer Rouge. War. Genocide.

Cambodia has had a lot to contend with these last few decades. The ancient land of Angkor has been ripped apart by shelling and mines, its sub terrain still harbouring the ghosts of those hurled into mass graves during the communist reign of terror. And although the debris of war slowly cleared with the fall of the ultra Maoist regime, the destruction of Cambodia's forests, which began before the civil war (and accelerated throughout), advanced to the point of diminishing to just half of their original land covering. International condemnation, aid blocks, and logging bans have proved little hindrance against aggressive land grabbers and corrupt government officials who continue to profit from the illegal timber trade; depleting natural resources and pushing the poor further into poverty.

In the early 1970s, Cambodia's forests recorded a healthy 90% land coverage and 70% rainforest coverage. When the Khmer Rouge gained power in 1975, the valuable resin trees and rich mangroves lining the country's shores provided them with an untapped source of income to fund their murderous war efforts. They began mass scale deforestation, exporting raw timber across the Thailand border at an estimated one million (US) dollars per month profit. They enjoyed uncontrolled deforestation until 1992; when a moratorium was put into place after severe logging was named the culprit for widespread flooding. However, this felling freeze and the subsequent bans that followed have been and continue to be difficult to enforce. The Khmer Rouge maintain a stronghold of Cambodia's western and northern territories, and alongside other warring factions and an international roll call of money hungry corporations, they continue to plunder and profit.

The governance of logging had been delegated by the government to the military, who susceptible to bribes and corruption, openly participated in the pillaging of the forests rather than protect them. During the 1990s, illegal logging escalated to such an extent that international donors; including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, cancelled their loans to the country, demanding swift and evident forestry reforms.

In 2006, the estimated forest cover is less than 50%; rainforest cover is a shocking 3.1%. This degradation has been linked to the loss of biodiversity, a weakening ecosystem and the increase of floods. Since the early 1990s, Cambodia has suffered from annual flooding, ruining rice crops and causing food deficits in already struggling areas. The rural community accounts for 85% of Cambodia's population. These communities rely on the forests for food, fire wood and agriculture-generated income. The extraction from the nation's forests is exhausting the natural resources on which their livelihoods depend. To make matters worse, recent land grabs have forced them off their land to satisfy timbering concessions approved by the government.

Logging areas had been awarded to private companies with the intention of sustaining forestry development with steady revenue. However, damning reports from Global Witness; an NGO that acted as the independent forestry monitor in Cambodia - until the government banned them in 2005; site most concession projects as being pretexts for clear cutting forests and national parks. The government's decision to implement a concession scheme had little consideration for the local inhabitants and heavy handed concessionary companies exploited their politically and economically weak status in their operations. Under the guise of the concessionary system, illegal land seizures were advantaged by the lack of titles recorded on paper, despite customary and legal recognition of individual and communal land ownership without written decree. The communities became landless and outrageously, the land that they occupied - in many instances for several generations - became privatised; disallowing them any access to the natural resources on which they rely, resulting in heightened poverty.

Ironically, the concession system was advocated by the World Bank. Their own Inspection Panel, after lobbying from NGOs and local communities to investigate the disastrous initiative, released a blistering report earlier this year, outlining the project's flaws: chiefly its disregard of the cultural, spiritual and economic value of forests for rural people and a complete insensitivity to the environment and ecology.

Besides the crumbling temples, the environment was Cambodia's greatest asset. Cambodia boasts a rich biodiversity of plants, animals and fish, many of which are endemic. The mass floodings have resulted in the cutting of flood damaged forests, reducing the natural habitat for wildlife and degrading breeding grounds. Cambodia's niche market of luxury hardwood has seen extensive logging of exclusive trees, driving the rare species into extinction. As with the dwindling numbers of rare animals, the environmental effects of deforestation are set to be devastatingly terminal.

Desperate measures are now necessary, and international donors and environmental groups are scrambling for a solution. All agree that sustainable forest management is the only way to go, backed by a serious crackdown on corruption and a greater consultation of local communities. With a high proportion of Cambodians living as forest dependent, it is imperative that the government takes steps to conserve their greatest resource, to ease the hardships of those who already survived the last mammoth struggle and who now find themselves fighting once again to sustain their way of life.