Prey Lang forest NGO in running for Yale prize
A member of the Prey Lang Community Network will travel to Connecticut in the United States this weekend after it was selected as one of only two finalists for Yale University’s International Society of Tropical Foresters Innovation Prize. The PLCN was nominated by the University of Copenhagen for its novel use of an app to identify and crack down on illegal logging in the Prey Lang protected forest. Collating data via the app, the group said in December, has boosted conservation by 14 percent. PLCN steering committee member Phai Bunleang will go to the university’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies on Friday to present the NGO’s work and hopefully return with the $3,000 prize. “The selection shows that we are a strong and successful network. It shows that our work is important and that it is being recognized as such internationally. This encourages our members to continue working to protect Prey Lang,” he said yesterday in a statement.
