Leng Ouch is a Cambodian forest activist and human rights defender. He was born in a farmers family in the Province of Takeo.
He founded a Human Rights Task Force to protect farmers and secure land rights against illegal logging and corruption. Ouch’s investigations and the work of other environmental human rights defenders have put the Cambodian authorities under huge pressure.
Since 2015, he has uncovered more than 2000 cases of illegal logging, in one of the most dangerous countries for environmental activism.
From 2002 to 2022 in Cambodia the total area of humid primary forest decreased by 33%, making it one of the countries with the highest deforestation rate in the world. According to FAO, since 2010 Cambodia has lost 2,68% of forests each year. The government is granting concessions intended for large scale agricultural crops, such as sugar and rubber plantations but also driven by rosewood demand in China and worldwide. As Leng Ouch documented, because of these concession, s many poor rural communities have been forcibly displaced. The human rights defender has uncovered land grabbing by Chinese and western corporations, illegal logging operations conducted by Cambodia’s biggest timber magnates, smuggling of precious wood, and widespread corruption within the national and local authorities.
Ouch Leng won the Goldman Prize for his activism.
Climate Hero