Prey Lang activists laud researcher’s accolade

PREY Lang forest activists were delighted to hear that Ida Theilade received an award during a ceremony presided over by the Queen of Denmark at the University of Copenhagen last week.

At the awards ceremony on November 20, Theilade, a senior researcher at the university in Denmark, met with the Queen and talked about the Prey Lang communities’ efforts to protect the forest and the use of a mobile app to track activities there, said a Facebook post by the Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN).

“The Prey Lang app was created by Ida Theilade to help the PLCN patrol and inspect the geographical area and collect, share and store data of all forest and wildlife crimes that have occurred at the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary.

“We were happy to hear that she received this prestigious award from the University of Copenhagen,” said Sok Plok, the PLCN representative in Kampong Thom province.

Preah Vihear PLCN head Srey They told The Post that through the mobile app, Prey Lang activists can share information to prevent forest and wildlife crimes.

During the Water Festival, he said, the PLCN patrolled the area for four days from November 21 to 24 and confiscated a chainsaw in Phnom Chaot. It also discovered two homemade guns and two bows in Stung Prong, Chey Sen district, which offenders had hidden and intended to use for animal hunting.

His team also stopped eight people from Kampong Thom and Siem Reap provinces who intended to log illegally in those areas.