Cambodia’s rainforests -- once some of the lushest and greenest on the planet -- are being decimated by illegal logging.

Vietnamese criminal networks are plundering Cambodia’s protected areas and national parks, hacking down trees for valuable timber while the government looks the other way. It's then exported to Europe -- experts estimate that half the tropical timber sold here is sourced illegally.

Now the EU is about to sign a voluntary partnership agreement with Vietnam that would encourage the deforestation to continue. Under this deal, the same government that’s been enabling the destruction of Cambodian rainforests could put a “legally sourced” seal on wood sold to Europe, no matter its suspect origins.

We’re imploring the EU not to sign the agreement until Vietnam takes serious steps to clean up its act. Negotiations are happening even as you read this, and we only have a chance of being heard if as many of us as possible speak up right now.

Tell the EU: No deal with Vietnam as long as the illegal timber trade continues!

When you look at satellite images from Cambodia from over the past few decades, the colour turns from rich green to muddy brown. The country has just 3 percent rainforest cover now, compared to over 70 percent in 1970.

Even as Vietnam claims it’s cracking down on timber trafficking from Cambodia, the illegal trade still continues. This year, the Environmental Investigation Agency found Vietnamese companies were carrying out large-scale rainforest destruction in three of Cambodia’s protected areas, including a wildlife sanctuary and a national park. Government corruption allows the stolen timber to make it across the border, where it’s passed off as Vietnamese wood.

We stand with the agency in demanding that the EU not let Vietnam regulate its own timber export until it can demonstrate that illegally harvested and/or traded timber is no longer entering the country.

SumOfUs members have proven that our people power can be a serious force against deforestation. Just this week, our pressure got Pepsi and Nestlé to cut ties with Indofood, one of the worst rainforest-wrecking offenders in the palm oil industry. Now we’ve got to come together and stop the EU from enabling the destruction of Cambodian rainforests -- before it’s too late.

Tell the EU not to let Vietnam keep encouraging rainforest destruction: no partnership agreement until the timber trade ends!

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