BANTEAY MEANCHEY: Prime Minister Hun Sen has said that the loss of forest in Cambodia is due to growth in the population, which has increased the need to find more land space for the people, hence the state is forced to cut into forest areas to get more land. As a result, he said population growth is a factor in the decline of Cambodia's forest land, unlike what some critics may have said.

Speaking on National Fish Day in Banteay Meanchey province on Friday morning, 1 July 2022, Prime Minister Hun Sen said that every year, he has to order for more land to be cut from the forest areas to distribute to the people so that they can use the land to farm and grow crops, or use it for work in other industries.

The Prime Minister confirmed that the land has not disappeared, but has been processed for the benefit of the people. He told those who continue to be critical and stubborn about the loss of forests to return the land they have back to the state so that the state could replant trees in those areas.

"The land that you are cultivating is the result of the loss of the forest," he said.

^{PHOTO: ហ៊ុន យុទ្ធគុណ}