Often logging opens up a previously untouched forest and is an initiation to other activities such as colonisation, hunting for commercial purposes and clearance for agriculture. In Cambodia, the impacts of logging are real. The Mekong, Tonle Sap and other rivers have been affected by loss of forest cover. The rivers flood more violently and suddenly during the wet season and are low during the dry season. To the many people living along the river this means fluctuating agricultural yields and reduced fisheries.
Areas currently being logged in Cambodia include the tropical forests of the north and east.
These areas are important for the refuge and migration of large wildlife such as elephant, gaur and banteng. They are also believed to shelter small populations of Javan rhinoceros and kouprey. Reserves have been set aside in Cambodia for the sake of the kouprey alone, proclaimed by Cambodia's King Sihanouk as their national animal. There have been few sightings of this beast which has confined itself to the war-torn areas of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is unknown how many kouprey exist in these forests and it is worth pointing out that due to our scant knowledge of this area there are almost certainly species of plants and animals still to be discovered.