An aging Buddhist monk living in the northeastern Thai province of Nakhon Pathom has appealed for help in his lone fight with a trans-national logging syndicate that is threatening the existence of a royal forest conservation project.

Seventy-six-year-old Luang Pu Kittiphong Kittisophon, the abbot and only resident of the forest temple, Wat Pa Kham Sawang, in the Si Songkhram District of Nakhon Pathom has petitioned the authorities for help protecting the forest reserve that is made up of more than 1,000 Siamese rosewood trees (Dalbergia cochinchinensis) believed to be up to 300 years old.

According to the monk, the logging gang has felled nearly 100 trees in the past year, despite the 19-hectare forest becoming part of a forest protection project implemented by Thailand’s Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

The abbot, who says he has received numerous death threats as a result of his attempts to oppose the logging, has appealed to the provincial governor, Somchai Witdamrong, for action. He noted that local police had been unresponsive to his previous attempts to report the problem.

The monk added that in the most recent threat on life, which occurred last week, an unidentified person discharged a handgun near his hut in the middle of the night.

In a statement, the provincial governor said talks on the importance of actively protecting the forest were being held with local residents, who are encouraged to work with the authorities in sharing information about illegal activity.