This incident highlights the increasing hostility towards journalists in Cambodia and the need for continued scrutiny of environmental issues. The text emphasizes the importance of press freedom in addressing the climate crisis and the challenges faced by journalists working in Southeast Asia.

We can now confirm that on the evening of Jan. 5, 2025, Mongabay journalist Gerald Flynn was denied entry to Cambodia while returning from a vacation. Immigration officials at the airport told Flynn that he is permanently banned from Cambodia because there was an error on a document submitted as part of his last visa extension application. He was subsequently forced onto a plane and flown to Thailand.

According to documents produced by immigration officials at Siem Reap International Airport, Flynn was placed on Cambodia's blacklist as of Nov. 25, despite his visa extension being approved and valid from Feb. 6, 2024 to Feb. 15, 2025. Flynn's visa agent, who acquired the visa extension on his behalf, has assured him that had there been any irregularities, the visa wouldn't have been issued, nor would Flynn's work permit. Flynn had traveled many times on this visa without issue.

Now three weeks since being deported, immigration officials have refused to provide information to Flynn directly or through the British Embassy in Phnom Penh regarding his options for appeal. Instead, the government is maintaining that Flynn applied for a visa to work as an electrician, despite having worked as a journalist in Cambodia - and represented himself as such - since June 2019. He has consistently held a valid government-issued press pass during his five years in Cambodia, was elected as president of the Overseas Press Club of Cambodia in 2023 and 2024 and frequently interviews public officials.

Flynn's blacklisting came just three days after a France24 documentary scrutinizing carbon offsetting efforts in Cambodia that was aired on Nov. 22, 2024. Flynn featured as a source in the documentary, representing himself as a journalist working for Mongabay and had no editorial input on the documentary. Other sources also faced arbitrary detention after the documentary aired and the government issued a statement claiming the documentary used "old footage" to mislead the public, which is wholly untrue.

For more than five years, Flynn has reported from Cambodia and despite the increasing hostility towards journalists, it's a country that he's grown to love, full of people he deeply admires. As such, it's both a professional and personal blow to be uprooted from the country Flynn has called home in what appears to be a direct retaliation for his journalistic work.

The climate crisis is no longer an abstract distant threat, it is a bleak reality for many living across Southeast Asia and there is an urgent and pressing need for scrutiny on the management of natural resources. As extreme weather events proliferate through the Mekong region, journalists will continue to play a critical role in understanding how human activity is altering the ecosystems we all depend on. This may mean facing some uncomfortable truths, but silencing journalists will not bring back the forests, it will not restore fish or wildlife populations and it will not undo the harm inflicted upon countless communities in the name of development.

Now, more than ever, Cambodia needs journalists able to freely scrutinize environmental matters and while Flynn may no longer be able to join them in bringing this important issue to the forefront, we have no doubt that there are many who will continue to report on such issues diligently.