"I very much regret the wrong decisions made by the Cambodian Development Council (CDC), involving forestry concessions to companies which were issued in large numbers and at cheap prices," he said at a tree-planting ceremony in the southwestern port of Sihanoukville which was broadcast on national radio.

Hun Sen told villagers and local officials that he began grappling with the issue in 1997, suggesting that his co-premier until then, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, was responsible for the damage.

He said at that stage, nearly all the nation's virgin forests had been destroyed and it was difficult to reverse the damage.

"The stable door was closed but the horses had already escaped," he said.

Hun Sen was speaking after the UN special representative for human rights in Cambodia, Peter Leuprecht, said Tuesday that he witnessed extensive tree-felling in the central province of Kampong Thom during a recent trip.

"What we saw was massive logging," he said. "I sent Hun Sen a letter telling him that cutting trees like that is not a good way to reduce poverty, but is instead a way of increasing poverty."

Hun Sen said he had taken serious action to stop the destruction of what little forest remained, by increasing the price of logs and cancelling a number of forestry concessions and contracts.

"Although we have tried our best to protect our forests, our efforts have not yet reached their goal," he said, adding that Cambodia needed more time to complete the introduction of forestry reforms.

Cambodia last year adopted laws to preserve more than one million hectares (2.47 million acres) of pristine wilderness in the Cardamom Mountains in the western part of the country, making it the largest wildlife sanctuary in Southeast Asia.

Logging concessions in the area were cancelled and a national park was established to protect some of the world's most endangered wildlife, including Siamese crocodiles, Indo-Chinese tigers and the rare gibbon species of monkey.

TERRA.WIRE