The army and police in Cambodia have been ordered to use all necessary force to stamp out illegal logging -- a move which has long been demanded by international environmentalists.

The prime minister, Hun Sen, said the country's forests were suffering a serious threat of destruction, despite all previous orders against logging.

The move came a day after the government announced it wanted one-point-three-billion dollars from international donors.

The government has tried to prove that it's curbing the illegal trade, with several highly publicised seizures of timber in the past few months, but environmentalists say the felling of trees has not abated.