Deforestation drivers

The Ministry of Environment has dismissed the claim that forest cover has decreased from 43.21% in 2015 to 39.75% in 2023, as reported by Open Development Cambodia (ODC) on September 1. ...

Battambang provincial Department of Environment is hunting for the individuals involved in the transportation of more than 13 cubic metres of luxury timber that was seized near the Chrok Chang Eath ranger station in Prey Thom village of Samlot district’s Kampong Lpov commune on June ...

Eang Sophalleth, Minister of Environment, ordered the illegal encroachment on state forest land to stop immediately because this violation cannot be hidden. The Royal Government of Cambodia is paying close attention to and strictly implementing transparent legal measures and efficiency. ...

Eight people have been reprimanded and one suspect has been sent to court during the beginning of a 30-day campaign against state land occupation and deforestation in Pursat province. ...

Cambodia’s Royal Gendarmerie arrested 11 Pursat province residents Tuesday after the military force deployed nearly 300 of its officers to crack down on natural resource crimes. ...

Stung Treng provincial governor Svay Sam Eang on May 3 reiterated a call for authorities and security forces to step up forestry crime prevention and control, maintain security and public order, and address challenges facing locals in the northeastern province. ...

Experts are continuing to search for the identity of the perpetrators that cleared forest land in the protected area in Mondulkiri province to file the case to the court. ...

Mondulkiri authorities launched a crackdown on forestry crimes that took place in an off-road race track. This took place on February 16, in Me Pai village, Pu Chrey commune, Pechreada district, Mondulkiri. ...

On average, communities trained by the REDD+ project submit 50 formal reports about forest crimes per month to authorities based upon data captured through the SMART 7 application, according to the USAID Greening Prey Lang (GPL) Project. ...

A senior environment official rejected a report by the Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) in Preah Vihear province claiming that it had found 73 forest offences in four days of investigating and monitoring the area in Chey Sen district. ...

Timber, monkeys, orchids, sand: Cambodia’s protected areas and natural resources continue to be a lucrative source of income, in spite of all the promises (and international funding) to protect them. Above all else, the hunger for land has consumed Cambodians and foreigners alike, triggering a constant ...

The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime in September released its new research’s results on the illegal logging structure in Cambodia. ...

Mondulkiri provincial environment officials are working to identify loggers who a Bunong indigenous community accused of clearing nearly 100ha of community forest in Koh Nhek district’s Rayum commune. ...

In early March, Auon Seap noticed a group of unknown men approach his farm on a koyun, an elongated tractor mostly used for farming or logging. Strangers are not so common in his village on the northeastern edge of the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary. ...

Nine Tampoun villagers are facing an imminent court verdict over allegedly stealing wood from a Chinese concessionaire with which Ratanakiri communities have been locked in an escalating dispute. ...

Preah Vihear provincial administration met with four villagers representing 131 families on Monday to seek a land settlement after a dispute with an economic land concession company there. ...

On March 19, the Preah Sihanouk Provincial Court issued arrest warrants for six brokers and placed six others under court supervision after they led nearly 300 people to occupy state land in the South Cardamom Mountains National Park in Cham village of Kampong Seila commune ...

Preah Sihanouk provincial authorities are building a case to send a group of 10 suspects to court for allegedly instigating around 300 people to encroach on state land in the Southern Cardamom National Park in Cham Srey village of Kampong Seila district and commune.​ ...

There were over 4,000 cases total of fisheries and wildlife crimes in 2021 nationwide, with nearly 200 suspects referred to court, according to a report by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered police to arrest anyone – including government officials – involved with the deforestation of the flooded forests surrounding the Tonle Sap Lake because it is an area important to the spawning of many species of fish, among other reasons. ...

Preah Vihear provincial authorities on Thursday cracked down on four illegal processing shops in Tbeng Meanchey district and confiscated more than 2,000 cubic metres of non-timber forest products. ...

In a bid to stop and prevent forest land encroachment in Preah Monivong Bokor National Park in Kampot province, the Ministry of Environment has equipped rangers with drones to assist them in their patrol, intervention and crackdown in a timely and effective manner. ...

Forestry administration officers went to seize slabs of illegally logged timber from a cashew plantation in Thala Bori Vat district, Stung Treng on August 10. ...

Sre Ambel district authorities in Koh Kong province are investigating a case involving a former district police chief who is allegedly encroaching on forest land in Dang Peng commune’s Veal Pouch village. ...