Forests and forestry
Forest protection
Steng Treng community accuses forest and local officers of not protect forests
Steng Treng’s forestry protection communities called on the government and relevant institutions to investigate the irregularities of duty of the local authorities and Stung Treng provincial forestry officers who did not pay attention to local forest conservation, also enable logger to encroach land arbitrarily. ...
Men Sothy
http://www.rfa.org/khmer/news/environment/illegal-logging-in-stungstreng-02072016000919.html
Upgraded training program for elite forest rangers
The first graduates of a special training program for elite forest rangers began work this month in Preah Vihear’s protected forest.The 29 newly-minted rangers will be responsible for leading efforts to stop illegal logging, land clearance, and poaching in a forest that is home to ...
Jonathan Cox
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/20991/upgraded-training-program-for-elite-forest-rangers/
Uni students urge protection for prey lang forest
A recent forum highlighted a growing concern of Cambodian youth about Cambodia’s largest lowland evergreen forest, Prey Lang, and the impacts of deforestation caused by illegal logging. ...
Muny Sithyna
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/20942/uni-students-urge-protection-for-prey-lang-forest/
Water birds make comeback in Battambang
Water bird numbers are making a big comeback in the Prek Toal conservation area on the Tonle Sap lake in Battambang province, the Wildlife Conservation Society said in a report released on Saturday. ...
Igor Kossov
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/water-birds-make-comeback-battambang
Herd of endangered Asian elephants captured on camera in Cambodia
A herd of at least 12 endangered Asian elephants, including young, has been caught grazing and roaming around the Cambodia’s largest protected forest in a remarkable camera trap footage, according to the Conservation International’s statement seen on Saturday. ...
Xinhua team
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/20011/herd-of-endangered-asian-elephants-captured-on-camera-in-cambodia/
Authorities, villagers at odds over Mondulkiri logging
Local authorities say they are struggling to protect the Mondulkiri Protected Forest and the Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary from being logged by villagers in the province’s Koh Nhek and Pech Chreada districts, while villagers accuse authorities of colluding with certain logging groups. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/authorities-villagers-odds-over-mondulkiri-logging
Sanctuary ‘cleared’ in Kampong Speu
Officials in Kampong Speu province have accused a man of illegally clearing dozens of hectares of land in the Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary to grow sugarcane. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sanctuary-cleared-kampong-speu
Hun Sen slams activists opposing hydropower dams
Prime Minister Hun Sen has called environmental activists objecting to the construction of hydropower dams in Cambodia “extreme” insisting that such developments would benefit millions of people.His remarks came on Wednesday during the inauguration of a dam located on the Tatay river in Koh Kong ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/hun-sen-slams-activists-opposing-hydropower-dams/3117183.html
A concession company returns back its license
A local investment company, Norkor Korkthlok company, owned by Oknha Sieng Nam, recently decided to stop investment on Preah Chey Varaman-Norodom National Park in Kulen Mountain and voluntarily return back to the government. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/a-concession-company-returns-back-its-license-9114
Cambodia’s indigenous groups suffer under climate change, deforestation
In the remote province of Ratanakiri, in northeastern Cambodia, deforestation and climate change are taking a heavy toll on communities.Drought has damaged crops, from rice to sesame, cashews, beans and potatoes, making it hard for farmers here to earn a living. And deforestation has greatly ...
Sok Khemara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/cambodia-indigenous-groups-suffer-under-climate-change-deforestation/3102193.html
Forest patrols duel in Prey Lang
As activists from Prey Lang forest received the prestigious Equator Prize in Paris on Monday, another, parallel network was asserting itself in Kampong Thom province – one with close ties to the security forces and local governor.The Prey Lang Forest Community Network (PLFCN), funded by ...
Daniel Pye and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/forest-patrols-duel-prey-lang
A joint-committee will establish to combat illegal logging at Koh Ker temple
The Apsara Authority in cooperation with the Preah Vihear provincial authorities will establish a joint-committee to combat illegal logging and land encroachments within conservation site in Koh Ker temple. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/a-joint-committee-will-establish-to-combat-illegal-logging-at-koh-ker-temple-9095
Elephant finally makes it to Mondolkiri sanctuary
After nearly two months tied to a tree near the Lumphat district office in Ratanakkiri province, a female elephant has finally been rehoused by the Mondolkiri Project Elephant Sanctuary, which purchased the animal in early October, according to the sanctuary’s founder. ...
Taylor O'Connell
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/elephant-finally-makes-it-to-mondolkiri-sanctuary-102343/
Apsara acts on Koh Ker logging
The government’s Apsara authority will join forces with the Preah Vihear administration to establish a joint committee to prevent illegal logging and to manage state land in the protected areas around Koh Ker, officials said yesterday. ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/18450/apsara-acts-on-koh-ker-logging/
Monk seeks saffron solution to rampant logging
A steady stream of tractors loaded with timber clambered along the dirt roads heading out of the Phnom Aural Wildlife Sanctuary last week, some carrying cheap firewood, others loaded with more valuable logs. ...
Peter Ford and Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/monk-seeks-saffron-solution-to-rampant-logging-101685/
Ethnic villagers reject Mega First cash offer
An ethnic community in Mondulkiri province has rejected a cash offer from a company that wants to clear thousands of hectares of forest locals claim as their own, saying they value the land more than money. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ethnic-villagers-reject-mega-first-cash-offer
Wild things return to Angkor Wat
Decades after poachers stripped the forests surrounding Angkor Wat of large mammals, an innovative conservation group is bringing them back. Already, Wildlife Alliance has rewilded the forest with gibbons and langurs. And more are coming. ...
Jeremy Hance
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/radical-conservation/2015/nov/24/angkor-wat-wildlife-gibbons-rewilding
A fresh water dolphin found dead in Kratie
A freshwater Mekong dolphin was found dead yesterday morning on a river bank Prek Prosob district, Kratie province, where only only about 80 Mekong dolphins remain, according to officials. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/18066/a-fresh-water-dolphin-found-dead-in-kratie/
Rubber firm vows not to harm forests
Rubber and palm oil giant the Socfin Group has committed to a global “zero-deforestation policy” across Africa and Asia amid a legal dispute with ethnic Bunong communities in Mondulkiri province’s Bousraa commune. ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rubber-firm-vows-not-harm-forests
Homes razed in protected Battambang forest
After years of land-grabbing that has eroded a protected forest in Battambang Province, forestry administration officials took a forceful step yesterday to crack down on the problem. In the early hours of the morning, a team from the forestry administration alongside local police entered the ...
James Reddick
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/17876/homes-razed-in-protected-battambang-forest/
Accusations fly over logging of Battambang forest
A mass eviction in Battambang province yesterday saw 100 locals kicked out of the Prey Tralach community forest, which local authorities claim was illegally inhabited and deforested by villagers. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/accusations-fly-over-logging-battambang-forest
Police chief abuses power, commune chief says
More than 200 villagers living on the fringe of a giant hydropower project in Stung Treng province are lobbying for their commune’s police chief to be removed, alleging that he habitually confiscates illegally logged wood from villagers on behalf of powerful business interests. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-chief-abuses-power-commune-chief-says-100217/
Officials aided Vietnamese loggers, villagers say
Evidence of illegal logging perpetrated by Vietnamese lumberjacks in collusion with local authorities in Ratanakkiri’s Andong Meas district was submitted to a local rights group by an ethnic Jarai community yesterday. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/officials-aided-vietnamese-loggers-villagers-say
Land clearing alleged in Samlot forest area
Settlers and rangers have cleared 200 hectares of Samlot Protected Forest in Battambang and Pailin provinces, according to local authorities and staff of the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which is helping to protect the area. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/land-clearing-alleged-samlot-forest-area