Protected areas

Ministry of Environment spokesman Neth Pheaktra on Tuesday warned villagers not to believe ill-intentioned land agents and called on people to stop all illegal grabbing of state-owned land or face punishment in accordance with the law. He said that because land prices had increased dramatically, ...

A conservationist group said on Wednesday that a recent Ramsar site status for Cambodia’s Stung Sen wetland is crucial to help protect the habitat of a number of globally near-threatened species. The rich and biologically diverse Stung Sen wetland has been designated as a unique ...

The Environment Ministry and the United States Agency for International Development yesterday launched the Greening Prey Lang Project to promote sustainable livelihood and law enforcement in the Prey Lang community in four provinces. The project is estimated to be worth $21 million and funding will ...

A Mondulkiri provincial committee has discovered six forest locations totalling more than 10ha in a protected area of Pech Chreada district’s Bou Sra commune that has been cleared for farming. Several people have been detained but authorities are looking to find land for them in ...

The United States has begun making payments towards its $37 million aid for the protection of the Prey Lang protected area.​ The Prey Lang protected area encompasses four different provinces, including Kampong Thom, Kratie, Stung Treng and Preah Vihear. ...

Two men who allegedly led some 30 villagers to illegally grab and clear forest land within the Ream National Park for private ownership were detained by the Preah Sihanouk provincial authority on Saturday. Neth Pheaktra, secretary of state and spokesperson of the Ministry of Environment, ...

A forest ranger protecting the Prey Ang Ten biodiversity conservation corridor in Kampong Thom province was attacked on Tuesday by an unidentified perpetrator, causing injuries to his head, neck and wrist. Neth Pheaktra, spokesman of the Environment Ministry, yesterday said the incident occurred as five ...

Ten villagers were briefly detained by Ream National Park rangers in Preah Sihanouk province on Wednesday and instructed to dismantle their tarpaulins from aconservation area. Authorities said the villagers had secretly erected their tents there in order to illegally settle down and clear state forest ...

Siem Pang and Siem Pang Khang Lech wildlife sanctuaries’ enforcement teams this month confiscated a total of three chainsaws, two homemade guns, a fish electrocution device and 608 snares, said a BirdLife International Cambodia Programme broadcast on Wednesday. ...

An elephant was found dead at a cashew nut plantation in Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary in Mondulkiri province’s Keo Seima district on Sunday. Experts initially thought the elephant may have been poisoned by a chemicals used by locals, but later confirmed it had been shot. ...

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has reversed its previous order to allocate land to 48 families in Preah Sihanouk province’s Koki village – the scene of violent clashes between protesters and security forces – in order to follow procedure in trying to resolve ...

Membes of Battambang province’s forest community and relevant authorities on Tuesday claimed that over 100ha of forest land in Samlot Protected Area have been illegally cleared by wealthy citizens and armed forces in order to place it under their ownership. Samlot community representative Yat Neang, ...

Mondulkiri provincial environment department director Keo Sopheak has said that DNA testing will soon reveal the identities of poachers who exchanged gunfire with environmental rangers, injuring one, at Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary last Wednesday. ...

The government has assigned designated management zones in Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary in Mondulkiri province to make the protected forest more manageable in the wake of a forest ranger being shot. Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday signed a sub-decree designating 372,971 hectares of the forest into ...

A Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) member in Thmea commune, in Preah Vihear province’s Chey Sen district, on Sunday claimed that authorities are unable to stamp out forest crime in the nature reserve, instances of which have been occurring for months. ...

Mondulkiri provincial authorities are hunting poachers who shot at environmental rangers with an AK-47 assault rifle at the Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary, injuring one. Provincial environment department director Keo Sopheak said the incident happened​ at around 3:30am on Tuesday when six rangers equipped with two AK-47s ...

The Cambodian Red Cross has donated a car, two scooters and cash to activist Ben Devis and the Tabos community as an incentive for participating in the protection of the natural resources in Preah Vihear province’s Phnom Thnout-Phnom Pok Wildlife Sanctuary.​ ...

The Ministry of Environment on Tuesday urged relevant public and private sector stakeholders to jointly preserve the Kingdom’s marine biodiversity for the sake of sustainable development. The appeal came as the ministry announced the establishment of the Koh Rong Marine National Park in Preah Sihanouk ...

The government has decided to set up a protected area of more than 100 hectares in Ratanakkiri province to protect the environment, biodiversity and sustainable use of natural resources. A sub-decree, dated December 25 and published by the Environment Ministry yesterday, said the government decided ...

The Prey Lang Community Network yesterday claimed that its patrols have found that illegal logging is still rampant in Kratie, Kampong Thom, Stung Treng and Preah Vihear provinces and urged the relevant ministries and authorities to strengthen enforcement. ...

A prominent forest activist based in Kampong Speu province is set to launch a field investigation into alleged illegal logging at the Phnom Oral and Phnom Kravanh wildlife sanctuaries despite “threats of arrest” by rangers and military officers in the area. ...

The ministry said it had introduced a number of environmental procedures, rules and guidelines to protect, promote and manage environmental issues, and cited major laws such as the 1996 Law on Environmental and Natural Resource Management and the 2008 Law on Natural Protected Areas. The ministry ...

Nests of five critically endangered bird species were found in the Siem Pang and Siem Pang Kang Lech wildlife sanctuaries last year, according to an annual report issued yesterday by Birdlife International Cambodia. ...

Forest activists in Battambang province’s Samlot district said on Thursday that a company that has received an economic land concession (ELC) in the area is trading timber from outside its ELC boundary. ...