Protected areas

Speaking at a workshop hosted by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) on the past four years of conservation in the so-called Eastern Plains Landscape – a project with $1.42 million in funding from the EU and an additional $420,000 from USAID and the ...

The environment minister has promised to investigate allegations that a tycoon-owned company is using a land concession to illegally log wood in a protected area in Preah Vihear province. ...

Seven Vietnamese nationals who are tied to a timber smuggling ring along with top Mondulkiri provincial officials were sentenced to one year in prison yesterday. ...

Conservation NGOs yesterday raised the issue of alleged land grabs in the country’s protected areas by the military and local authorities at a resources protection forum, asking Environment Minister Say Sam Al to intervene.​ ...

Some 124 logs of luxury timber were discovered on a riverbed on Sunday within Mondulkiri’s Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary some 500 metres from a military base, officials said yesterday. ...

Families living in a commune flooded by the Lower Sesan II dam have set up a new village on their community forest without the permission of local authorities. Residents of Sre Ko commune were offered new homes in a different area and compensation to leave ...

An oknha accused of overseeing a massive illegal logging scheme in Mondulkiri has yet to appear for a court summons issued more than a month ago, according to the investigating judge. ...

The last families refusing to relocate from their homes near the Lower Sesan II dam have accused local authorities of being unwilling to settle their case. ...

Government officials and environmental groups yesterday celebrated the discovery of 121 lesser adjutant stork nests in Preah Vihear province, chalking the success up to a joint programme to hire locals to guard the nests. Environment Ministry rangers and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) workers started counting ...

Illegal logging within the Prey Lang protected forest decreased significantly year-on-year over a six-month period ending in February, collected data show, though forest-clearing in the area remains rampant. ...

Families refusing to relocate from their homes near the Lower Sesan II dam have said they will all leave if they can establish a new village on their community forest and ancestral lands. ...

The Environment Ministry is to request the creation of six new protected areas to safeguard biodiversity and boost conservation in the country. Tim Sitha, deputy director of the general department of conservation, said the ministry has been studying the potential to establish the new areas.  ...

Villagers and NGOs have accused local authorities, including forestry and environmental officials, of accepting bribes from illegal loggers in exchange for unfettered logging expeditions in Preah Vihear province’s Preah Roka protected forest. ...

The last families refusing to relocate from two communes near the Lower Sesan II dam are considering asking the authorities to establish a new village on ancestral lands close to their original homes as flood waters in the area continue to rise. ...

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries yesterday announced the establishment of two community forest areas over 4,500 hectares in Kampong Thom province’s Santuk district. ...

Fifty endangered sarus cranes have hatched from 27 nests protected by conservationists and villagers in Cambodia’s Northern Plains, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The nests are in Kulen Promtep and Chhep wildlife sanctuaries. ...

The Apsara Authority has extended an agreement with China’s International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage to continue using its remote sensing technology to discover and preserve ancient temples in Siem Reap province.​ ...

Four endangered hog deer, once thought to be extinct in Cambodia, were caught on camera in Kratie province for the first time in a decade, according to the World Wildlife Fund. ...

A Koh Kong environmental official yesterday said a company with a sand-washing facility in an area where the Ministry of Mines and Energy last month banned sand dredging would be allowed to keep and operate its facility. ...

Police are investigating after a mob of villagers in Preah Vihear province let fly with fence posts in a clash with environmental officials following a logging bust, leaving the chief of Prey Preah Roka Wildlife Sanctuary with a serious head injury. ...

A newly leaked document attesting to a $15,000 deal between representatives of Ratanakkiri’s Samut Krom village and a timber trader to allow Vietnamese-backed logging in the community’s forest appears to add further weight to its critique. ...

The government is working in conjunction with the World Wildlife Fund on a plan to release eight tigers into the wild in Mondulkiri province by 2022. WWF-Cambodia communication manager Un Chakrey said yesterday that they are working with the ministries of environment, agriculture and tourism, among ...

Activists and a fisherman yesterday claimed that a company has started sand dredging within a wildlife sanctuary in Koh Kong, despite a standing ban on sand exports from companies operating in coastal areas. ...

For the first time in five years, a nest with seven eggs of the endangered white-winged duck was discovered in the Northern Plains of Cambodia, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced yesterday. ...