Forests and forestry

The Preah Vihear Provincial Court has sent a man suspected of illegal logging in the Preah Vihear temple forestry conservation area to pre-trial detention, according to the provincial Environment Department. ...

There were 1,428 forestry and wildlife crimes in 2017, with 778 cases ending up in court and the remaining 650 cases leading to administrative fines. According to the annual report from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the cases included illegal logging, the cutting of ...

Tbong Khmum provincial officials have announced a crackdown on illegal checkpoints along the Vietnamese border, possibly in response to a purported warning issued by Prime Minister Hun Sen to provincial Governor Ly Leng to monitor the transport of timber in the province. Local media reports contend ...

Community patrols in Mondulkiri province confiscated more than 500 snares and 80 chainsaws last year while arresting seven people and warning 57 others over illegal activities. According to a Wildlife Conservation Society statement issued yesterday, the patrols were led by Environment Ministry officials and members of ...

Nearly seven months after a gas tanker truck was involved in a deadly crash in Banteay Meanchey province, authorities finally searched it on Saturday, finding it loaded with rosewood. ...

The forestry administration in cooperation with Stung Treng Provincial Court raided a house on Wednesday, yielding hundreds of pieces of illegal timber. Provincial court spokesman Chhum Seanghak confirmed the raid, but said no arrests were made. He declined further comment, referring questions to deputy prosecutor Kim ...

Rampant deforestation and development have increased pressure on animals throughout Cambodia. They’ve especially intensified in the country’s “spirit forests,” as the hill communities like the ethnic-minority Chong call them, which are some of the creatures’ last refuges. But the changes also threaten their culture, as ...

A military lieutenant who sued 13 families in Oddar Meanchey’s Anlong Veng district for allegedly grabbing his land is now demanding $20,000 in compensation, though villagers deny the accusation and it remains unclear as to how the official initially came to own the ostensibly protected ...

Takeo province Military Police on Tuesday confiscated more than a tonne of rosewood that was stored at an abandoned house belonging to a Koh Andet district police official, authorities said today. ...

Eight Vietnamese nationals were sent to pre-trial detention on Saturday after being arrested last week for allegedly illegally logging on behalf of a local firm in Mondulkiri province. The eight were arrested last Wednesday clearing land in Pech Chreada district near the Sre Pok Wildlife ...

Authorities are to force about 40 families in Koh Kong province to relocate from their homes in Botum Sakor National Park. The villagers asked authorities to provide them with social land concessions, because they have no other place to live. ...

A Kampong Thom landowner was stopped by provincial officials from clearing a piece of land used as a “spirit forest” by local villagers. ...

A little-known Chinese company is investing $200 million in a massive timber plantation in Stung Treng that the government has equated to “replanting the forest”, despite concerns among environmental protection groups that existing forest will be destroyed in favour of non-native commercial species. ...

Koh Kong provincial authorities on Monday ordered 40 families living in Botum Sakor district to vacate their land and homes after it was determined they were illegally occupying a national park.​ On Friday, authorities went to inspect Botum Sakor National Park and found 40 families ...

A Virgin Atlantic representative yesterday said that the British airline is no longer purchasing carbon credits from an area of Oddar Meanchey province set aside for a UN REDD+ program after a report describing widespread problems. ...

A REDD Programme representative yesterday said it would be concerning if recent claims of the military systematically clearing protected forest in Oddar Meanchey province covered under the scheme proved true – though a third-party company has dismissed the claims as outdated. ...

Nearly one hundred pieces of timber were found separately in Kratie province’s Prek Prasap and Sambo districts over the weekend, but no arrests were made. About 40 pieces were discovered in Sambo’s Vathanak commune after forestry officials unsuccessfully chased a truck they believed was carrying timber. ...

An ethnic Phnong community in Kratie province’s Snuol district has accused local officials and soldiers of grabbing over 1,000 hectares of community forest and threatening the lives of local villagers for years, with the rights group Adhoc yesterday saying they would take the case to ...

Official confiscated about 6 cubic metres of luxury timber in Preah Vihear’s Chey Sen district this week in two separate busts, also detaining eight for illegally transporting timber out of the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary. ...

A joint task force of national Military Police, provincial Military Police and Forestry Administration officials confiscated a large amount of illegal timber in Kratie province’s Sambor district earlier this week, but made no arrests. ...

More than 60 species of endangered plants have been found in the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary in Mondulkiri province, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society.​ ​ ...

A team of Pursat provincial and national military police seized eight trucks loaded with timber on National Road 55 in Kravanh district’s Samraong commune on Monday and yesterday. ...

A military lieutenant is suing 13 families in Oddar Meanchey for allegedly farming his land, which lies within a protected community forest in Anlong Veng district, local authorities confirmed yesterday. ...

Deputy Prime Minister Bin Chhin oversaw a meeting on illegal logging in the northeast region of Cambodia, reportedly branding the Kingdom’s anti-logging crackdown a “success” despite evidence to the contrary. ...