Environment and natural resources
Forests and forestry
Man faces defamation suit amid land-clearing claims
An activist in Stung Treng province has been hauled before commune authorities, threatened with a defamation suit and allegedly warned he could be beaten to death for exposing land clearing in his native Thala Borivat district. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/man-faces-defamation-suit-amid-land-clearing-claims
New REDD+ framework announced
The Ministry of Environment signed a framework agreement yesterday with Conservation International and the Mitsui Banking Corporation to launch the planning phase of a new REDD+ project for the Prey Lang forest, officials confirmed. ...
Cristina Maza
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-redd-framework-announced
Wildlife sanctuaries issued first zoning plans
Almost nine years after Cambodia mandated the zoning of all protected areas to shield its most precious parts from development, the government finally zoned its first two sanctuaries last week, though some locals and conservationists doubt the effort will make much of a difference to ...
Aun Pheap and Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/wildlife-sanctuaries-issued-first-zoning-plans-123189/
Opposition questions minister
After being questioned for more than two hours at the National Assembly yesterday, Environment Minister Say Samal claimed the number of forest crimes decreased in 2016, but acknowledged that some government officials were involved in some of the crimes. A recently released report from the University ...
Taing Vida
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/33928/opposition-questions-minister/
M’kiri logging allegations
About 1,000 hectares of protected forest in Mondulkiri province have been logged under the noses of environment officials, rights group Adhoc and community leaders said yesterday. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/mkiri-logging-allegations
Governor pledges sanctuary action
The Kampong Chhnang provincial governor has vowed to ramp up action to protect the Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary in Kampong Chhnang province, which he said is rife with illegal logging and kilns.“We are stopping people from getting into the sanctuary and cutting down trees with ...
Pav Suy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/33515/governor-pledges-sanctuary-action/
Logging busts persist as tycoon implicated
Two separate timber busts in recent days netted some 300 pieces of illegally transported wood in Stung Treng belonging to a prominent businessman, and several hidden timber stockpiles at a military officer’s Kampong Speu lumberyard. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/logging-busts-persist-tycoon-implicated
Environment ministry’s annual report out
The Environment Ministry’s annual report revealed 600 forestry crimes in protected areas, while there were nearly 700 cases of fishing, wildlife and land crimes. The report, released yesterday, showed that rangers, in collaboration with relevant parties, managed to prevent and suppress offenses at national parks, wildlife ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/33457/environment-ministry---s-annual-report-out/
App boosting Prey Lang network’s data collection
The number of illegal logging sites discovered within Prey Lang forest between April and July was 14 percent higher than the previous four-month period, according to a report released yesterday by the Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) based on data collected with a novel smartphone ...
Cristina Maza and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/app-boosting-prey-lang-networks-data-collection
Prey Lang still threatened
Alleged illegal logging and timber exports continue to happen in the Prey Lang forest, while drug trafficking in the area is also on the rise, according to the latest Prey Lang Com-munity Network (PLCN) report yesterday. The fifth monitoring report on the forest’s status from April ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/33233/prey-lang-still-threatened/
Ministry to recruit 300 more rangers
The Environment Ministry has started it’s process of recruiting 300 new forest rangers to work in select provinces next year in a bid to fill staff shortages and reduce deforestation. Ministry spokesperson Sao Sopheap said yesterday that the existing 960-strong ranger workforce was insufficient to guard ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/32907/ministry-to-recruit-300-more-rangers/
Kampot officials order families to leave Bokor
Kampot provincial authorities have warned some 100 families who have settled on land within Bokor National Park to leave or face eviction. In a letter, the authorities say the families are living illegally on state land in Chhouk district’s Decho Aphivat commune that is part of ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kampot-officials-order-families-leave-bokor
Forest protection saves village
The story of the Oum Saom forestry community in Kampong Thom province is one that has been told in various forms hundreds of times in Cambodia: local residents locked in a seemingly never-ending battle against a company aiming to cut down their local forest and ...
Pav Suy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/32690/forest-protection-saves-village/
Eyes in the sky put illegal logging in focus
Cambodia’s illegal loggers will soon have a potentially powerful new foe: a pair of NASA satellites with a keen interest in what they’re up to. Researchers at the University of Maryland in the U.S. say an innovative new system that picks up signs of forest loss ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/eyes-sky-put-illegal-logging-focus-121259/
Banned rosewood trade up
Despite the presence of a blanket ban by the Cambodian government on all trade in Siamese rosewood since 2013, exports of the precious timber to Vietnam increased in the third quarter of this year, according to Vietnamese customs data compiled by US-based NGO Forest Trends. ...
Jack Davies
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/banned-rosewood-trade
Opposition wants logging stopped
After returning to parliament and ending a six-month boycott, members of the opposition asked the government to cooperate with Vietnam to close border crossings to stop the illegal export of luxury rosewood and other timber to stop deforestation which leads to climate change. ...
Taing Vida
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/32299/opposition-wants-logging-stopped/
Vietnam logging numbers being ‘verified’: official
Vietnamese customs data showing that Cambodia exported at least $121 million of woodthis year are currently being investigated by government officials, according to Environment Ministry Undersecretary of State Eang Sophalleth. ...
Jack Davies and Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/vietnam-logging-numbers-being-verified-official
Forests being cleared: report
Ten trucks fully loaded with timber have been spotted entering a heavily guarded sawmill near the Lower Sesan II dam on an hourly basis, claimed a report by the Cambodian Human Rights Task Force (CHRTF), which was released yesterday. According to the report, photos taken from ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/31962/forests-being-cleared--report/
Two arrested for felling spirit tree
Two Apsara Authority officials were arrested yesterday morning after it was discovered they were in charge of felling a centuries-old spirit tree in Siem Reap province’s Kauk Chak commune on Saturday, enraging residents who had worshipped it for years, according to the provincial governor. ...
Pav Suy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/31894/two-arrested-for-felling-spirit-tree/
Luxury wood found near border
A mixed group of nearly 40 officials based at the Cambodian-Thai border in Pailin province seized first-class timber on Wednesday, but failed to catch the suspects who illegally entered Thailand to log it, according to police yesterday. ...
Pav Suy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/31671/luxury-wood-found-near-border/
Patrol detains illegal loggers in Preah Vihear
Five men accused of illegal logging in the Prey Preah Roka Wildlife Sanctuary after being caught by a joint patrol of authorities, villagers and monks should be charged with deforestation, a Preah Vihear provincial prosecutor said on Tuesday. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/patrol-detains-illegal-loggers-preah-vihear-120031/
Illegal hauls of timber discovered
Stung Treng provincial military police discovered four separate stockpiles of illegal timber over the past two days amounting to thousands of cubic meters, but have yet to report any arrests. ...
Pav Suy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/31489/illegal-hauls-of-timber-discovered/
Prey lang activists ‘assaulted’ in Kratie
Three members of the Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) were attacked in Kratie province on Thursday by men believed to be involved in illegal logging, PLCN activists said yesterday. ...
Touch Sokha and Cristina Maza
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/prey-lang-activists-assaulted-kratie
Seized timber sold for $15 mil
A total of 60,000 cubic meters of illegally-felled luxury timber confiscated by the National Anti-Deforestation Committee (NADC) sold at auction yesterday for $15 million, $3 million above the reserve price. Soung Meng Kea, chairman of the subcommittee running the auction and undersecretary of state at the ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/31435/seized-timber-sold-for--15-mil/