Forests and forestry

Faced with Cambodia’s rapid deforestation, a group of monks and environmental groups want to replenish Cambodia’s natural world. ...

The manager of a Vietnamese rubber plantation in Mondolkiri province accused of illegally logging in collusion with local military police denied the claims Tuesday but admitted to calling on police to quell protests. ...

Five Cambodians were shot dead by Thai soldiers while illegally logging across the border during the first half of the year, according to the government’s latest figures, roughly on par with last year. ...

In Cambodia’s wildlife sanctuaries, conservation areas and national parks, forests are falling as fast as anywhere else. ...

A vehicle transporting 18 cubic metres of illegally logged timber was stopped on Saturday night by the Wildlife Alliance’s Wildlife Rapid Response Team (WRRT) in Kampong Speu province and is believed to belong to a military officer currently involved in a prior lawsuit over contraband ...

A soldier and two civilians were charged on Wednesday with illegally clearing forest land by the Kompong Thom Provincial Court, while a second soldier who allegedly guarded the illicit operation has been charged with illegal weapons possession, a court official said Thursday. ...

Cambodis’s most crucial forests are disappearing at a rate of more than 2,000 kilometres a year, as agricultural firms continue to harvest timber by illegal means in protected areas and national parks, according to a study from Washington-based Forest Trends. ...

The analysis, from campaign group Forest Trends, says that large corporations are using legitimate development permits to illegally clear land.Around 2,000 sq km of forests are being lost every year, they say. ...

A forest peoples’ network has appealed to tycoon Try Pheap to issue a written commitment to put a halt to his companies’ deforestation activities after he told the Post last week that his logging days are over. ...

An inspection of a truck transporting cassava through Siem Reap province’s Kralanh district on Tuesday revealed a massive haul of luxury rosewood. ...

CNRP lawmaker Un Sam An sent a letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday asking for an investigation of Try Pheap’s Special Economic Zone in Ratanakkiri province, saying that the timber magnate is misusing the site to export illegally logged trees to Vietnam.   ...

A ban on the importation of chainsaws into Cambodia could be in the offing, after agriculture officials this week called for a nationwide crackdown on the illegal logging trade. ...

An illegal-meat dealer was arrested in Ratanakkiri province on Monday after 65 kg of gaur meat and two heads of the endangered bovine species were discovered along with two dried tiger skins during a raid of his home, an official said. ...

Preah Vihear province Try Pheap wants to turn over a new leaf.In an exclusive interview with the Post at the opening ceremony of his vast plantation in Preah Vihear province on Sunday, the media-shy tycoon spoke of a desire to cultivate a new image – ...

An endangered gaur – a species of wild bovine – was reportedly shot dead near a protected forest last Wednesday in Stung Treng’s Siem Pang district. ...

Two men were arrested in Kompong Thom province on Tuesday after they drove their car to obstruct a team of officials in pursuit of a vehicle suspected of transporting illegally harvested luxury timber through Stung Sen City, police said. ...

After marching for Prey Lang forest, the Independent Monk Network for Social Justice now plans to station monks in the forest for two week anti-logging “patrols.” ...

A loacal NGO director and a village chief in Battambang’s Samlot district were summoned for questioning by district police today over a complaint filed by six loggers, who claim the men attempted to extort $6,000 from them under the threat of violence. ...

Farmers in Cambodia who depend on forest products for their livelihood face an uncertain future because of dwindling forests. ...

CNRP lawmakers have written to Prime Minister Hun Sen asking him to stop the ongoing illegal logging of northeast Cambodia’s Virachey National Park, which they said they witnessed during a recent trip and blamed on businessmen An Mady and Try Pheap. ...

King Norodom Sihamoni will participate in a tree-planting event in Kampong Thom today, along with government officials and members of the public, as part of a nationwide celebration that aims to draw attention to conversation of Cambodia’s forests. ...

Members of the ethnic Jarai community in Ratanakkiri’s Andong Meas district have lodged a complaint with the provincial court, demanding that it take legal action against four Vietnamese nationals and two Cambodian border officials for offences related to illegal logging. ...

Gunshots were fired in a tense standoff between two armed groups in Kampong Speu province’s Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary last month, prompting a court investigation into what happened. ...

Around 100 activists, including Buddhist monks, gathered in front of Cambodia’s parliament Monday to demand that lawmakers and the country’s Forestry Administration take action against illegal logging in endangered Prey Lang forest. ...