Environment and natural resources

Authorities in Ratanakkiri province have found more piles of possibly illegally logged wood as part of the government’s ongoing sweep of eastern Cambodia for illicit timber stocks, this time on a rubber plantation owned by wealthy businessman Soung Vang. ...

China’s decision to discharge water from the Jinghong hydropower station in Yunnan province, allowing it to flow down the Mekong River to help alleviate water shortages downstream, was praised by the Foreign Ministry yesterday. ...

The two-kilometer stretch of white sand that curves along  translucent sea in an idyllic bay near Sihanoukville was still living up to its picture-perfect mystique on Sunday, with couples strolling hand-in-hand beneath the cloudless sky as others slouched in cushioned chairs soaking up the sun. ...

A high-speed police chase across Stung Treng province early Monday morning led to the confiscation of more than 1.5 tons of rosewood, but only after an SUV plowed into a police truck blocking the road, with two suspects eventually fleeing on foot. ...

The National Anti-Deforestation Committee (NADC) filed complaints to provincial courts against five companies that obtained economic land concessions (ELCs) from the government after discovering irregularities in the companies’ timber stocks after a three-day inspection early this week. ...

About 2,700 families in Kampong Cham province’s Reay Pai commune, where wells and ponds have almost dried up, could soon be left without any safe water. ...

A police official in Kompong Thom province has so far avoided prosecution in a weekend timber smuggling case involving his brother, three unidentified loggers and three carloads of rosewood logs marked with his name. ...

Although they remain publicly unnamed, nine businessmen in the timber industry were summoned to appear at the Tbong Khmum provincial court today for alleged deforestation crimes and illegal business dealings, according to officials. ...

A prominent anti-dam activist in Koh Kong province who has been jailed since October was convicted Thursday of illegal logging and given a suspended prison sentence, allowing him to walk free but leaving the shadow of a criminal conviction hanging over him. ...

About 60 families in Battambang town gathered yesterday to demand that the owner of an ice-making factory stop releasing polluted water into the creek that runs through their neighborhood in Romchek village 5 as well as on their land. ...

City Hall plans to privatize a 280-hectare plot of public land set aside for a $3 billion development by the Over­seas Cambodia Investment Cor­poration (OCIC) in Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changva district, officials said Thursday.   ...

The Indigenous Peoples and Forestry Network (IPFN) yesterday released a statement praising the government’s ongoing purported crackdown on illegal logging, but saying far more needs to be done. ...

An attempt by about 100 Cambodian protesters to force the Angkor Beer company to divest its stake in the Don Sahong hydropower plant in Laos fell flat on Friday when company representatives said the brewer has no involvement in the project. ...

A blaze authorities have attributed to a forest fire ripped through a nearly 4,000-cubic-metre timber stockpile on a social land concession in Preah Vihear’s Kulen district on the weekend, although the company yesterday said it suspected a case of arson. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen unleashed a tirade against underperforming government officials in a pair of speeches yesterday – musing aloud about reshuffling his Council of Ministers and wondering why rockets had not yet been deployed in the Kingdom’s recent “crackdown” on illegal logging. ...

RepRisk, the leading provider of dynamic business intelligence on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks, has released its Special Report on the Lower Mekong Basin, the second in a series of reports on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), an economic and political organization ...

Villagers in the Cardamoms said earlier this month that the illegal practice of capturing wild long-tailed macaque monkeys is alive and well, despite a government ban. The practice was outlawed in 2010, after wild captures devastated Cambodian populations of the monkeys, but high demand by ...

More than a month has passed since National Anti-Deforestation Committee (NADC) named the people it suspects of profiting from the trade in illegal timber, but not a single arrest warrant or court summons has been issued since. As perpetrators continue to go unpunished, the illegal ...

An ad hoc task force set up by Prime Minister Hun Sun last month to go after illegal timber stocks in eastern Cambodia has started sending cases to the pro­vincial courts for prosecution, Na­tional Police spokesman Eng Hy said on Monday. ...

Over a month after launching, the National Anti-Deforestation Committee (NADC) has claimed that deforestation crimes across the country have dropped significantly, with the majority of illegal deforestation occurring in Mondulkiri, Kratie and Tbong Khmum provinces. ...

Six prominent conservation groups yesterday vowed to help a military police task force fight illegal logging near the eastern border yesterday. However, scepticism persists that the highly publicised operation, which has resulted in few arrests, is merely for show. ...

Cambodia has performed poorly in the 2016 edition of a recent environmental report, ranking a dismal 146 out of 180 countries.The Kingdom returned one of the lowest Environmental Performance Index (EPI) scores in the region, narrowly edging ahead of Myanmar and Laos. ...

Cambodia is beginning to coordinate efforts to respond to climate change, a government official said ahead of high-level talks in California at which the environment is set to be on the agenda. ...

Four Cambodian nationals were arrested by Thai authorities on illegal logging allegations after the suspects were caught in a Surin province wildlife sanctuary with felled Siamese Rosewood trees and logging tools on Monday, according to officials. ...