Environment and natural resources
23 trafficked loggers repatriated from Thailand
Thai police on Monday repatriated 23 Cambodian men who were tricked into traveling to Thailand to log rosewood, according to an official. ...
Saing Soenthrith
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/23-trafficked-loggers-repatriated-from-thailand-95008/
Four arrested in raids on timber warehouses
Four people were arrested and more than 1,000 pieces of illegally logged timber seized in Mondolkiri province during a coordinated series of raids on three warehouses over the past three days, an official said Sunday. ...
Saing Soenthrith
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/four-arrested-in-raids-on-timber-warehouses-94855/
More than 1,000 logs confiscated
Forestry officials raided two locations in Mondulkiri province on Friday, confiscating more than 1,000 logs from suspected illegal timber dealers. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/more-1000-logs-confiscated
Nine Cambodian provinces face loss of EU funding for forestry management project
Nine forest communities across Cambodia on Friday expressed concern about illegal land encroachment and logging operations as a European Union-funded sustainable forest management project which helped communities in wooded areas thrive comes to an end. ...
Hang Savyouth and Oum Rainsey
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/nine-cambodian-provinces-face-loss-of-eu-funding-for-forestry-management-project-09182015165712.html
Police in Stung Treng seize ‘tycoon’s timber’
At least 100 cubic metres of luxury timber allegedly belonging to powerful tycoon Na Marady was intercepted in Stung Treng province’s Sesan district yesterday, officials said. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/police-stung-treng-seize-tycoons-timber
Cambodian forest caretakers confess to illegal logging
Members of a community-based organization in Cambodia responsible for protecting local forest resources have confessed to illegally cutting down trees to sell to local businessmen, prompting the group’s leader to threaten to resign. ...
Ratha Visal
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/logging-09172015144036.html
Climate change ‘leadership needed’
Senior officials from the Environment Ministry have called on the developed world to provide more assistance in the battle against climate change, which they said Cambodia is working hard to address. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/climate-change-leadership-needed
Authorities seize logs in K Speu
Over 100 logs of luxury timber from Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary in Kampong Speu province were seized by authorities in Chbar Mon town on Tuesday. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/authorities-seize-logs-k-speu
Gov’t gets tough on environment
Cambodian environmental leaders came together yesterday to discuss the country’s contributions to the upcoming Paris Climate Conference in December. ...
Va Sonyka
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/15818/gov---t-gets-tough-on-environment/
Police block protest convoy on way to land trial
A group of villagers from Svay Rieng province involved in a land dispute with the Forestry Administration said police officers attempted to block them from traveling to the provincial court Wednesday morning to protest against the trial of three community leaders. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-block-protest-convoy-on-way-to-land-trial-94496/
Thailand releases group of illegal loggers
Thai authorities have released 58 Cambodians accused of illegal logging, after fining them about $120 each, officials said. ...
Men Kimseng
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/thailand-releases-group-of-illegal-loggers/2966169.html
Storm batters Sihanoukville, Phnom Penh next
At least 60 containers at the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port were knocked over on Tuesday morning, as coastal areas were battered with high winds, heavy rains and two-meter high waves. ...
Ros Chanveasna
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/15768/storm-batters-sihanoukville--phnom-penh-next/
Plan hatched to save Ibis
A new 10-year action plan proposed by a host of NGOs aims to reverse the fortunes of Cambodia’s national bird, the giant ibis, which faces increasing pressure from human encroachment in its dwindling habitat.With fewer than 200 mature individuals now believed to survive in the ...
Charles Parkinson
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/plan-hatched-save-ibis
Poacher flees police in M’kiri after killing endangered deer
Forestry Administration officers confiscated the hacked-up body of an illegally hunted sambar deer in Mondulkiri province on Sunday, though the poacher avoided arrest by escaping into the protected forest where the bust took place. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/poacher-flees-police-mkiri-after-killing-endangered-deer
Military police seize vehicle with army plates, rosewood
Military police in Kompong Chhnang province said they found 290 kg of rosewood in the back of an SUV with military license plates yesterday but failed to apprehend the driver, who escaped in a car that had been following his. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/military-police-seize-vehicle-with-army-plates-rosewood-94206/
Trucks carrying timber seized in Kampong Speu
Four large trucks thought to be carrying illegal timber were stopped and impounded in Kampong Speu province by local authorities on Friday morning. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/trucks-carrying-timber-seized-kampong-speu
Poipet rainfall ‘not alarming yet’: official
Heavy rains in Poipet town have yet to reach a “serious” level, according to the government, despite widespread flooding in recent days. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/poipet-rainfall-not-alarming-yet-official
Dam threat to Mekong River’s last few dolphins
The fate of the last surviving Irrawaddy river dolphins on the Laos-Cambodian border hangs in the balance after a Laos government official was reported as saying this week that construction of the dam would begin by the end of the year. ...
Claire Boobbyer
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/11857911/Dam-threat-to-Mekong-Rivers-last-few-dolphins.html
Laos dam project a black eye for Mekong cooperation
When the Lao national assembly last week approved a potentially destructive dam project just 2 kilometers from the border with Cambodia, the surprise announcement was yet another blow to the regional framework designed to protect the Mekong River. ...
James Reddick
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/15553/laos-dam-project-a-black-eye-for-mekong-cooperation/
Protecting fishing cats’ habitat is vital
The release last week of camera-trap photos showing fishing cats prowling wetlands in Koh Kong and Preah Sihanouk provinces drew cheers from environmentalists as well as a note of caution – ensuring their survival will require plenty of work. ...
Jack Laurenson
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/15541/protecting-fishing-cats----habitat-is-vital/
Still waiting for the rain
People are no longer denying that El Nino – a cyclical weather phenomenon that can cause severe drought – has arrived in Cambodia. ...
Naomi-Collett Ritz
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/15484/still-waiting-for-the-rain/
NGO files suit over ‘seizures’ in Phnom Oral
A Kampong Speu-based NGO has accused a police officer and several rangers working for the provincial Environment Department of seizing more than 100 hectares of Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary, demanding a court order to restore the land and hold the parties to account. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ngo-files-suit-over-seizures-phnom-oral
Rosewood hauls in R’kiri, K Thom
Three accused illegal loggers have been placed in pre-trial detention in Ratanakkiri province, after authorities caught them on Sunday evening transporting nearly a tonne of rosewood.According to Ratanakkiri anti-economic crimes police chief Nov Dara, the men were caught in Kon Mom district driving two vehicles ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rosewood-hauls-rkiri-k-thom
FAO: World's forests faring better
The bottom line from the Food and Agriculture Organization’s 2015 assessment of global forest resources: The state of the world’s forests is better than it was.The U.N. agency released the report this week ahead of the 14th World Forestry Congress in Durban, South Africa. ...
Joe DeCapua
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/fao-says-world-forests-faring-better/2950891.html