Environment and natural resources

Villagers claim that rampant illegal logging is taking place at the Phnom Namlear Wildlife Sanctuary and local authorities are not doing enough to curb the activity. Every night about 20 to 30 lorries remove luxury timber from the wildlife sanctuary, which is fast depleting its ...

The Environment Ministry has asked the Interior Ministry to help facilitate its World Cleanup Day event planned for next month to raise environmental protection awareness. ...

Koh Kong provincial hall on Tuesday revoked ownership of land near the protected Peam Krasoap Wildlife Sanctuary to prevent further land clearing in the area. Its announcement raised fears among local communities of a potential forced eviction. “All illegal land ownership or unregistered land at ...

Banteay Meanchey provincial authorities yesterday released more than 100 rescued turtles into a conservation area in Preah Netr Preah district. Sin Rasy, district military police commander, said that the turtles were seized from poachers earlier this month and were released into the O’ronteah Banh turtle ...

Pursat provincial police and fishery administration officials cracked down on a large scale illegal fishing operation along Tonle Sap lake and seized equipment including over 5,300 fishing nets in Kandieng district’s Raing Til commune. ...

Some 300 pieces of timber were discovered and two men arrested in separate cases in Pursat and Mondulkiri provinces as they were transporting the logs to Vietnam. National Military Police on Monday found piles of first-grade timber measuring nine cubic metres in Pursat’s Veal Veng ...

A joint task-force consisting of the national police and Pursat province’s Phnom Kravanh district police on Saturday arrested five people found transporting illegally-felled timber in Santre commune. ...

Senior Environment Ministry officials on Saturday agreed to continue to work together and cooperate with local forest rangers in order to maintain order and prevent forestry crimes from occurring in Kirirom national park. ...

An Irrawaddy dolphin weighing more than 100 kilograms was found dead on Koh Rong Sanloem beach yesterday, with officials blaming plastic bag consumption for its death. Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith said on Facebook that the dolphin likely died many days ago and then was ...

The Mondulkiri provincial authority on Wednesday refuted claims that it had turned a blind eye to illegal timber trafficking to neighbouring Vietnam. The denial followed the discovery of over 500 pieces of first-grade timber by the National Military Police in protected areas and local media ...

Rights group Licadho said yesterday that a forestry crime reporting mechanism set in place by Koh Kong provincial Governor Mithona Phouthorng to protect tipsters is ineffective as residents fear repercussion from powerful figures. ...

Ratanakkiri police and forestry administration officials yesterday raided a house and seized a large pile of various types of timber in O’Yadav district’s Pork Nhai commune. District police chief Mao Sann said the seizure was made during a crackdown on illegal logging in the area. ...

WWF Cambodia said that elephants play a crucial role in balancing ecosystems by maintaining biodiversity. It said that elephants continue to face extinction due to habitat destruction and conflict with humans, including poaching. ...

Environmental officials at Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary stopped five vans and trucks transporting timber and wooden furniture in Thmey commune, Kulen district, Preah Vihear province on Tuesday and Wednesday. ...

Forestry administration officials and military police officers in Mondulkiri province on Wednesday raided two houses and seized more than 60 kilograms of wild meat in Sen Monorom city’s Spean Meanchey commune. ...

The Ministry of Environment yesterday praised local supermarkets and shopping centres for reducing plastic bag usage following legislation passed last year that requires them to charge customers for plastic bags. ...

The district governor of Koh Nheck in Mondulkiri province, Sin Vannvuth, on Tuesday confirmed that land located between the Phnom Prich wildlife sanctuary and protected forests in Royer commune, will not be seized by the state after authorities stopped its clearing. ...

The Stung Treng Provincial Forestry Administration yesterday said it confiscated 52 pieces of illegal wood in Stung Treng city on Monday after getting a tip that the cargo was being loaded onto a boat on the Sekong river. ...

Military police in Banteay Meanchey province’s Preah Neth Preah district on Sunday confiscated endangered animals from two men suspected of poaching wildlife in Thailand. District military police Commander Sin Rasy said yesterday that authorities managed to stop an SUV transporting endangered wildlife. ...

The Mondulkiri provincial authorities on Sunday ordered the prevention of land and forest clearing in the protected Phnom Prich wildlife sanctuary in Koh Nhek district and neighbouring Lumphat wildlife sanctuary in Ratanakkiri province. ...

Junior Chamber International Cambodia, in collaboration with WCS Cambodia, will hold a two-day tree planting event in Mondulkiri province starting on August 17 as part of a campaign to grow about 50,000 trees from this year to 2020. ...

Fifty metres of riverbank in Chroy Changvar district collapsed on Saturday amid rising water levels in the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers which have caused the capital’s riverside regions to flood. According to Klang Huot, the district governor, traffic has been impacted by the collapse ...

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the Mondulkiri provincial authority to release on bail eight Vietnamese nationals who have been imprisoned for more than six months over an illegal timber trade. At an hour-long trial in absentia, the Supreme Court ordered the eight Vietnamese to ...

Cambodia will embark on developing a billion-dollar eco-tourism park on a 114-hectare land in Preah Vihear. It will use Japanese technology. The Royal Academy Cambodia (RAC) inked a deal with Japanese company BM Nature Safari Co Ltd on Saturday to develop the RAC Techo Sen ...