Forest policy and administration

An estimated 30 to 40 cubic metres of protected luxury timber was intercepted in Ratanakkiri province on Wednesday night while being hauled to Vietnam, according to local officials. ...

After years of land-grabbing that has eroded a protected forest in Battambang Province, forestry administration officials took a forceful step yesterday to crack down on the problem. In the early hours of the morning, a team from the forestry administration alongside local police entered the ...

Several weeks after villagers on the outskirts of a community forest in Battambang Province began clearing trees and seizing land, forestry administration officials say there has been a lull in deforestation. ...

A police officer and a Forestry Administration official were shot dead by illegal loggers in Preah Vihear province early Saturday morning in an attack that also left a second officer injured, according to a local official who gave two different versions of the incident. ...

In the latest twist in a long-running dispute over a protected community forest in Battambang province, villagers disgusted by rampant land grabbing have begun scrambling for a piece of the action. ...

During its latest round of patrols this week, the Prey Lang Community Network confiscated 12 chainsaws from alleged illegal loggers in Preah Vihear, which it plans to hand over to the local Forestry Administration. ...

Authorities in Battambang province arrested a man on Wednesday for possession of 30 kilograms of illegal wildlife meat and body parts, after a raid on a property turned up pieces of bear, muntjac deer and civet. ...

In late November 2011, Minh Ny found himself in a brawl with a group of heavily-armed policemen in Kompong Thom province’s Sandan district as the police attempted to handcuff the late environmentalist Chut Wutty. When the network was named a winner of the Equator Prize, ...

Authorities have seized large amounts of luxury wood following busts on two separate illegal timber transporters in Pursat and Ratanakkiri provinces.Local Forestry Administration officials together with Phnom Kravanh district police forces on Friday reported intercepting some five tractor loads containing 29 tbeng logs. ...

Thai police on Monday repatriated 23 Cambodian men who were tricked into traveling to Thailand to log rosewood, according to an official. ...

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. ...

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. ...

Police and forestry officials in Kratie province have seized a truck and the illegally logged luxury-grade wood it had been ferrying through Snuol district after finding the vehicle overturned and abandoned on Saturday, officials said Sunday. ...

As part of the country’s largest ever elephant survey, 1,300 dung samples have been collected in Mondolkiri province in an effort to ascertain how many of the pachyderms remain in the province and where they live. ...

A forestry official in Mondulkiri province was surrounded by taxi drivers yesterday as they allegedly prevented him from tailing a suspected illegal timber dealer who was heading towards the Vietnam border. ...

Police in Kompong Thom province arrested two people on Saturday night when a group of about 30 villagers attempted to free their vehicles from Forestry Administration officials who had confiscated them, police said Sunday. ...

Police on Sunday released six Cambodian men who were arrested in Oddar Meanchey province the night before with a load of rosewood they had logged in Thailand and carried back across the border, an official said. ...

The Foreign Affairs Ministry is looking into a Thai media report that seven Cambodian illegal loggers were involved in a gunfight with Thai soldiers Thursday that culminated in one Cambodian suffering serious injuries and all of the suspects being arrested, a ministry spokesman said. ...

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. ...

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. ...

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. ...

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.” ...