Forests and forestry
Forest products
Auctions of illegal timber to resume, officials say
Top officials on Monday said the government would be auctioning off some of the 70,000 cubic meters of wood authorities have seized in recent months, backtracking on a recent pledge Hun Sen made to stop the sales. ...
Aun Pheap and Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/auctions-of-illegal-timber-to-resume-officials-say-112370/
Thai authorities arrest 29 Cambodians for logging
Twenty-nine Cambodian men were arrested while logging rosewood in the mountains of Thailand’s Prachinburi province on Wednesday, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement on Friday. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/thai-authorities-arrest-29-cambodians-for-logging-112301/
Loggers sent back by authorities in Thailand
Nine Cambodians were arrested and sent back to Cambodia from Thailand yesterday after Thai soldiers allegedly caught them logging illegally in the Dangrek Mountains. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/loggers-sent-back-authorities-thailand
One logging standoff, two differing accounts
Soldiers allegedly protecting an illegal logging operation in Oddar Meanchey threatened to shoot a group of forest patrollers that stumbled across their logging site on Sunday, Rattanak Rokha community forest patrol leader Chea Chuong said yesterday, though an RCAF commander denied the account. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/one-logging-standoff-two-differing-accounts
All citizens enlisted in crackdown on illegal logging
After setting up the National Anti-Deforestation Committee (NADC) in an attempt to show that the government was trying to stop illegal logging, Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday called on all citizens to join the battle, saying people even had the right to make citizen arrests ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/24392/all-citizens-enlisted-in-crackdown-on-illegal-logging/
Timber smuggling on the rise in Cambodia's Ratanakiri province
The smuggling of illegally cut timber from northeastern Cambodia’s Ratanakiri province to Vietnam has dramatically increased since around April 17, with smugglers traveling the roads between the two countries day and night, sources in the region say. ...
RFA Team
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/timber-04262016170028.html
Twelve illegal loggers arrested in Mondulkiri
Twelve loggers were arrested on Saturday while harvesting timber illegally inside the Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary in Pich Chreada’s Pou Chrey commune, according to a local media report. ...
Pav Suy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/24166/twelve-illegal-loggers-arrested-in-mondulkiri/
Car chase results in capture of notorious timber trafficker
Police in Mondolkiri province yesterday arrested a former military police officer with two outstanding warrants after chasing down his SUV and finding a cache of illegally sourced luxury wood inside. ...
Buth Kimsay
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/car-chase-results-in-capture-of-notorious-timber-trafficker-111568/
Crackdown halts illegal timber trade with Vietnam: gov’t
The illegal timber trade to Vietnam, a key nexus in a shadow industry worth billions of dollars, has been all but eliminated, an official said yesterday in summarising a new report from the government’s anti-logging commission, a claim met with disbelief by more than one ...
Mech Dara and Igor Kossov
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/crackdown-halts-illegal-timber-trade-vietnam-govt
Patrol thwarts bid to cross Thai border illegally
Police in Koh Kong province reported yesterday that 49 Cambodians were caught trying to cross the Thai border during a forest patrol on Monday in Smach Meanchey district. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/patrol-thwarts-bid-cross-thai-border-illegally
Hornbill rescued in Seima protected forest
A patrol in Seima Protected Forest in Mondulkiri last weekend found a young great hornbill near an illegal logging site. Hornbill sightings have become rarer as the bird’s population drops. ...
Jonathan Cox
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23925/hornbill-rescued-in-seima-protected-forest/
Defender of Cambodia's dwindling forests wins goldman prize
The latest crackdown on illegal logging in Cambodia is “just a game” and big timber traders are winning, says Ouch Leng, a former government official who has spent two decades helping poor villagers fight poaching of precious tropical forests. Leng’s tenacious and perilous crusade to stop ...
Elaine Kurtenbach
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/defender-cambodias-dwindling-forests-wins-goldman-prize-38473467
Commune chief found with over 17 tons of illegal rosewood
Police in Tbong Khmum province found more than 4,000 pieces of undocumented rosewood after raiding the home of a commune chief over the weekend but chose not to arrest the official pending further investigation. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/commune-chief-found-with-over-17-tons-of-illegal-rosewood-110526/
Attack on Prey Lang defender highlights logger brutality
A member of the Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) in Kratie province was seriously injured after she was attacked by an unknown assailant while sleeping in a hammock on Sunday night near Boeung Cha village. ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23301//
Armed soldiers storm forestry office to retake truck
A group of 10 armed soldiers stormed a Forestry Administration office in Oddar Meanchey province on Monday and attempted to seize a military truck that had been confiscated from them after they used it to transport illegal timber, leading to an hourslong standoff, officials said. ...
Saing Soenthrith
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/armed-soldiers-storm-forestry-office-to-retake-truck-110515/
Suspect logs found on plantation
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. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/suspect_logs_found_on_plantation-110061/
Car chase nets 1.5 tons of rosewood, no suspects
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. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/car-chase-nets-1-5-tons-of-rosewood-no-suspects-109958/
Deforestation taskforce files complaint against five companies
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. ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/22549/deforestation-taskforce-files-complaint-against-five-companies/
Police official avoids prosecution for rosewood smuggling
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. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-official-avoids-prosecution-for-rosewood-smuggling-109650/
Court summons businessmen in connection to timber
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. ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/22346/court-summons-businessmen-in-connection-to-timber/
Environmental campaigner convicted of forestry crime
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. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/109399-109399/
City hall planning to privatize 280-hectare development site
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. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/city-hall-planning-to-privatize-280-hectare-development-site-109413/
NGO backs crackdown on logging, wants more
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. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ngo-backs-crackdown-logging-wants-more
Preah Vihear blaze razes timber
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. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/preah-vihear-blaze-razes-timber