Forests and forestry
Forest products
PM gives ministers an 'F', lashes out at illegal logging task force
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. ...
Mech Dara, Lay Samean and Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-gives-ministers-f-lashes-out-illegal-logging-task-force
Gov’t names illegal logging profiteers, but courts won’t prosecute
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 ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/21780/gov---t-names-illegal-logging-profiteers--but-courts-won---t-prosecute/
Task force for illegal logging begins sending cases to court
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. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/task-force-for-illegal-logging-begins-sending-cases-to-court-108847/
NGOs, military police join forces in logging crackdown
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. ...
Mech Dara and Charles Rollet
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ngos-military-police-join-forces-logging-crackdown
Illegal Cambodian loggers detained in Thailand
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. ...
Ros Chanveasna
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/21479/illegal-cambodian-loggers-detained-in-thailand/
Rubber company denies any illegal logging
A rubber plantation in Mondolkiri province targeted by a new government task force sweeping the eastern provinces for illicit timber stocks has denied any involvement in the illegal logging trade. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rubber-company-denies-any-illegal-logging-108555/
Official gets called out in sanctuary logging case
Two men have been arrested over, and a military official implicated in, illegal logging that took place at the protected Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary last week. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/official-gets-called-out-sanctuary-logging-case
Logs seized in Stung Treng
The recently created nationwide anti-logging commission seized 300 logs of illegal timber at a sawmill near a Vietnamese graveyard in Stung Treng province on Friday. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/logs-seized-stung-treng
Journalist detained over logging story
A journalist who accused a military police commander of accepting bribes from illegal loggers in Mondolkiri province was arrested and briefly detained on Thursday on the commander’s orders, a move that was criticized by the Ministry of Information. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/journalist-detained-over-logging-story-108258/
Another cache of buried logs found near Oknha’s sawmill
Authorities have unearthed another cache of high-grade logs buried near a well-known timber dealer’s sawmill in Tbong Khmum province, weeks after finding a stockpile of buried logs on the businessman’s property in the same district. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/another-cache-of-buried-logs-found-near-oknhas-sawmill-107986/
Prey Lang network calls for protections in logging crackdown
The Prey Lang Community Network has called on the government to include the protection of the sprawling Prey Lang forest in the remit of the recently established committee to crack down on illegal logging. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/prey-lang-network-calls-protections-logging-crackdown
Shots fired in Mondulkiri timber chase
A former Mondulkiri provincial military police officer, Sou Marith, fired on authorities who had chased a car carrying timber to his home, but managed to make good his escape in the hours it took authorities to procure an arrest warrant, local authorities said. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/shots-fired-mondulkiri-timber-chase
Shots fired in Mondulkiri timber chase
A former Mondulkiri provincial military police officer, Sou Marith, fired on authorities who had chased a car carrying timber to his home, but managed to make good his escape in the hours it took authorities to procure an arrest warrant, local authorities said. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/shots-fired-mondulkiri-timber-chase
Illegal logging has become more violent than ever
Criminal loggers and land snatchers are committing more murders around the world, but they almost always escape justice. ...
Rachel Nuwer
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/02/160202-Illegal-loggers-murders-violence-defending-land/
Samrin blocks letter about Vietnamese army ELCs
National Assembly President Heng Samrin has refused to forward to Prime Minister Hun Sen a letter from an opposition lawmaker asking that a group of rubber plantations owned by Vietnamese Army commanders be canceled because they violate the Constitution. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/samrin-blocks-letter-about-vietnamese-army-elcs-107250/
Timber burned at Mondulkiri ELC
Hundreds of logs of timber, including luxury wood, as well as sawmill camps were torched at a controversial Vietnamese-owned economic land concession in Mondulkiri province’s Keo Seima district in an apparent bid to destroy evidence of illegal logging ahead of a raid by a new ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/timber-burned-mondulkiri-elc
National Police add weight to logging crackdown
Cambodia’s National Police have joined the fray in an ongoing crackdown against illegal logging, starting their own “mission group” following the creation of a military police task force last week. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/national-police-add-weight-logging-crackdown
Pheap timber under scrutiny
Authorities from the government’s new anti-logging task force swooped into Stung Treng yesterday and inspected timber stockpiles belonging to the Kingdom’s most prominent logging magnate, Try Pheap, who has been accused of reaping immense profits from the clear-cutting of Cambodian forests for years. ...
Mech Dara and Charles Rollet
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pheap-timber-under-scrutiny
Vietnam border sealed against loggers
Cambodia’s military police said yesterday that they have sealed the Vietnam border against wood transport following a major crackdown on two tycoons’ logging warehouses on Sunday. Local observers and experts, however, suggested the actions were little more than a hiccup for a long-tolerated illicit trade. ...
Mech Dara, Igor Kossov and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/vietnam-border-sealed-against-loggers
Tbong Khmum timber warehouses raide
Authorities yesterday raided several logging warehouses in the country’s east, just days after Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered a crackdown on illegal timber smuggling into Vietnam. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tbong-khmum-timber-warehouses-raided
Community sues border police over loggers
A group of villagers in Mondolkiri province filed a lawsuit this week against three local border police officers and a forestry official accusing them of allowing Vietnamese loggers to sneak across the nearby border and illegally log the forests they depend on for a living. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/104780-104780/
Officials claim ignorance of illegal logging report by police
Police and government officials say they know nothing about a recent report published by the National Police accusing wealthy businessman Soeng Sam Ol of using government-approved economic land concessions in Mondolkiri province to illegally log a local wildlife sanctuary, but added that they would investigate ...
Aun Pheap and Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/officials-claim-ignorance-of-illegal-logging-report-by-police-104650/
Rosewood bust at Tbong Khmum pepper field
Officers from Tbong Khmum provincial police’s anti-economic crime unit yesterday seized 36 pieces of luxury rosewood timber dumped in a pepper field in Memot district’s Memot commune. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rosewood-bust-tbong-khmum-pepper-field
Seized wood nears end of 120-km trip
After more than a week traveling along remote forest trails in eastern Mondolkiri province, police and forestry officials transporting 30 large pieces of valuable timber seized from Vietnamese loggers earlier this month are expected to reach the end of their 120-km journey today, an official ...
Saing Soenthrith
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/seized-wood-nears-end-of-120-km-trip-104078/