Forests and forestry

Interior Minister Sar Kheng has blamed local officials posted along the Cambodian-Thai border for failing to curb the flow of illegal loggers sneaking across the border to cut down trees in Thailand. Mr Kheng said on Saturday in Oddar Meanchey province that up to 100 Cambodian ...

Kampong Speu provincial governor Vei Samnang rejected villagers’ request on Sunday for 250ha of land within the Kirirom National Park in Phnom Sruoch district on grounds that the park has been designated a protected area by a royal decree. ...

The Stung Sen wetland has become the Kingdom’s latest Ramsar Site, said the Ministry of Environment. The seasonally-flooded 9,293ha freshwater swamp, located along the southeastern edge of the Tonle Sap great lake in Kampong Thom province, was declared Cambodia’s fifth Ramsar Site on Friday under ...

A truck transporting timber overturned on Thursday evening, killing one person and injured another. The incident at Sen Monorom commune, in Mondulkiri province’s O’Raing district, has added spark to the ongoing debate on forest crimes in the province. The province’s traffic police bureau director Yoem ...

Koh Kong provincial authorities said on Sunday that illegal forestry and wildlife trafficking crimes have decreased considerably at the Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary, although authorities are still investigating cases of encroachment on state land at the site. ...

The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Veng Sakhon on Wednesday asked the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) for financial and technical support to improve the living standards of local communities that still rely on fishery and forestry products for a living. ...

Smugglers working in collusion with corrupt officials on both sides of the border are continuing to move illegally harvested timber from Cambodia’s Mondulkiri province into neighboring Vietnam in spite of government warnings to halt the trade, sources in Cambodia say. ...

The authorities are at a loss over who had cleared and demarcated more than 50ha of mangrove forests in Village I, Tumnob Rolok commune, Stung Hav district, in Preah Sihanouk province. Kim Hak, who heads the community protecting the flooded Tumnob Rolok forest and the ...

Cambodia and Vietnam are seeking better cooperation to combat the illicit timber and wildlife trades, following a meeting between the two countries’ forestry administrations last week. The Agriculture Ministry’s forestry administration deputy director Chan Ponika said a number of officials, including him, participated in the ...

The Environment Ministry on Friday ordered all those who have illegally grabbed land in Preah Suramarit-Kossamak National Park to immediately tear down their structures and give the land back to the government. ...

Cambodian and Vietnamese officials on Monday began a five-day conference to discuss timber trade management, including an incoming trade deal between Vietnam and the European Union that has been decried by environmentalists. ...

A district military police deputy commander yesterday said the logs are being transported to the district military police headquarters for further action. “They were seized after local residents reported finding them while they were walking through the forest,” he said. “We are collecting the logs ...

Stung Treng provincial officials have urged local authorities to continue cooperating to crack down on forestry crimes following some negative posts on social media. A statement from the Provincal Hall on Monday urged people to stop posting false information about steps taken to stop forestry ...

The Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) representative in Kampong Thom province, Sok Plok told The Post that his team had found and seized a number of chainsaws and tents left behind by loggers in the forest. ...

While the Ratanakkiri provincial administration will not recognise illegal land transactions in the province’s protected areas, an NGO says its action is not effective and forest crimes continue unabated. The administration’s letter dated October 19 and obtained by The Post on Monday came after Minister ...

The government is creating two more wildlife sanctuaries, totalling more than 60,000 hectares, in Kratie province to further preserve natural resources, mitigate climate change and reduce the risk of natural disasters. ...

Four suspects were jailed Thursday for illegally harvesting luxury timber from a protected forest in Mondulkiri province’s Koh Nhek district, a court official said yesterday. Morm Vanda, a provincial court spokesman, yesterday said the four were jailed after being suspected of illegal logging in a ...

Prey Lang forest activists in Kampong Thom province on Wednesday claimed that illegal logging is continuing unabated, no thanks to local authorities and powerful individuals whom they allege are aiding the perpetrators. While acknowledging that forest clearing still exists in the area, forestry officials claimed the ...

A prominent environmental activist has reached out to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment in a bid to have him oppose a timber trade deal set to be inked between the European Union and Vietnam. ...

The European Union has quashed concerns of several Cambodia environmental NGOs over a trade deal on tropical timber with Vietnam, saying that the scheme is to promote legally harvested timber, EU Ambassador to Cambodia George Edgar said.​ ...

The Cambodian Youth Party has requested the government reconsider the development of the Boeng Prek Tup lake area in Preah Sihanouk province. More than 16 hectares of Boeng Prek Tup lake was designated as a freshwater conservation area in 2016 by a government sub-decree. The ...

Indigenous people in Mondulkiri province’s Keo Seima district yesterday expressed concern over logging activities in the Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary, which they claim is allowed by some commune authorities.​ ...

Danish researcher Ida Theilade has been bestowed the University of Copenhagen’s Innovation Award 2018 for inventing a smartphone app that can prevent illegal logging and preserve forest resources in the Prey Lang forest. ...

The Ministry of Environment and Siem Reap provincial administration have formed a joint committee to deliberate the relocation of 5,000 people from Kulen Mountain following deforestation in the tourist area. Ministry spokesman Neth Pheaktra said on Sunday that the livelihood of the people affects the ...