Forests and forestry

The European Union ambassador on Wednesday called on the Cambodian government to help combat climate change, foremost by reducing red tape for communities who want to form groups to protect what remains of the country’s forests. ...

Rangers in eastern Cambodia’s Seima Protected Forest have reported seizing 32 animals in three separate busts over the past week, including more than a dozen endangered tortoises. ...

A Cambodian man who had been illegally logging rosewood across the border in Thailand was shot dead by Thai soldiers on Friday, a village chief in Oddar Meanchey province said Tuesday. ...

A group of activists in northwestern Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey province said Tuesday that their forest is under threat from illegal loggers in neighboring provinces and could be completely cleared within months if authorities do not step in to deal with the problem. ...

Nearly 20 cubic metres of timber were seized by local authorities in Stung Treng’s Thala Barivat district yesterday, despite alleged interference by a military police officer from Preah Vihear province, police said. ...

A group of indigenous villagers in northeastern Cambodia’s Stung Treng province called on local forestry officials Wednesday to crackdown on illegal saw mills and to provide them with protection after they received death threats from unsanctioned loggers of luxury timber. ...

In perhaps the most comprehensive review to date of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s 2012 land titling project, the NGO Forum on Tuesday said the campaign has yielded major benefits, but not without some serious costs—particularly for the country’s beleaguered indigenous communities. ...

Activists in Prey Lang forest yesterday seized chainsaws and illegally felled timber from a group of loggers as they continued to “ordain” the woodland’s largest trees in an effort to stop further offences. ...

The Ministry of Defense plans to work with a Singaporean company to plant six million trees in Cambodia that will eventually be turned into high-end perfume, medicine, tea, incense and furniture, an official said Thursday. One Plantation Holdings signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) last month ...

More and more wood is being smuggled across the southwestern border. Smuggling prevention agencies said they had discovered many consignments of wood illegally imported from Laos and Cambodia across the border. ...

Cambodian officials from two provinces bordering Thailand say they are awaiting confirmation of a meeting with Thai counterparts, to discuss illegal export of timber. ...

A military police officer was arrested Monday night at a border checkpoint in Kampot province as he attempted to cross into Vietnam with almost 700 kg of illegally logged wood, police said Wednesday. ...

Four Cambodian migrant workers who were arrested earlier this month for allegedly trying to re-enter Cambodia with fake documents were exonerated by a Thai court and released yesterday, Banteay Meanchey Deputy Governor Um Reatrey has said. ...

Villagers in Ratanakkiri’s O’Yadav district last week seized several logs of illegal timber, ending what they said had been a lull in illegal logging since the arrests of two officials accused of colluding with loggers. ...

Officials charged with protecting Cambodia’s Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary are colluding with loggers responsible for felling at least 300 trees each day, according to activists in the area. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday told provincial governors to take responsibility for curbing forestry crimes in their respective provinces and scolded officials who blame one another when illegal logging is uncovered. ...

The World Wildlife Fund has called for closer cooperation between Cambodia and Laos to protect the Mekong River dolphin, in the wake of the death this week of a female thought to be one of less than 85 left in the river. ...

Cambodia’s foremost logging baron exported more than 100,000 cubic metres of timber from Sihanoukville Port last year, likely including a species protected by an international treaty to which the Kingdom is a signatory, an analysis by Global Witness of leaked export records suggests. The data, obtained ...

A network of about 400 activists completed a five-day patrol of the unprotected 650,000-hectare Prey Long forest in the country’s north Sunday, seizing and burning illegally logged wood and confiscating chainsaws from those they discovered felling trees. ...

The Koh Kong Provincial Court on Friday questioned an Areng Valley villager opposed to a government-backed hydropower dam over allegations of illegal logging but has yet to lay charges. ...

Villagers in Mondolkiri province on Tuesday detained and handed over to authorities a Vietnamese man who told police that Sos Malen, a local environmental official, had let him into Cambodia to log illegally. Immigration police let the man go, however, claiming to have insufficient evidence ...

About 400 community activists on Thursday set out on a five-day patrol of Cambodia’s sprawling— and unprotected—Prey Long forest to root out illegal loggers and the illicit clearing of the area’s commercial farms, making for the largest patrol by the Prey Long Community Network in ...

Experts involved in the protection of Cambodia’s national bird, the giant ibis, have lauded the successes of an ongoing conservation scheme, and offered cause for optimism that the animal can overcome its current status as critically endangered. ...

Villagers in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadav district have filed a complaint with rights group Adhoc against a logging company they say has claimed more than 9,000 hectares of community forest as its own and threatened residents against using the land. ...