Environment and natural resources
Forests and forestry
(ខ្មែរ) GW៖ កម្ពុជាជាប្រទេសដែលសកម្មជនការពារបរិស្ថាននិងដីធ្លីជាច្រើនត្រូវបានសម្លាប់
អង្គការការពារធនធានធម្មជាតិឈ្មោះ ក្លូបប៊ល វីតណែស្ស (Global Witness = GW) ចាត់ទុកកម្ពុជា ថាជាប្រទេសមួយដែលមានសកម្មជនការពារបរិស្ថាន និងដីធ្លីជាច្រើនត្រូវបានគេសម្លាប់។ ស្ថាប័នអន្តរជាតិមួយនេះ អំពាវនាវឲ្យរដ្ឋាភិបាលចាត់វិធានការឲ្យបានតឹងរ៉ឹង ដើម្បីបញ្ឈប់ការគំរាមកំហែងនានាទៅលើសកម្មជនការពារបរិស្ថាន និងដីធ្លី។ នៅក្នុងរបាយការណ៍សិក្សាចុះថ្ងៃទី១៥ ខែមេសា ឆ្នាំ២០១៤ អង្គការក្លូបប៊ល វីតណែស្ស បានផ្តល់ចំណាត់ថ្នាក់ដល់កម្ពុជា ស្ថិតក្នុងលំដាប់លេខ៩ ក្នុងចំណោមប្រទេសទាំងអស់ចំនួន៣៥ ដែលមានសកម្មជនការពារបរិស្ថាន និងដីធ្លី ត្រូវបានគេសម្លាប់។ ក្នុងចំណោមប្រទេសទាំង៣៥ នោះ ប្រទេសដែលសកម្មជនការពារបរិស្ថាន និងដីធ្លីត្រូវបានគេសម្លាប់ច្រើនជាងគេ រួមមានប្រទេសប្រេស៊ីល (Brazil) ប្រទេសហុងឌុយរ៉ាស់ (Honduras) ប្រទេសហ្វីលីពីន (Philippines) ប្រទេសប៉េរូ (Peru) និងប្រទេសកូឡុំប៊ី (Columbia)។ ចំណែកប្រទេសកម្ពុជា ជាប់ចំណាត់ថ្នាក់លេខ៩ គឺនៅពីក្រោយប្រទេសម៉ិចស៊ិក (Mexico) ហ្គាតេម៉ាឡា (Guatemala) និងប្រទេសថៃ (Thailand)។ ...
Anti-dam activists set to block workers’ arrival
Members of an ethnic minority in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley stood watch Thursday to block a road leading to the site of a proposed dam after they heard that Chinese workers would inspect the site, community representatives said. Villagers believe that the Chinese company Sinohydro ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/anti-dam-activists-set-to-block-workers-arrival-56442/
A logging free-for-all
The scale of mass logging in once-dense woodlands in Cambodia’s north now more closely resembles the free-for-all of a gold rush than the sustainable forestry more often associated with these communities. With the financial backing of powerful businessmen, villagers in three districts of Preah Vihear are ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/logging-free-all
Jail time for governor if summons ignored
The governor of Ratanakkiri province’s Lumphat district will face arrest if he fails to appear for a second summons to Ratanakkiri Provincial Court to answer questions about his alleged involvement in the illegal logging of protected land around the Ou’Sinlair waterfall, the court said yesterday. The ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/jail-time-governor-if-summons-ignored
Villagers make plea over crocs
A group of villagers from Koh Kong’s Areng Valley gathered outside the offices of Flora & Fauna International (FFI) in Phnom Penh yesterday, demanding a say in a project designed to relocate endangered Siamese crocodiles from the site of the planned Stung Cheay Areng dam. ...
Phak Seangly and Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-make-plea-over-crocs
Python peddler arrested
Police in Kandal province’s Koh Thom district seized a shipment of live pythons en route to market in Vietnam on Friday, arresting the accused smuggler and turning the snakes over to conservation group Wildlife Alliance, police said yesterday. ...
Kim Sarom
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/python-peddler-arrested
Man injured by landmine while illegally logging
A man was seriously injured on Saturday by an anti-personnel landmine that exploded under him as he tried to sneak across the Thai-Cambodian border to illegally log rosewood, local officials said. [O’Smach commune chief] Mr. [Phang] Sam Ath said the border area where the men ...
Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/man-injured-by-landmine-while-illegally-logging-55854/
Smugglers’ boats sink in timber chase
Smugglers sank two boats filled with illegally logged rosewood into Koh Kong’s Sre Ambel River as they shook off pursuing rangers from Wildlife Alliance on March 22, the NGO has said. An anonymous informant tipped off rangers in Sre Ambel district to the boats, allegedly filled ...
Amelia Woodside and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/smugglers%E2%80%99-boats-sink-timber-chase
RCAF soldiers charged for smuggling Rosewood
Siem Reap Provincial Court on Wednesday charged four soldiers from the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) with illegally logging rosewood and placed them in pre-trial detention, an official said. “We charged them under article 96 of the Forestry Law,” said Hok Pov, an investigating judge at ...
Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rcaf-soldiers-charged-for-smuggling-rosewood-55656/
‘Fatal shooting’ did not happen, Thailand says
While Cambodian officials say the Thais have not responded to a request for an inquiry into the shooting death of a man they say illegally crossed the border, Thailand is denying the incident even occurred. Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs last month called for an investigation ...
Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98fatal-shooting%E2%80%99-did-not-happen-thailand-says
Python skin origins unclear
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on Monday warned that allegedly farmed python skins originating from Cambodia could in fact have been harvested in the wild, and called for surveys to determine the scale and impact of possible python hunting in the ...
Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/python-skin-origins-unclear
Police arrest 23 illegal loggers, issue warnings
Police raided a guesthouse in Poipet City on Monday and arrested 23 men as they waited to be paid for illegally logging rosewood across Cambodia’s border with Thailand, police officials said. Um Sophal, Poipet City police chief, said the men were arrested Monday following a tip-off ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-arrest-23-illegal-loggers-issue-warnings-55554/
Crane makes itself at home
A growing number of red-headed Sarus cranes are reportedly flocking west from Vietnam to a protected sanctuary in Kampot province’s Kampong Trach district, and conservationists observing the trend aren’t sure why. The Tuoitrenews website reported on Saturday that unusually large numbers of the birds, which are classified as ...
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/crane-makes-itself-home
Company 72 again accused of illegal logging
Ethnic Jarai villagers in Ratanakkiri province have once again accused the Vietnamese owners of a rubber plantation of illegally logging their ancestral forests in a complaint filed with rights group Adhoc. A district official, however, said the plantation owner, Company 72, was granted an extension on ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/company-72-again-accused-of-illegal-logging-55399/
Big logging cartel alleged
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s brother Hun Neng and a Vietnamese state-owned rubber firm are involved in an illegal logging cartel involving several well-connected companies operating on a “massive scale” in the embattled Prey Lang forest, forest monitors working in the area allege. Video footage and photographs ...
May Titthara and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/big-logging-cartel-alleged
Tough talk on ELCs
Economic land concessionaires not abiding by their contracts could have their licences revoked if they have seriously breached the terms, Prime Minister Hun Sen has said. Illegally seizing forest land would be punished under the Law on Forestry, he said on Friday, speaking at an annual ...
May Titthara and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tough-talk-elcs
Red-headed cranes leave south VN province for Cambodia
A steep decline in the number of red-headed cranes, also known as Sarus cranes, has been recorded since early this year in southern Kien Giang province, the bird’s usual hot spot, compared to a sharp rise in a Cambodian sanctuary. Meanwhile, hundreds of them have ...
Tuoitrenews Staff
http://tuoitrenews.vn/society/18680/redheaded-cranes-leave-south-vn-province-for-cambodia
Firm ‘logging in sanctuary’
A company in Mondulkiri’s Sok San commune has been gradually cutting down a community forest, pushing more than 100 families off their land, villagers said yesterday. “That land belongs to us, the government granted it to us in 1999. But the company invaded and let us ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/firm-%E2%80%98logging-sanctuary%E2%80%99
Patrol detains loggers
A forest patrol in Ratanakkiri’s O’Yadav district spotted five loggers clearing the community’s ancestral forest on Tuesday, villagers and rights group Adhoc said yesterday. Adhoc provincial coordinator Chhay Thy said that three representatives of nearly 200 ethnic Jarai families in Pak Nhai commune asked for help ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/patrol-detains-loggers
District forestry boss charged over ‘logging’
The director of the Lumphat district forestry department in Ratanakkiri province was charged and put in pre-trial detention on Monday for allegedly logging on protected land around Ou’Sinlair waterfall, police and court officials revealed yesterday. Deputy Police Chief Klol Thoeun said that Meung Bunthin was picked ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/district-forestry-boss-charged-over-%E2%80%98logging%E2%80%99
PM to fete controversial dam
In the wake of several international scandals, the 120-megawatt Stung Atai hydropower plant in Pursat province and its transmission line will be inaugurated today in a celebration headed by Prime Minister Hun Sen. The $255 million hydropower project financed by China Development Bank has been operating ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-fete-controversial-dam
Kuoy villagers say patrols put logging on pause
For three days last week, the Preah Roka forest in Preah Vihear province was silent, the usual cacophony of chainsaws notably absent. The buzz of trucks arriving empty and later leaving heavily loaded with timber had been replaced by ethnic Kuoy villagers, about 300 in all, ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kuoy-villagers-say-patrols-put-logging-pause
Illegal ivory a sign Cambodia is new transit point
The seizure on Friday of a large haul of African elephant tusks in Svay Rieng province, only one month after police intercepted a large ivory haul in Siem Reap, could indicate that Cambodia is becoming a major transit point for illegal ivory, experts said Monday. The ...
Simon Henderson and Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/illegal-ivory-a-sign-cambodia-is-new-transit-point-54876/
Friends in high places
A Chinese developer with a “family-like” relationship to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit has accelerated construction at its $5 billion resort – ostensibly cancelled by royal decree in 2010 – in a protected national park in Preah Sihanouk province. The 3,300-hectare Golden Silver Gulf resort ...
Daniel Pye and May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/friends-high-places