Environmental and biodiversity protection

Banteay Meanchey provincial authorities yesterday released more than 100 rescued turtles into a conservation area in Preah Netr Preah district. Sin Rasy, district military police commander, said that the turtles were seized from poachers earlier this month and were released into the O’ronteah Banh turtle ...

WWF Cambodia said that elephants play a crucial role in balancing ecosystems by maintaining biodiversity. It said that elephants continue to face extinction due to habitat destruction and conflict with humans, including poaching. ...

The Ministry of Environment is drafting an action plan to further strengthen its efforts to protect the environment and people’s health. Environment Minister Say Samal said on his Facebook page yesterday that the ministry is looking into the financing for environmental protection measures that include ...

A project involving several Asean member countries was launched during high-level talks in Indonesia yesterday with the aim of increasing marine environmental protection in Southeast Asia. ...

The Mekong River Commission and the Japan International Cooperation Agency have launched a joint study on forest conservation and river basin management in the lower Mekong aimed at improving management and environmental conservation of the area. ...

Civil society groups, representatives of youth and environmental activists have marked World Environment Day 2018 with a wide-ranging call for reforms. The groups urged joint environmental protection to reduce climate change, and asked the government to take further measures to reduce the use of plastic ...

Ministry of Environment rangers will soon receive training from experts with the US Forest Service in a bid to improve their ability to crack down on forest crimes and protect conservation areas. US Forest Service officials on Tuesday met with Environment Minister Say Sam Al ...

Environment NGO Mother Nature on Saturday debuted a new video about threatened mangroves in Koh Kong province featuring an unlikely spokesperson, or rather, spokes-puppet. The video is about a plot of mangrove forest inside the Peam Krasaop Wildlife Sanctuary that was illegally filled in with sand, ...

Two Mother Nature activists, who were released from prison yesterday, said they had been “robbed” of their freedom for the past five months after being arrested for documenting suspected illegal sand-bearing vessels in Koh Kong without evidence that they had committed a crime.​ ...

Cambodia’s first marine national park was established yesterday, seemingly replacing and expanding upon a marine protection area established for the Koh Rong archipelago in 2016. ...

Two activists from the conservation group Mother Nature were tried yesterday in Koh Kong for photographing a vessel at sea, with their lawyer asking the court to dismiss the charges due to a lack of evidence that they had committed any crime. ...

The mothers of two environmental activists, who have languished in prison since their September arrest, yesterday delivered petitions to various ministries in Phnom Penh seeking intervention. ...

In recent years, there has been a declining trend in the number of sarus cranes observed throughout Cambodia. The seasonally flooded grasslands of the Northern Plains, one of the few locations in Cambodia where the birds breed, are threatened by agricultural conversion to rice paddies. ...

A conservation scheme begun eight years ago in Preah Vihear province, in which farmers are recruited to grow organic rice for the international market in exchange for protecting local ecology, has successfully signed up 43 new families in Stung Treng province over the last year, ...

A research team comprised of members from the Environment Ministry, Wildlife Conservation Society and local communities has set up camera traps in Phnom Tbeng National Heritage Park in Preah Vihear province. ...

Nineteen eggs of the globally endangered Asian giant softshell turtle have been discovered after conservationists found a nest on a sandbar along the Mekong River between Kratie and Stung Treng provinces. ...

The Ministry of Environment has recognised nine new natural protected communities in Mondulkiri province. The purpose of these communities is to ensure the stability of local ecosystems and the protection of the natural habitat in the region. ...

Nine critically endangered Mekong Irrawaddy dolphins, were born this year, but two of them died, the World Wildlife Fund has said. In a statement issued on Friday, the WWF said the population continues to be threatened by illegal fishing and hydropower dams. ...

Preah Sihanouk Provincial environmental officials and Military Police yesterday dismantled five homes that were built illegally in the Prey Toeksap Kbal Chhay protected area, leaving the inhabitants homeless. ...

Officials from the forestry administration raided a home in Mondulkiri province’s O’Raing district on Tuesday, confiscating the remains and horns of various endangered animals and making one arrest. ...

Nine photographs of rare Cambodian animals are being displayed at the Ministry of Environment, urging the public to participate in preserving critically endangered species. ...

The Wildlife Conservation Society has made its first discovery of Siamese crocodile eggs on the Sre Ambel River in Koh Kong province in six years, it announced yesterday in a statement. ...

The Japan International Cooperation Agency has agreed to oversee a project to help recover water quality in the Tonle Sap lake in response to the appearance of a large bloom of algae. ...

A government minister has sounded the death knell for Tonle Sap picturesque floating villages after outlining a long-term plan to rehome all those living on the lake. Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon yesterday told Khmer Times he wants to relocate thousands of families living on the lake ...