Forest protection

As authorities yesterday searched for officials suspected of killing three forestry patrollers in a brazen ambush near Mondulkiri’s border with Vietnam, families, friends and colleagues struggled to make sense of the sudden deaths of their loved ones. ...

A Royal Cambodian Armed Forces member, backed up by seven of his fellow soldiers, allegedly attacked a community forest patroller and threatened to set him and his family on fire for confiscating illegal timber, according to the patroller. ...

An Environment Ministry ranger, a Military Police officer and an employee of a conservation organisation have been killed in a shootout with other Cambodian authorities near Mondulkiri’s border with Vietnam. ...

Three nests belonging to critically endangered red-headed vultures are being guarded day and night to ensure their survival after they were discovered earlier this month at Preah Vihear’s Chheb Wildlife Sanctuary, according to a spokesman with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Spokesman Eng Mengey said ...

These illicit networks have had devastating ramifications in Cambodia, where rural poor and indigenous communities have relied on forested areas as a vital source of income for thousands of years. With one of the highest rates of tree cover loss in the world, the country saw nearly 2 million hectares, ...

There were 1,428 forestry and wildlife crimes in 2017, with 778 cases ending up in court and the remaining 650 cases leading to administrative fines. According to the annual report from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the cases included illegal logging, the cutting of ...

Community patrols in Mondulkiri province confiscated more than 500 snares and 80 chainsaws last year while arresting seven people and warning 57 others over illegal activities. According to a Wildlife Conservation Society statement issued yesterday, the patrols were led by Environment Ministry officials and members of ...

Rampant deforestation and development have increased pressure on animals throughout Cambodia. They’ve especially intensified in the country’s “spirit forests,” as the hill communities like the ethnic-minority Chong call them, which are some of the creatures’ last refuges. But the changes also threaten their culture, as ...

A military lieutenant who sued 13 families in Oddar Meanchey’s Anlong Veng district for allegedly grabbing his land is now demanding $20,000 in compensation, though villagers deny the accusation and it remains unclear as to how the official initially came to own the ostensibly protected ...

Authorities are to force about 40 families in Koh Kong province to relocate from their homes in Botum Sakor National Park. The villagers asked authorities to provide them with social land concessions, because they have no other place to live. ...

A Kampong Thom landowner was stopped by provincial officials from clearing a piece of land used as a “spirit forest” by local villagers. ...

Koh Kong provincial authorities on Monday ordered 40 families living in Botum Sakor district to vacate their land and homes after it was determined they were illegally occupying a national park.​ On Friday, authorities went to inspect Botum Sakor National Park and found 40 families ...

A Virgin Atlantic representative yesterday said that the British airline is no longer purchasing carbon credits from an area of Oddar Meanchey province set aside for a UN REDD+ program after a report describing widespread problems. ...

A REDD Programme representative yesterday said it would be concerning if recent claims of the military systematically clearing protected forest in Oddar Meanchey province covered under the scheme proved true – though a third-party company has dismissed the claims as outdated. ...

An ethnic Phnong community in Kratie province’s Snuol district has accused local officials and soldiers of grabbing over 1,000 hectares of community forest and threatening the lives of local villagers for years, with the rights group Adhoc yesterday saying they would take the case to ...

Official confiscated about 6 cubic metres of luxury timber in Preah Vihear’s Chey Sen district this week in two separate busts, also detaining eight for illegally transporting timber out of the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary. ...

More than 60 species of endangered plants have been found in the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary in Mondulkiri province, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society.​ ​ ...

A military lieutenant is suing 13 families in Oddar Meanchey for allegedly farming his land, which lies within a protected community forest in Anlong Veng district, local authorities confirmed yesterday. ...

Local media in Mondulkiri province have accused established businessmen of being involved with logging in Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary. Online newspaper Nokor Dragon said illegal logging became rampant in the national reserve, and claimed local tycoons Oeng Bunchin, San Choy, and Srieng Meng mobilized people ...

The European Union will be funding conservation efforts in Mondulkiri’s Srepok and Phnom Prich wildlife sanctuaries to the tune of $3.3 million over the next five years, according to a press release yesterday. The project, Advancing CSOs Capacity to Ensure Sustainability Solutions (ACCESS), will be ...

The government has reclassified 32,305 hectares of public land in Stung Treng province’s Sesan district to provide an economic land concession for the Lower Sesan II dam. According to a sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on November 17, the land covers part of ...

The Environment Minister instructed his staff to cooperate with relevant ministries and institutions to improve management in the sector at the closing of the ministry’s annual meeting on Monday. ...

Environmental NGOs expressed concerns this week about a requirement from the Ministry of Environment to get advanced permission to patrol the Prey Lang protected forest, saying doing so could lead to illegal loggers getting tipped off, given the history of collusion with officials in the ...

Local authorities have agreed to allow the last families refusing to relocate from their homes near the Lower Sesan II dam to establish a new village on their community forest and ancestral lands. ...