Forests and forestry

Some 100 pieces of luxury wood believed to be from the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary area were seized at the house of a military officer near the Vietnamese border on Friday, officials said yesterday. ...

More than $85 million worth of timber was exported from Cambodia to Vietnam during the first half of the year, according to Vietnamese customs data, despite a blanket ban Cambodia has placed on all timber exports to its eastern neighbor. ...

Authorities stopped a truck illegally transporting a load of valuable timber through Kratie province on Saturday, but failed to apprehend the driver and his assistant, who fled on foot, an official said on Sunday.   ...

A police squad working with government officials in Kratie province stopped a truck loaded full of luxury wood in Chet Borei’s Changkrang village on Saturday afternoon. ...

The government has given up on trying to auction off the majority of 71,000 cubic meters of illegally logged timber seized by authorities earlier this year amid a persistent lack of interest from potential buyers. រដ្ឋាភិបាលបានបញ្ឈប់ការព្យាយាមលក់ដេញថ្លៃចំពោះឈើភាគច្រើននៃចំនួនសរុប ៧១ ០០០ ម៉ែត្រគូប ដែលបានមកពីការរឹបអូសដោយអាជ្ញាធរកាលពីដើមឆ្នាំនេះ ខណៈពេលដែលមានកង្វះខាតនៃចំណាប់អារម្មណ៍ពីអ្នកទិញ។  ...

Thousands of cubic metres of endangered Siamese rosewood were sent to Vietnam in 2014 with export permits bearing the Photoshopped signature of a retired Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) secretary of state, a ministry official said yesterday. ...

An endangered Asian elephant died in eastern Cambodia after sustaining a severe foot wound caused by a snare trap, officials said on Monday. ...

Soldiers in Thailand fatally shot a logger from Battambang province who slipped across the border with six other Cambodians to cut rosewood on Wednesday night, authorities said.   ...

World Wildlife Fund for Cambodia and the Ministry of Environment launched a glossy, 76-page picture booklet about the Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary in Mondulkiri province yesterday, with the goal of educating the public about the benefits of protecting wildlife and countering poaching.   ...

Four members of a forest patrol were ambushed in Preah Vihear’s Cheam Pen community forest on Tuesday afternoon, according to deputy forest chief Ros Lim. ...

More than $90,000 worth of luxury timber seized during National Anti-Deforestation Committee (NADC) raids in Stung Treng province will be up for public auction until July 29, the Ministry of Economic and Finance announced last week. ...

Forestry officials in Preah Vihear province confiscated more than 1,100 kg of valuable rosewood early on Tuesday morning, while the two men suspected of transporting the wood were on the run, officials said.   ...

The Finance Ministry has rescheduled a trio of timber auctions that had been set to start today after a continued lack of interest from buyers, although bidding for a lot in Stung Treng province will go ahead on Wednesday as planned.   ...

A second pair of endangered pileated gibbons released into the forest near Angkor Wat last year have had a baby. ...

A pile of illegally logged wood discovered by police in Ratanakkiri province earlier this month along a road built by a local rubber plantation often accused of illegal logging has since gone missing, a Forestry Administration official said on Sunday.   ...

Cambodia has one of the world’s highest deforestation rates. But a group of Buddhist monks are stepping up efforts to save forests by publicly revealing wrongdoings and mobilizing local villagers. Ate Hoekstra reports. ...

Two rare gaurs, a mother and calf, have died after being found trapped in a snare in the Cardamom Mountains’ Samlot Protected Area, according to the sanctuary’s chief and an official from the Maddox Jolie-Pitt (MJP) Foundation, a wildlife NGO founded by Angelina Jolie. ...

Kratie Forestry Administration forces in cooperation with provincial armed forces seized 12 trucks laden with illegal timber yesterday.   ...

Continued widespread logging in the Prey Lang forest is evidence that the government’s recent push to have more than 400,000 hectares of land protected is toothless, according to activists as well as a Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) report released yesterday. ...

Researchers have released new photos offering a rare glimpse of endangered elephant herds seen traveling with calves through the Tonle Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary in Mondulkiri province earlier this month. The photos are part of a conservation supervisory project undertaken by Winrock International and the World Wildlife ...

The government claims not to have issued a single permit to export Siamese rosewood since it agreed to strict new trade rules for the exceedingly rare trees, and says it will look into a U.N.-managed database that states otherwise.   ...

The government has indefinitely postponed what was intended to be the first of several public auctions to sell off 71,000 cubic meters of timber seized by au­thorities since January, according to officials, who cited a lack of interest among potential buyers. ...

Cambodia exported hundreds of millions of dollars worth of threatened Siamese rosewood in the 18 months after ratifying a 2013 international protocol designed to protect the species from destructive trade, according to a report released on Friday.   ...

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Monday called for the closure of 2.25 million hectares of natural forest in the country’s Central Highlands as well as the shuttering of wood processing facilities across the country, regional news outlets reported. ...