Forests and forestry

Newly released maps using U.S. satellite data show that Cambodia continued to suffer major deforestation in 2013, much of it in nominally protected forests and wildlife sanctuaries. In November 2013, the University of Maryland released what it said was the first study to combine a consistent ...

Members of a community in Preah Vihear province chased down a group of illegal loggers and briefly detained one of them yesterday, less than a week after the community accused the local wildlife sanctuary director of destroying their patrol station. ...

Authorities in Oddar Meanchey province found a haul of valuable luxury wood inside the luggage compartment of a passenger bus on Friday, but let the driver go although he later admitted to smuggling the wood. Chongkal district military police chief Un Kimseng said the Rith Mony ...

Illegal logging and destructive farming practices have archaeologists racing to rescue an ecologically crucial mountain and its hidden temples. Some 80 per cent of the forest on Phnom Kulen – one of Cambodia’s National Parks – has disappeared due to a combination of illegal logging, ...

Police in Kandal province on Tuesday confiscated a haul of wood, including a few pieces of precious rosewood, that was being unlawfully transported to Phnom Penh by the military for the construction of a Brigade 90 commander’s office. The commander has appealed to Royal Cambodian Armed ...

Police in Stung Treng province confiscated a truckload of illegally logged wood on Sunday and are investigating a Forestry Administration official who tried to take the haul off their hands following the seizure. ...

The Korea Forest Service on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding with Cambodia to prevent deforestation and degradation in the Southeast Asian country, government officials said Thursday. Under the MOU, the two countries will cooperate on United Nations-led REDD+ programs ― standing for Reducing Emissions from ...

A python escaped from the house of a government official and is on the loose in the Cambodian capital, a local newspaper reported Monday. It is the second such serpent to escape from the Phnom Penh home of Nhim Vanda, the first vice chairman of Cambodia’s ...

High prices and lax law enforcement have created a booming transnational trade in otter skins, where the endangered mammals are hunted in the wild to be sold on to buyers in neighbouring countries, according to a new report. ...

A 25-year-old police officer in Mondulkiri’s Sen Monorom commune was killed in a car crash while transporting timber to sell in a nearby district on Sunday, police and authorities confirmed yesterday. Un Sokim was driving a Toyota Camry sedan loaded with timber to Keo Seima district ...

Phnom Penh’s only working elephant was blessed by a crowd of chanting Buddhist monks on Tuesday (Nov 25) as she prepared for a life of comfortable jungle retirement after three decades of giving rides to tourists. Sambo’s new home will be an ecotourism venture – ...

A group of conservationists in Kratie province submitted on Friday a formal request asking Defence Minister Tea Banh to discipline two Kratie-based military commanders. They accuse the officers of profiting from illegal logging and threatening to kill an activist should he continue his work. ...

Forestry Administration officials in Mondulkiri province are on the lookout for illegal loggers, after finding 130 pieces of luxury-grade timber in Koh Nhek district. The find comes on the heels of 3,221 pieces of timber found in Mondulkiri’s Pech Chreada district last month. ...

Members of a conservation group in Kampong Thom province stopped a van carrying illegal timber on Sunday night only to be threatened by a man claiming to be the nephew of a powerful National Assembly parliamentarian. The van was driving with no licence plate and was ...

Authorities in Stung Treng province confiscated more than 100 pieces of illegal luxury-grade wood stockpiled on the bank of the Mekong River Saturday, officials said Sunday. ...

Nine sun bear cubs have been rescued in the first 10 months of this year, according to the Phnom Penh office of NGO Wildlife Alliance. The cubs, some as young as two weeks, were saved by government rangers and the NGO’s Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team (WRRT), ...

Police and Forestry Administration officials in Banteay Meanchey province confiscated more than 120 pieces of illegally logged luxury-grade wood in two separate operations on Tuesday and Wednesday, officials said Thursday. In one case, authorities on Wednesday found 75 pieces of beng and thnong wood inside a ...

A new wetland protected area may be implemented in Battambang province following talks between scientists, Asian governments and conservation groups held in Siem Reap this week. The message seems to have been heard, at least by the Ministry of Environment, which yesterday said it would ...

Ethnic Tumpoun residents from Ratanakkiri’s Banlung district sent petitions to authorities yesterday to protest plans to erect a Buddha statue at Yeak Loam Lake, saying it will bring bad luck to their villages. ...

Representatives of some 100 families living at the top of a waterfall on the outskirts of Sihanoukville blocked a major highway on Saturday to protest the destruction of their homes and crops by authorities earlier that day, villagers and local officials said Sunday. ...

Two large trucks carrying 60 cubic meters of luxury wood were confiscated on Saturday after their drivers unsuccessfully attempted to barge through a roadblock of cars set up by the Forestry Administration in Kompong Cham province, officials said. ...

Representatives from an ethnic Bunong community in Mondolkiri province filed a complaint with a district governor against a commune police chief on Thursday after he allegedly cleared trees belonging to villagers in Pech Chreada district’s Krang Tes commune, officials said Friday. ...

A group of minivan drivers blocked a highway in Mondolkiri province Tuesday in protest of what they claim is ongoing extortion by government officials of vehicles transporting ready-made furniture. “There are four to five checkpoints and we have to pay between 10,000 to 20,000 riel ...

Six sawmills in Preah Vihear province suspected of processing illegal timber were raided on Monday by police, military police and Forestry Administration officers who confiscated an undisclosed amount of luxury-grade wood product during their searches, an official said. ...