Environment and natural resources

More than 400 families in Preah Vihear province submitted a petition to a group of NGOs and the UN yesterday, seeking assistance in their battle with the government over 3,555 hectares of protected land that sits within the Kulen Prom-Tep Wildlife Sanctuary. According to Sokha, ...

The government issued a statement yesterday allowing Lim Royal Joint Stock Company to create a temporary wood and furniture manufacturing plant in Trapeang Srae village in Kratie province.According to an announcement signed by Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Veng Sakhon last Thursday, Lim Royal will ...

The director of Mondulkiri’s rural development department stands accused of clearing about 50 hectares of state-owned forest for his own farming purposes, authorities said yesterday. ...

Many cattle in Svay Rieng province’s Svay Chrum and Chantrea districts have fallen ill or died from foot-and-mouth and other diseases over the past few weeks, resulting in the launch of a cattle vaccination campaign. ...

Pursat environmental officials sent five suspects to the provincial court yesterday afternoon for allegedly attempting to farm on flooded forestland illegally, a provincial environmental officer said. ...

Forest activists and community representatives have urged the government to post markers at protected natural areas to prevent encroachment of loggers and the clearing of forest. ...

Locals in Siem Reap province’s Kralanh district and Banteay Meanchey’s Preah Netr Preah district yesterday alleged that a sand-dredging company is polluting a river that straddles the two districts and stoking fears of bank collapse. ...

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries on Monday signed off on a list of seven measures intended to guard against forest fires, although details on implementation remained scarce yesterday and observers said they expected little to come of the new document. ...

Two hundred ethnic Phnong villagers in Mondulkiri’s Koh Nhek district launched a protest on Friday after the deputy district governor and an armed escort seized timber from their homes, before allegedly attempting to extort a bribe for its return. ...

Government officials say they are investigating the causes of two separate weekend fires in Mondolkiri province that reportedly burned through hundreds of high-value logs the government had sold to a businessman after confiscating them from a pair of rubber plantations. ...

The government has declared almost 1.5 million hectares as protected areas in a bid to enhance the sustainability of the ecology system and reduce the impact of climate change, according to a sub-decree signed on Thursday. The so-called Biodiversity Conservation Corridors cover a total of more ...

Nine Phnong ethnic community representatives and a senior Adhoc officer jointly filed a lawsuit yesterday at the Mondulkiri Provincial Court against eight local officials they allege have turned a blind eye to illegal logging in the Phnom Nam Lyr wildlife sanctuary.The suit follows their inspection ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday signed a sub-decree to create “biodiversity conservation corridors”—patches of land connecting Cambodia’s protected areas—putting an additional 1.4 million hectares under the management of the Environment Ministry.This brings Cambodia’s protected areas overseen by the ministry to more than 40 percent ...

The World Wildlife Fund, in cooperation with Mondulkiri government officials, announced a new land-management initiative yesterday aimed at balancing environmental protection with economic development. ...

Communities in Preah Vihear’s Choam Ksan district have alleged that soldiers are involved in the transportation of illegal timber in the protected forests of Kulen Prum Tep Wildlife Sanctuary, an allegation denied yesterday by a local military official. ...

Cambodia could reduce its projected carbon emissions by 57 percent over the next 30 years without taking a financial hit if it implements low-carbon development policies in five key sectors, according to a new report in the journal Energy Policy. ...

Forestry officials in Stung Treng province arrested two people and confiscated three SUVs loaded with timber on Saturday night during a raid in Siem Pang district. ...

A year ago on Sunday, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced the start of what sounded like a muscular new crackdown on the illegal timber trade running rampant across eastern Cambodia.   ...

Recently, Cambodia’s prime minister signed a series of decrees placing the responsibility of Prey Lang protection with the Ministry of Environment and provincial governments. It’s a promising change, development professionals and conservation activists tell Devex, as a combination of stronger national and local government cooperation ...

An activist in Stung Treng province has been hauled before commune authorities, threatened with a defamation suit and allegedly warned he could be beaten to death for exposing land clearing in his native Thala Borivat district. ...

Construction of a $100 million dam project and the largest reservoir in Battambang province is 98 percent complete and scheduled to be finished before Khmer New Year in April. ...

The Ministry of Environment signed a framework agreement yesterday with Conservation International and the Mitsui Banking Corporation to launch the planning phase of a new REDD+ project for the Prey Lang forest, officials confirmed.   ...

Almost nine years after Cambodia mandated the zoning of all protected areas to shield its most precious parts from development, the government finally zoned its first two sanctuaries last week, though some locals and conservationists doubt the effort will make much of a difference to ...

A Kampong Speu community is looking to raise money to build three watering holes for wildlife, especially the endangered banteng, for the upcoming hot season after a nearby sugarcane plantation allegedly filled in existing streams. ...