Environment and natural resources

News that Laos will move ahead with the proposed 912-megawatt Pak Beng dam, which would be the third mainstream dam in Laos’ Lower Mekong River, has sparked criticism from environmental groups who say downstream countries should decide the fate of potentially harmful development projects. ...

Cambodia is considering adopting an aviation tax for flights leaving the Kingdom, local media reported yesterday. The announcement came as Environment Minister Say Samal delivered remarks at the COP22 UN Climate Conference in Morocco. The conference comes one year after the historic signing of the Paris ...

Ten trucks fully loaded with timber have been spotted entering a heavily guarded sawmill near the Lower Sesan II dam on an hourly basis, claimed a report by the Cambodian Human Rights Task Force (CHRTF), which was released yesterday. According to the report, photos taken from ...

Two Apsara Authority officials were arrested yesterday morning after it was discovered they were in charge of felling a centuries-old spirit tree in Siem Reap province’s Kauk Chak commune on Saturday, enraging residents who had worshipped it for years, according to the provincial governor. ...

Cambodian ministries are currently facing a $620 million funding shortfall if they are to implement their climate change adaption action plans by 2018, according to figures announced by NGO Forum at a press conference yesterday. ...

A mixed group of nearly 40 officials based at the Cambodian-Thai border in Pailin province seized first-class timber on Wednesday, but failed to catch the suspects who illegally entered Thailand to log it, according to police yesterday. ...

Companies should embrace the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in their operations and encourage a positive impact through their activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public, said an NGO official yesterday. “CSR-focused businesses would proactively promote public ...

Civil society groups are getting closer to unveiling a new set of guidelines that will change how the impact of big development projects is assessed across the Mekong region, NGOs said yesterday, following the end of a two-month public consultation period. ...

Five men accused of illegal logging in the Prey Preah Roka Wildlife Sanctuary after being caught by a joint patrol of authorities, villagers and monks should be charged with deforestation, a Preah Vihear provincial prosecutor said on Tuesday. ...

Stung Treng provincial military police discovered four separate stockpiles of illegal timber over the past two days amounting to thousands of cubic meters, but have yet to report any arrests. ...

Three members of the Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) were attacked in Kratie province on Thursday by men believed to be involved in illegal logging, PLCN activists said yesterday.​ ...

About 70 people protested in the waters off Koh Khyang in Preah Sihanouk province’s Prey Nup district against the demarcation of four hectare-sized areas designated as shelters for blood cockles, saying it hindered their fishing and impacted their livelihoods, according to a rights group yesterday. ...

A total of 60,000 cubic meters of illegally-felled luxury timber confiscated by the National Anti-Deforestation Committee (NADC) sold at auction yesterday for $15 million, $3 million above the reserve price. Soung Meng Kea, chairman of the subcommittee running the auction and undersecretary of state at the ...

About 20 environmental activists called on the government to stop all new dam projects on the Mekong River to protect fish stocks and communities slated to be affected by construction. The appeal was made by the group as they gathered in front of the parliament building ...

Nearly 500 pieces of illegal first-grade timber were seized in a series of busts conducted by police across three different provinces this week. ...

Authorities in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadav district were thwarted in their attempt to inspect an ethnic Jarai community’s timber stocks on Tuesday, with some officials and observers ascribing the incident to a clash of cultures. ...

Mondulkiri’s provincial governor yesterday said officials are investigating allegations of the clearing of 200 to 300 hectares of protected forestland in Keo Seima district. ...

A recent government report on protecting the country’s natural resources reveals that a total of 1,166 crimes were recorded, but only 873 ended up in court and only 293 of those cases resulted in small fines being issued. The report from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry ...

Illegal forest clearing is taking place at about three times the rate it did last year, but fines for forestry and wildlife crimes have fallen dramatically, according to a progress report released last week by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries (MAFF). ...

Custom officials seized 35 live ferrets weighing about 80 kilograms in Kandal province after a group of smugglers prepared to transport them to Vietnam by boat, authorities said yesterday. ...

Delegations from the five lower Mekong states met with officials from the Asia-Pacific region, the US and Europe yesterday to convene the 9th Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) and Friends of the Lower Mekong (FLM) Regional Working Group aimed at devising strategies to strengthen infrastructure, connectivity ...

Suspected timber smugglers have gotten off the hook in the vast majority of busts that have followed Prime Minister Hun Sen’s January call for a crackdown on the illegal timber trade, a Post analysis has revealed. In the wake of the prime minister’s creation of ...

Eight markets in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap and Preah Sihanouk provinces have started trialing a campaign to reduce the number of plastic bags given to customers. Thol Buntha, a media relations officer for Italian-based NGO Fondazione ACRA, told Khmer Times that the markets, which include ...

A Forestry Administration official said yesterday that authorities have filed a court complaint accusing a commune chief in Kampong Thom province of clearing protected state forestland for private sale. ...