Environment and natural resources

The Walt Disney Company has purchased $2.6 million in carbon credits in the forests of Mondulkuri province – marking the largest carbon credit sale to date in Cambodia and breathing life into a carbon-trading program many had written off as all but dead. ...

The lower basin of the trans-boundary Mekong River starts from Laos and runs through Thailand, Cambodia and Viet Nam before emptying into the East Sea (South China Sea). Any attempts to interrupt the natural status of the river would pose risks to Viet Nam’s Cuu ...

A new species of ant has been discovered in Cambodia by researchers from Japan. Its name is Crematogaster indosinensis, and it is described in Annals of the Entomological Society of America. ...

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.   ...

In a statement last week, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature identified ongoing fires in flooded forests as a major threat to the Tonle Sap lake. ...

A Japanese firm, Gomi Recycle 110, plans to invest in a factory in Svay Rieng province to recycle plastic waste into finished products for local markets. Yusuke Okumura, director of Gomi, met with Cambodia’s Minister of Environment Say Samal on Tuesday seeking support from the government ...

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. ...

Environmental DNA collection could be a “silver bullet” for tracking and protecting critically endangered fish in the Mekong, according to a new report.   ...

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.   ...

A Khmer version of a smartphone app to help law enforcement deal with the illegal wildlife trade was launched yesterday. ...

Employees of a controversial monkey breeding farm in Pursat City who protested earlier this week for higher wages have accepted their employer’s offer of a $16 monthly wage increase, authorities said on Thursday.   ...

A study of drinking water sources in Kandal province found widespread contamination from human excrement, posing a health risk to residents that likely mirrors the situation across Cambodia, the authors say.   ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen will leave for Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia this week for the two-day Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit starting on July 15. ...

A start-up initiative aimed at reducing plastic waste in the Kingdom is asking locals and expats to live plastic-free in July. The goal of the campaign is relatively simple: eliminate plastics’ harshest offenders from daily consumption. That means plastic straws, bags, bottles, cups and Styrofoam, or ...

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. ...

Cambodia lost 10 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) last year to the negative effect of climate change, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). In announcing a $96 million package to help the Kingdom cope with the loss of livelihoods and income due to ...

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. ...