Environment and natural resources

 Tuy Sereivathana sits at his desk transfixed by the glow of his computer screen. On the walls of the environmentalist’s modest office are hung pictures of rare species of plants and animals found in the Cardamom Mountains, one of Cambodia’s few remaining wildernesses. ...

According to a 2013 United Nations Environmental Protection report, a water hyacinth plant releases more than 3,000 seeds every year and, because its roots are floating, it does not need to be in shallow water to survive. Water hyacinth has moved rapidly across South America, ...

The National Committee for Coastal Management and Development will build 17 sea gates along the coastal areas in Sihanoukville province to protect beaches in the area against sea erosion and boost tourism. ...

When French pharmacologist Francois Chassagne set out to catalogue traditional medicine used by Cambodia’s Bunong ethnic minority group in 2013, he came across a surprising remedy for burns: tiger breastmilk. ...

Cambodia suffers from one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world, with an average of one percent of the country’s forest lost each year. But in an initiative funded by USAID Supporting Forests and Biodiversity (SFB), Winrock International hopes to help solve the problem ...

The government has set the dates to auction off the last of the 71,000 cubic meters of illegally logged timber seized by authorities this year, carrying on a practice riddled with signs of corruption in the past.   ...

Conservationists have warned a new road could threaten endangered bird species in Stung Treng’s Siem Pang wildlife sanctuary.   ...

While the luxury timber trade continues to eat away at Cambodia’s forests, there is another industry that poses a growing threat to the Kingdom’s trees: pepper farms.   ...

Three military trucks were caught transporting illegally logged rosewood by Tbong Khmum authorities yesterday, according to the National Police website. ...

Dam Chan handed over the food in exchange for riel as she described hearing the loud bangs of dynamite in the distance. The 55-year-old has farmed and sold food in Preah Rumkel commune her entire life and is concerned about the future of her home ...

Kampot’s Ta Reach bridge was severely damaged by a truck overloaded with illegal luxury timber over the weekend, prompting a manhunt for the truck’s driver, who was apparently on his way to Vietnam at the time of the accident. ...

Monday’s World Environment Day was recognized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) when the organization’s headquarters in Cambodia issued a press release outlining the importance of environmental protection in the Kingdom. ...

As the government prepares to start auctioning off the 70,000 cubic meters of illegal timber it has seized so far this year, not one of the companies on whose property it was found—nor anyone else—has been charged over the wood, following months of court procedures. ...

Multiple animal species are in “dramatic decline” on Cambodia’s Eastern Plains as a result of habitat loss, road incursion, insufficient law enforcement and poaching, the World Wildlife Fund said in a statement yesterday. ...

Structures considered to be encroaching on state-owned beach areas in Sihanoukville will be demolished, according to a letter sent on Sunday from the Minister of Land Management to the Committee for Cambodia Coastal Management and Development. ...

A local newspaper publisher has appealed directly to Prime Minister Hun Sen for help after provincial officials allegedly crashed into his car and threatened him in order to hide timber smuggling activities. ...

The Mondulkiri Provincial Court yesterday released on bail three ethnic Phnong villagers charged with illegally clearing state land on the condition that they agree not to return to their homes and farms. ...

A major water, hygiene and sanitation project co-funded by industry charity Meeting Needs is bringing clean water to almost 1,000 people in the Siem Reap Province of Cambodia. ...

A report from the Cambodia Agriculture Research and Development Institute (CARDI), a semi-autonomous organisation, showed that 83 per cent of farmers surveyed in Kampong Speu, Kampot and Kampong Cham provinces had noticed the effects of climate change. ...

The Ministry of Economy and Finance has announced the date of the auction for timber confiscated from logging companies by the National Anti-Deforestation Committee (NADC) earlier this year, inadvertently releasing the official names of seven previously unknown companies caught housing illegally logged wood. ...

An environmental group has been accused of complicity in the decline of the critically endangered Siamese crocodile in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley, mainly due to traps that are believed to have killed the last breeding-age female in the area. ...

Over 20 Cambodian NGOs, Chinese government officials, public and private Chinese companies, and Chinese NGOs held a roundtable discussion on Friday in Phnom Penh to talk about Chinese investment in Cambodia. ...

A major haul of wild turtles and snakes was found abandoned on Saturday morning on the banks of a small river near a checkpoint along the border with Vietnam in Kandal province, according to customs officials. ...

Environment Minister Say Samal claims Cambodia has put an end to illegal logging and timber exports to Vietnam, despite reports of continued, and even rising, levels of forest clearing and timber being transported to the Kingdom’s neighbor. ...