Environment and natural resources

Four people were arrested and more than 1,000 pieces of illegally logged timber seized in Mondolkiri province during a coordinated series of raids on three warehouses over the past three days, an official said Sunday. ...

Forestry officials raided two locations in Mondulkiri province on Friday, confiscating more than 1,000 logs from suspected illegal timber dealers. ...

Nine forest communities across Cambodia on Friday expressed concern about illegal land encroachment and logging operations as a European Union-funded sustainable forest management project which helped communities in wooded areas thrive comes to an end. ...

At least 100 cubic metres of luxury timber allegedly belonging to powerful tycoon Na Marady was intercepted in Stung Treng province’s Sesan district yesterday, officials said. ...

Members of a community-based organization in Cambodia responsible for protecting local forest resources have confessed to illegally cutting down trees to sell to local businessmen, prompting the group’s leader to threaten to resign. ...

Senior officials from the Environment Ministry have called on the developed world to provide more assistance in the battle against climate change, which they said Cambodia is working hard to address. ...

Over 100 logs of luxury timber from Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary in Kampong Speu province were seized by authorities in Chbar Mon town on Tuesday. ...

Cambodian environmental leaders came together yesterday to discuss the country’s contributions to the upcoming Paris Climate Conference in December. ...

A group of villagers from Svay Rieng province involved in a land dispute with the Forestry Administration said police officers attempted to block them from traveling to the provincial court Wednesday morning to protest against the trial of three community leaders. ...

Thai authorities have released 58 Cambodians accused of illegal logging, after fining them about $120 each, officials said. ...

At least 60 containers at the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port were knocked over on Tuesday morning, as coastal areas were battered with high winds, heavy rains and two-meter high waves. ...

A new 10-year action plan proposed by a host of NGOs aims to reverse the fortunes of Cambodia’s national bird, the giant ibis, which faces increasing pressure from human encroachment in its dwindling habitat.With fewer than 200 mature individuals now believed to survive in the ...

Forestry Administration officers confiscated the hacked-up body of an illegally hunted sambar deer in Mondulkiri province on Sunday, though the poacher avoided arrest by escaping into the protected forest where the bust took place. ...

Military police in Kompong Chhnang province said they found 290 kg of rosewood in the back of an SUV with military license plates yesterday but failed to apprehend the driver, who escaped in a car that had been following his. ...

Four large trucks thought to be carrying illegal timber were stopped and impounded in Kampong Speu province by local authorities on Friday morning. ...

Heavy rains in Poipet town have yet to reach a “serious” level, according to the government, despite widespread flooding in recent days. ...

The fate of the last surviving Irrawaddy river dolphins on the Laos-Cambodian border hangs in the balance after a Laos government official was reported as saying this week that construction of the dam would begin by the end of the year.   ...

When the Lao national assembly last week approved a potentially destructive dam project just 2 kilometers from the border with Cambodia, the surprise announcement was yet another blow to the regional framework designed to protect the Mekong River.  ...

The release last week of camera-trap photos showing fishing cats prowling wetlands in Koh Kong and Preah Sihanouk provinces drew cheers from environmentalists as well as a note of caution – ensuring their survival will require plenty of work. ...

People are no longer denying that El Nino – a cyclical weather phenomenon that can cause severe drought – has arrived in Cambodia. ...

A Kampong Speu-based NGO has accused a police officer and several rangers working for the provincial Environment Department of seizing more than 100 hectares of Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary, demanding a court order to restore the land and hold the parties to account. ...

Three accused illegal loggers have been placed in pre-trial detention in Ratanakkiri province, after authorities caught them on Sunday evening transporting nearly a tonne of rosewood.According to Ratanakkiri anti-economic crimes police chief Nov Dara, the men were caught in Kon Mom district driving two vehicles ...

The bottom line from the Food and Agriculture Organization’s 2015 assessment of global forest resources: The state of the world’s forests is better than it was.The U.N. agency released the report this week ahead of the 14th World Forestry Congress in Durban, South Africa. ...

Youths raised concerns about the potential environmental impact of petroleum discovery and use at a roundtable discuss on Saturday during which they debated with officials eager to continue searching and tapping into new energy resources. ...