Environment and natural resources
Police exchange fire with convoy carrying luxury wood
Police from Takeo province came under fire in neighboring Kampot province early Sunday morning as they pursued a truck transporting a load of luxury wood while four other cars tried to protect the truck carrying the timber, according to officials, who said police managed to ...
Mech Dara and Ouch Sony
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-exchange-fire-with-convoy-carrying-luxury-wood-91355/
Gov’t has identified suspect in M’kiri logging case
The head of the Forestry Administration’s Mondolkiri cantonment said Monday that he had accused one man over an August 1 incident in which military police freed the drivers of four trucks transporting illegally logged timber from the custody of anti-economic crime police and escaped with ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-has-identified-suspect-in-mkiri-logging-case-91353/
One dead, 1 flees in wood smuggling accidents
Police in Kratie province say they are searching for the driver of a truck who had been transporting illegally logged timber through Snuol district early Saturday morning when it overturned and burst into flames. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/one-dead-1-flees-in-wood-smuggling-accidents-91234/
Prey Lang campaign kicks off
As deforestation in Cambodia’s forests has grown in recent years, more and more citizens have come together to fight against it. Now, a group of 300 people are going to campaign for awareness about the destruction of Prey Lang, the largest evergreen forest in the ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/14222/prey-lang-campaign-kicks-off/
NGO brings trash problem into greater focus
Phnom Penh’s ever-growing garbage problem is not going away, but on Friday its scope became clearer as the Asia Foundation presented two years of research into the city’s present and future solid waste generation, along with suggestions on how to cope with the mess. ...
Simon Henderson and Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ngo-brings-trash-problem-into-greater-focus-91206/
Clock ticking on city’s waste crisis: reports
The government could be forced to shell out more than $120 million [≈ Finance industry 2011 political donations] to build new landfills over the next decade unless it invests in preventing Phnom Penh’s current site from reaching capacity, according to a pair of new reports. ...
Shaun Turton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weekend/clock-ticking-citys-waste-crisis-reports
Journalists accuse Ratanakkiri forestry official of intimidation
Four reporters accused a forestry official in Ratanakkiri province of locking them behind the gate of the local Forestry Administration headquarters Thursday morning in an attempt to stop them from reporting on the transport of illegally logged luxury wood. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/journalists-accuse-ratanakkiri-forestry-official-of-intimidation-91095/
Tree-planting campaigns target deforestation
Faced with Cambodia’s rapid deforestation, a group of monks and environmental groups want to replenish Cambodia’s natural world. ...
Chea Takihiro
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/14099/tree-planting-campaigns-target-deforestation/
Cambodia makes progress curbing bear trade
Cambodia’s wild bears are under unprecedented pressure. Their native forests are being cut down at record rates, and China’s huge demand for traditional medicine has made them targets. But experts say Cambodia’s conservation efforts are setting an example that has put it well ahead of ...
Robert Carmichael
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/cambodia-makes-progress-curbing-bear-trade/2900786.html
Plantation denies illegal logging, employing military police
The manager of a Vietnamese rubber plantation in Mondolkiri province accused of illegally logging in collusion with local military police denied the claims Tuesday but admitted to calling on police to quell protests. ...
Five illegal loggers shot dead in Thailand so far this year
Five Cambodians were shot dead by Thai soldiers while illegally logging across the border during the first half of the year, according to the government’s latest figures, roughly on par with last year. ...
Saing Soenthrith
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/five-illegal-loggers-shot-dead-in-thailand-so-far-this-year-90748/
Cambodia’s royal turtle back from the brink of extinction
The southern river terrapin is among the lesser-known of Cambodia’s many globally endangered species, which also include the Asiatic black bear, the Asian elephant and the Indochinese tiger. ...
Sun Sokhen
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/cambodia-royal-turtle-back-from-the-brink-of-extinction/2900647.html
(Un)Protected Areas
In Cambodia’s wildlife sanctuaries, conservation areas and national parks, forests are falling as fast as anywhere else. ...
Zsombor Peter and Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/unprotectedareas/
Soldier was ‘trading timber’
A vehicle transporting 18 cubic metres of illegally logged timber was stopped on Saturday night by the Wildlife Alliance’s Wildlife Rapid Response Team (WRRT) in Kampong Speu province and is believed to belong to a military officer currently involved in a prior lawsuit over contraband ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/soldier-was-trading-timber
Environmentalists issue warning on Mekong biodiversity
Scientists say the Southeast Asia’s rapid development is driving deforestation in the vital Mekong Subregion, and threatening scores of species in one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems. Trafficking in plant and animal wildlife is accelerating the trend, and governments are being pressed to do ...
Ron Corben
http://www.voanews.com/content/enviornmentalists-issue-warning-on-mekong-biodiversity/2888102.html
Soldiers, civilians charged over illegal forest clearing operation
A soldier and two civilians were charged on Wednesday with illegally clearing forest land by the Kompong Thom Provincial Court, while a second soldier who allegedly guarded the illicit operation has been charged with illegal weapons possession, a court official said Thursday. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/soldiers-civilians-charged-over-illegal-forest-clearing-operation-90215/
ELCs tied to destruction of forests in new report
Cambodis’s most crucial forests are disappearing at a rate of more than 2,000 kilometres a year, as agricultural firms continue to harvest timber by illegal means in protected areas and national parks, according to a study from Washington-based Forest Trends. ...
Ethan Harfenist
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/elcs-tied-destruction-forests-new-report
Alarm over 'timber grab' from Cambodia's protected forests
The analysis, from campaign group Forest Trends, says that large corporations are using legitimate development permits to illegally clear land.Around 2,000 sq km of forests are being lost every year, they say. ...
Matt McGrath
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33702814
Cambodia urged to act on plans to reintroduce tigers
The Cambodian arm of the World Wildlife Fund has called on the government to move forward with plans to reintroduce wild tigers in the country’s eastern forests, but reiterated concerns over possible development in the area. ...
Worldbulletin News Staff
http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/162548/cambodia-urged-to-act-on-plans-to-reintroduce-tigers
Pheap’s pledge sought
A forest peoples’ network has appealed to tycoon Try Pheap to issue a written commitment to put a halt to his companies’ deforestation activities after he told the Post last week that his logging days are over. ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pheaps-pledge-sought
Deer headed to Angkor
The forests around Cambodia’s iconic Angkor Temple Complex will soon be home once more to a species of deer that had disappeared from the area due to excessive hunting during the latter part of the last century. ...
Charles Parkinson
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/deer-headed-angkor
Truck stopped with huge rosewood load
An inspection of a truck transporting cassava through Siem Reap province’s Kralanh district on Tuesday revealed a massive haul of luxury rosewood. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/truck-stopped-huge-rosewood-load
Lawmaker asks PM for probe of Try Pheap’s SEZ
CNRP lawmaker Un Sam An sent a letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday asking for an investigation of Try Pheap’s Special Economic Zone in Ratanakkiri province, saying that the timber magnate is misusing the site to export illegally logged trees to Vietnam. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lawmaker-asks-hun-sen-for-probe-of-try-pheaps-sez-89251/
Minister calls for ban on chainsaw imports
A ban on the importation of chainsaws into Cambodia could be in the offing, after agriculture officials this week called for a nationwide crackdown on the illegal logging trade. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/minister-calls-ban-chainsaw-imports