Forest protection

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 ...

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. ...

Environment Minister Say Samal, known for his outlandish and at times false claims about illegal logging and deforestation in the Kingdom, said yesterday that his ministry was collaborating with officials in Vietnam and China – two of the largest buyers of precious Cambodian wood – ...

Despite numerous laws and committees created to tackle deforestation and illegal logging in Cambodia, the timber trade has continued unabated. In another attempt to deal with the issue, authorities across the country have been ordered to ensure they execute their responsibilities to oversee the enforcement of ...

Eleven Cambodian environmental campaigners received “moniseraphon” medals from the government last month in recognition of their work to support the nation, according to a sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen. But Buntenh, the founder of the Independent Monk Network for Social Justice, and social media ...

Conservationist Marcus Hardtke yesterday blasted USAID and Winrock for “four years of mismanagement” as the Forest Monitoring Working Group put out a call for “urgent action” from the American bodies. “They’re not addressing the core problem,” Hardtke said, adding that the two groups were ignoring the ...

A group of environmental NGOs working to protect the Prey Lang forest called on the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to intervene and protect the region’s resin trees, or they will all be logged within six months, they claimed in a joint-statement issued yesterday. The ...

Newly declared protected areas in Prey Lang forest are being illegally logged by companies belonging to a three-star general and his sister, according to Goldman Environmental Prize-winning conservationist Ouch Leng and NGOs with which he is working. Leng, along with 15 NGO officers, patrollers and ...

The governor of Kompong Speu on Tuesday ordered 10 armed soldiers to help a team of environmental officials confront a group of “anarchic” farmers clearing state forestland in the province. ...

Sixty Cambodian wildlife park rangers will be trained by South African experts next year, funded by video streaming content revenue generated by a partnership between  the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) International  and the Canadian-based  international English-language TV channel, Love Nature. WWF International will leverage scenes from ...

Half of a Kuoy ethnic community forest in Stung Treng province – for which villagers are seeking official recognition – has been logged in the past three years for private commercial gain, according to recently returned environmental activist twins Chum Hout and Chum Hour. Seven ...

The government said this week it wanted to increase by at least 30 percent the number of forest rangers working next year in Cambodia’s wildlife sanctuaries, national parks and other protected areas to guard against encroaching logging, poaching and farming. ...

Billed as a Cambodian first, the invitation of 500 civil society and community representatives to a forum on environmental issues with Prime Minister Hun Sen proved largely a platform for the premier to hold forth on policy and politics, with many observers bemoaning the sidelining ...

A letter sent to authorities in Siem Reap province on Monday by nine park rangers accusing two senior environment officials of involvement in illegally cutting down six trees for profit was dismissed as a lie by one of the accused yesterday, who instead insisted it ...

The next round of USAID funding for protection of the Prey Lang forest will be preceded by a consultation process that environmentalists and experts studying the area are calling crucial. ...

To celebrate World Elephant Day today, the conservation group Wildlife Alliance (WA) celebrated its achievement of zero poaching of the Cardamom Rainforest’s Asian elephant population in the last decade, according to a press release on Wednesday. ...

Cambodia’s first large-scale private-sector sale of carbon credits was finalised yesterday, with conservationists predicting that it could pave the way for more public-private partnerships, making millions of dollars of funding available for local carbon-based initiatives. US entertainment giant Walt Disney Company has officially purchased $2.6 ...

Interior Minister Sar Kheng informed European Ambassador George Edgar on Tuesday that plans to construct a controversial road and border checkpoint that would have cut straight through the Mondolkiri Protected Forest had been suspended. ...

The environmental protection group WWF has criticized the penalty imposed on three brothers arrested in Mondolkiri province over the weekend for filling the trunk of a car with turtles, lizards, snakes, a monkey and a civet—all of them meant to be food for a party. ...

Rangers from the Sre Pok Wildlife Sanctuary in Mondulkiri province intercepted two men and a minor allegedly smuggling more than 50 wild animals on Saturday evening, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Koh Nhek district police. ...

An endangered Asian elephant died in eastern Cambodia after sustaining a severe foot wound caused by a snare trap, officials said on Monday. ...

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.   ...

A second pair of endangered pileated gibbons released into the forest near Angkor Wat last year have had a baby. ...

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. ...