Forestry Industry

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 ...

The Ministry of Environment signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) yesterday with two Chinese companies to study planting “Paulownia-Guotong” – an extremely fast-growing tree used to make furniture and wooden equipment – and practice growing it in Cambodia. Speaking at a workshop on a feasibility ...

Cambodian forests, some of the most biologically diverse areas in the world, are vanishing fast as a result of the Vietnamese, Chinese and Cambodian political interests. Cambodia has one of the largest deforestation rates in the world. Forest Trends, an influential organization with a mission to conserve ...

A Toyota SUV and the load of illegally logged luxury wood found inside it on Monday belong to the wife of a district police chief in Tbong Khmum province, according to local officials, who say they have no intention of taking action against the couple. “We ...

The government’s anti-logging task force on Monday confiscated nearly 3,000 logs stashed in a forest clearing in Mondolkiri province, officials said on Tuesday. The owner of the 2,949 pieces of second-grade timber—Khlong, Tbeng and Trach—is unknown, said Eng Hy, spokesman for the National Military Police, which ...

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 National Committee for Forest Crime Prevention has admitted that despite claims from a variety of high-level government officials that deforestation and illegal logging had been stopped entirely, the illegal timber trade was still ravaging the country’s forests. In June, Environment Minister Say Samal claimed the ...

Police in Stung Treng province seized an unspecified amount of luxury wood after shooting out a tire of a Toyota SUV that tried to run a checkpoint on Sunday night in Sesan district. ...

Activists from environmental group Mother Nature yesterday cautioned that a proposed road pledged by Prime Minister Hun Sen for the Areng Valley could cause an increase in illegal logging and drug abuse. ...

Police in Mondulkiri province seized an SUV loaded with luxury wood on Sunday night, with local police suggesting the car belonged to a high-ranking Phnom Penh-based military police official. During an operation to crack down on illegally transported wood in Oraing Sen district involving provincial police ...

In the latest setback to its attempt to sell off millions of dollars worth of seized timber, the government canceled five days of negotiations with potential buyers scheduled for this week, an official said on Monday. ...

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 ...

Thai soldiers arrested four Cambodian youths on Saturday for allegedly logging rosewood in Thailand’s Trat province, near the border with Battambang province, officials said on Sunday. “Thai soldiers in black uniforms arrested the four Khmer youths because they crossed the border illegally in an attempt to ...

An NGO operating in the Pursat section of the protected Cardamom Mountains uncovered 50 cubic metres of luxury timber yesterday. Chea Hean, director of the Natural Resource and Wildlife Preservation Organisation, said he and four colleagues uncovered the illicit stash as part of an ongoing investigation, ...

The high-pitched whine of chainsaws drowned out the sound of birds and bugs you usually hear during any trek through Prey Lang forest. What was once an area full of animals scurrying under the shade of gargantuan trees is now largely populated by stumps and ash. The ...

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 ...

Authorities seized more than 30 cubic metres of luxury timber and roughly 1,000 kilograms of illegal rosewood in separate raids in three provinces over the weekend. Chea Hean, head of the Natural Resource and Wildlife Preservation Organization, said he and Pursat environmental officials confiscated and burned ...

The government sold off more than 10,000 cubic meters of illegally logged wood in direct negotiations with private businessmen over the past two days, according to a Finance Ministry official, after abandoning efforts to auction it off due to a lack of interest. ...

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 ...

The government on Monday auctioned off the first lot of timber from roughly 70,000 cubic meters of illegally logged wood seized by authorities earlier this year, after a lack of interest forced more than a month of cancellations. ...

Some 100 pieces of luxury wood believed to be from the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary area were seized at the house of a military officer near the Vietnamese border on Friday, officials said yesterday. ...

More than $85 million worth of timber was exported from Cambodia to Vietnam during the first half of the year, according to Vietnamese customs data, despite a blanket ban Cambodia has placed on all timber exports to its eastern neighbor. ...

Authorities stopped a truck illegally transporting a load of valuable timber through Kratie province on Saturday, but failed to apprehend the driver and his assistant, who fled on foot, an official said on Sunday.   ...