Biodiversity

Military police, forestry administration officers and Wildlife Alliance officials on Wednesday raided a house in Pursat province used to facilitate the illegal wildlife trade, seizing nearly 80 kilos of snakes. ...

Three nests belonging to critically endangered red-headed vultures are being guarded day and night to ensure their survival after they were discovered earlier this month at Preah Vihear’s Chheb Wildlife Sanctuary, according to a spokesman with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Spokesman Eng Mengey said ...

Rampant deforestation and development have increased pressure on animals throughout Cambodia. They’ve especially intensified in the country’s “spirit forests,” as the hill communities like the ethnic-minority Chong call them, which are some of the creatures’ last refuges. But the changes also threaten their culture, as ...

A young male elephant was found dead after getting stuck in a hole on Monday afternoon in Mondulkiri’s Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary, according to officials. ...

More than 60 species of endangered plants have been found in the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary in Mondulkiri province, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society.​ ​ ...

In recent years, there has been a declining trend in the number of sarus cranes observed throughout Cambodia. The seasonally flooded grasslands of the Northern Plains, one of the few locations in Cambodia where the birds breed, are threatened by agricultural conversion to rice paddies. ...

A conservation scheme begun eight years ago in Preah Vihear province, in which farmers are recruited to grow organic rice for the international market in exchange for protecting local ecology, has successfully signed up 43 new families in Stung Treng province over the last year, ...

The European Union will be funding conservation efforts in Mondulkiri’s Srepok and Phnom Prich wildlife sanctuaries to the tune of $3.3 million over the next five years, according to a press release yesterday. The project, Advancing CSOs Capacity to Ensure Sustainability Solutions (ACCESS), will be ...

Nineteen eggs of the globally endangered Asian giant softshell turtle have been discovered after conservationists found a nest on a sandbar along the Mekong River between Kratie and Stung Treng provinces. ...

Hydropower development will likely deal a serious economic blow to Cambodia, with dire outlooks for its fisheries and rice outputs predicted even under best-case scenarios, according to key findings from the Mekong River Commission (MRC). ...

Environmental NGOs expressed concerns this week about a requirement from the Ministry of Environment to get advanced permission to patrol the Prey Lang protected forest, saying doing so could lead to illegal loggers getting tipped off, given the history of collusion with officials in the ...

Cambodia’s beloved Irrawaddy dolphins are facing troubled waters, with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) yesterday flagging the riverine mammal as ‘critically endangered’ in an update to its ‘Red List’. ...

Government officials and environmental groups yesterday celebrated the discovery of 121 lesser adjutant stork nests in Preah Vihear province, chalking the success up to a joint programme to hire locals to guard the nests. Environment Ministry rangers and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) workers started counting ...

A river bird that was once a common sight along the Mekong River is now down to a population of just 50 to 60 individuals due to human interference and dam construction, conservationists and Environment Ministry officials said yesterday. ...

Prey Veng province military police and the Wildlife Alliance on Friday night conducted a raid upon a truck transporting hundreds of kilograms of illegal wildlife destined for Vietnam. ...

Fifty endangered sarus cranes have hatched from 27 nests protected by conservationists and villagers in Cambodia’s Northern Plains, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The nests are in Kulen Promtep and Chhep wildlife sanctuaries. ...

Four endangered hog deer have been recorded using camera traps for the first time in a decade in Kratie province, offering hope that the population of the species may be on the rise. ...

Nine eggs of the globally endangered white-winged duck have successfully hatched after a nest was found last month in Preah Vihear province’s Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary. ...

Officials from the forestry administration raided a home in Mondulkiri province’s O’Raing district on Tuesday, confiscating the remains and horns of various endangered animals and making one arrest. ...

More than 200 cows found with foot-and-mouth disease in two villages of Kampong Cham province’s Sambour Meas commune received medication yesterday, while about 200 others were under observation. ...

Nine photographs of rare Cambodian animals are being displayed at the Ministry of Environment, urging the public to participate in preserving critically endangered species. ...

The Wildlife Conservation Society has made its first discovery of Siamese crocodile eggs on the Sre Ambel River in Koh Kong province in six years, it announced yesterday in a statement. ...

Kampong Chhnang provincial authorities on Saturday intercepted and seized a truck loaded with 300 kilograms of live snakes and tortoises, though the wildlife traders managed to escape, a provincial Forestry Administration official said yesterday.​ ...

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) yesterday released 150 endangered Asian giant softshell turtles into the wild as part of a “community protection programme”, the organisation announced. Gathered from nests guarded by local communities, including former egg harvesters, the hatchlings were released into their natural habitat ...