Environment and natural resources

A group of villagers from a community forest inside Preah Vihear province’s Phnom Tnout Wildlife Sanctuary are collecting thumbprints to evict a family that has been protecting the forest from illegal logging and preventing poaching of endangered species. ...

Chumnoab commune authorities in Koh Kong province have started to dismantle the Areng Valley community office despite appeals from the community to keep it. On March 21, Chumnoab commune officials advised the Areng Valley community to relocate their office because the land it was on ...

Cambodian authorities are monitoring a rogue wild elephant following a day in pursuit of the pachyderm after she trampled a number of villagers’ farmland. The female elephant was spotted on Sunday morning in Oddar Meanchey’s Dangrek Mountains – a rare sighting, according to Banteay Ampil ...

The World Wildlife Fund said that the Irrawaddy dolphin population increased by ten percent in 2017 when compared to data obtained in 2015, but the animal advocate remains concerned about threats that continue in the habitat of the dolphins. ...

The government will “take back” land on roughly 30 islands from private companies that have not made progress on planned developments, Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a speech on Monday that also targeted land-grabbing villagers and idle provincial governors. ...

A new marine protected area has been established off the coast of Kep province to protect biodiversity and prevent illegal fishing, officials said on Sunday. A directive by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries officially established the marine fisheries management area, which spans more ...

Eight environmental organisations yesterday asked the government to take immediate action against loggers and land speculators in a wildlife sanctuary in Preah Vihear province, worrying that more land will be encroached upon. ...

Kratie provincial authorities were searching on Wednesday for the owners of hundreds of cubic metres of first-grade timber found loaded onto seven heavy trucks during a raid on a warehouse in Snuol district. After getting a tip-off, Military Police, police, Forestry Administration and court officials ...

An endangered banteng died of wounds inflicted by a hunter’s snare on Saturday as an attempt to rescue it was mounted weeks after it was first spotted injured in a Kampong Speu community forest. A patrol team in the Bram Beymom Community forest in Thpong ...

An environmental ranger and a community forest member on Tuesday were released from prison under court supervision following their brief detention after allegedly firing at a suspect hauling timber within a protected area supported by the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation in Battambang province. ...

The sustainable development of water and related resources in the Mekong River Basin is at a crucial stage and as member countries of the Mekong River Commission meet this week in Siem Reap, Chheang Vannarith argues that a code of conduct is now vital to ...

China’s ever increasing influence over the Mekong River Basin was apparent on the first day of a Mekong River Commission (MRC) summit on Monday, where cooperation between the MRC and the Chinese-backed Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) mechanism was floated. ...

The director of Kampong Speu’s protected Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary and his predecessor have been charged with illegally clearing forest in a case dating back to 2013, and have been summoned to court for questioning. ...

Kratie’s Prek Prasap district authorities on Friday confiscated a bulldozer in connection with the clearing of 10 hectares of forestland near the protected Prey Lang forest, officials said on Sunday. ...

The European Union and WWF yesterday launched a $3.4 million project to conserve natural resources in Mondulkiri province. According to a press release issued yesterday, the EU and WWF have officially launched a project worth $3.4 million to support sustainable management of rich forest resources in ...

Environmental officials in Pursat are questioning rangers over how a group of local journalists discovered nearly 100 logs of luxury timber inside a wildlife sanctuary. After receiving a tip, the journalists, representing 24 small online media outlets, teamed up with five local policemen on Tuesday ...

An Areng Valley representative on Monday visited the Chumnoab commune office in Koh Kong province to plead with authorities not to remove a community office that has been slated for demolition to make way for a new commune office. ...

Customers at shopping centres and supermarkets will be charged 400 riel per plastic bag beginning April 10. Heng Nareth, the director of environmental protection at the Ministry of Environment, said the aim is to reduce wasteful use of plastic bags. ...

A complaint filed at the Preah Vihear Provincial Court accuses four Kuoy ethnic villagers of goading some 70 others into confiscating tractors being used to clear community land by a subsidiary of the Chinese sugar company Rui Feng, which has been involved in a series ...

A series of quarterly reports from the National Bank of Cambodia raises questions about the government’s ban on timber exports, as they show that last year, more than $5 million in sawn timber was exported from the Kingdom. The latest report, released earlier this month ...

In two operations last week, Wildlife Alliance officials rescued three pangolins in Kampong Speu province and on Thursday arrested a banteng poacher alongside Military Police in the Cardamom Mountains. Following a two-week investigation into suspected wildlife traders, a team from the environmental NGO raided two ...

Authorities seized more than 200 kilograms of trafficked wildlife in two cases in Mondulkiri on Wednesday. Provincial Environment Department Director Keo Sopheak said four men on two motorbikes were arrested hauling 100 kilos of illegal wildlife meat out of Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary. ...

The Chumnoab commune authority in Koh Kong province’s Thmar Baing district yesterday ordered Areng Valley residents to move their community office to a new location to make way for its new office. According to a letter released yesterday by Chumnoab commune, commune officials asked Areng residents ...

The Prey Lang Community Network has cancelled an annual Buddhist ceremony it holds each year to commemorate forests, preserve indigenous identity and promote the potential of the Prey Lang forest, citing bad weather and fear of being harassed by authorities. ...