បរិស្ថាន និងធនធានធម្មជាតិ
ព្រៃឈើ និងរុក្ខាប្រមាញ់
Homes Razed to Stop ‘Secession,’ Officials Say
The homes of nearly 200 families living in Pursat province’s Veal Veng district were demolished yesterday and Monday after officials accused the residents of being involved in a secessionist plot, local officials and villagers said. District governor Chhe Chhiv said that authorities had demolished 191 homes ...
PM insists worries about dam overblown
In February, Son Chhay wrote to the premier urging him to investigate illegal logging outside the legal clearing area slated for the Stung Tatai dam reservoir in Koh Kong province and the environmental destruction that would be wrought by the Stung Cheay Areng dam. In a ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012071057322/National-news/worries-about-dam-overblown.html
Once thought full of potential, Cambodia's palm oil sector has mostly fizzled
At one time, palm oil production stirred a lot of excitement in Cambodia. Perhaps hoping to follow in the footsteps of palm oil giants Malaysia or Indonesia, more than 10 firms in Cambodia registered for land concessions for palm cultivation around a decade ago. Today, there is one left. The others decided palm ...
Cambodia to create its first Marine Protected Area
Cambodia will begin the creation of its first Marine Protected Area (MPA) this year, covering some 300 square kilometres of coral-rich seas around islands of Koh Rong and Koh Rong Samloem in the Gulf of Thailand. This follows a successful two-year scientific survey of the area ...
http://www.peopleandplanet.net/?lid=30370§ion=35&topic=23
Raids Netted Excavators Owned by CPP Official
Twelve of the 29 excavators seized by military police in Kompong Thom province during Monday’s military police raids on illegal Tonle Sap reservoirs were confiscated from a farming collective run by a newly elected CPP commune chief. Peanh Poul, director of the Dry Rice Season Community, ...
Mysterious excavators cleared protected area
Kampong Thom provincial authorities have confiscated more than two dozen dirt excavators in Stoung district over the past week after the machinery had been allegedly used to dig up land for development in a protected area used primarily for breeding fish. Hang Thol, a military police ...
Authorities Seize Excavators Constructing Illegal Reservoirs
Kompong Thom provincial military police confiscated 29 excavators and arrested four drivers in a four-day operation ending yesterday aimed at stopping the illegal construction of reservoirs around the Tonle Sap lake, officials said. The reservoirs, which are used to retain water for use in dry-season farming, ...
Hun Sen Calls on Public to Help Protect Tonle Sap Fisheries
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday marked National Fish Day by urging the public to report anyone fishing inside the Tonle Sap conservation area he established earlier this year to help protect and revive the lake’s vital fish stocks. “People have to dare to stand up and ...
Cambodia approves land concessions, despite ban
Cambodia’s government has ignored a suspension on new land concessions to private companies, announcements in an official publication showed, despite ordering a freeze after growing discontent over forced evictions and illegal logging. Prime Minister Hun Sen signed off on 12 sub-decrees on June 7 and 12 ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/26/us-cambodia-land-idUSBRE85P0G520120626
Hun Sen grants four economic land concessions
Prime Minister Hun Sen has signed off on four more economic land concessions (ELCs), all in protected areas, despite placing a moratorium on granting such leases on May 7. Since the May 7 sub-decree, the premier has now signed off on seven concessions totalling 56,586 hectares ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012062557006/National-news/hun-sen-grants-elcs.html
Rosewood Seized From Hotel Truck
Forestry Administration officials have confiscated 15 cubic meters of luxury-grade wood from a truck belonging to hotel and casino magnate Try Pheap in Kompong Thom province. Soth Mary, a division director for the Forestry Administration in the province, said yesterday that his staff stopped a truck ...
Prey Long Meeting Gets Grudging Go-Ahead
Commune and village officials in Kratie province yesterday threatened to shut down a community meeting on the protection of Prey Long forest because the organizers had failed to get permission and allegedly invited only opposition party activists. The authorities eventually allowed the meeting to proceed, after ...
Chut Wutty slaying witness questioned
Another witness to the fatal shootings of environmental activist Chut Wutty and military police officer In Rattana was questioned at Koh Kong Provincial Court yesterday. Bou Orn is the third employee of logging company Timbergreen – a firm Chut Wutty was investigating for alleged illegal logging ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012061456797/National-news/shooting-witness-questioned.html
Firm Says Logging Won’t Derail Carbon Credits
The U.S. firm selling credits for a carbon trading scheme that could earn Cambodia tens of millions of dollars said yesterday that sales could start in a matter of months, despite mounting claims of deforestation within the community forests set to anchor the project. Leslie Durschinger, ...
Zsombor Peter and Kuch Naren, P. 1
Lawsuit Filed Against Banteay Meanchey Land Protesters
Banteay Meanchey’s provincial environment department, a local company and two bulldozer drivers, have sued four villagers in Banteay Meanchey province over their alleged role in a violent land protest in February. The villagers, who have been summoned for questioning this week, stand accused of intentional property ...
Commmander Files Complaint Against Forestry Chief
A military police commander has filed a complaint against a Forestry Administration chief whom he accuses of wrongly sending authorities to search a truck suspected of transporting illegally logged luxury wood, officials said yesterday. When Forestry Administration officials searched the truck at a military police base in Kompong Thom province on ...
UN Confirms Logging in Carbon Trading Zone
The U.N. has said it is concerned about deforestation in Oddar Meanchey province in an area where it has launched a carbon trading scheme and confirmed that it is working with the government in order to “rectify the situation.” In an email on Friday, the ...
Kuch Naren and Abby Seiff, P. 1
Police Search Home of Luxury Wood Trader in Kratie
The Kratie Provincial Court yesterday issued a search warrant for the home of Chum Vuthy, a man who allegedly trades in luxury wood, in Kratie City, provincial police said. Mr. Vuthy had been transporting a load of illegal lumber from Stung Treng City to Vietnam and ...
Luxury Wood Seized From Military Vehicle
Forestry officials on Monday confiscated nearly two-and-a-half cubic meters of luxury grade Thnong wood in Stung Treng province from a military truck emblazoned with the insignia of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Bodyguard Unit, forestry officials said yesterday. An additional 100 pieces of luxury grade wood were ...
First Forest Patrol Since Activist’s Death Set
Members of the Prey Long Forest Network yesterday said they are planning to hold a citizens’ patrol to look for evidence of illegal logging in Kompong Thom province this weekend. The patrol would be the first such patrol in the country since the April 26 murder ...
Soldier Held After Aiding Two Slain Loggers
The Oddar Meanchey Provincial Court on Saturday charged a 31-year-old soldier for helping villagers who were shot dead after crossing the Thai border while logging for luxury timber, officials and a rights worker said yesterday. Mao Chenda, 20, and Ung Theara, 17, villagers from Anlong Veng ...
Ex-soldier faces logging charge
A former RCAF soldier accused of leading a group of Cambodians across the Thai border to log luxury wood – an incident that left two dead – is awaiting trial in Oddar Meanchey province, officials said yesterday. Ngoun Thyrith, district military police chief for the Anlong ...
Government Creates 4 New Fishing Conservation Areas
In an effort to increase fish stocks, the Ministry of Agriculture on Wednesday adopted a sub-decree to create four conservation areas in Kandal, Kompong Cham, Prey Veng and Takeo provinces where all fishing activities will be prohibited. Signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on April 6, ...
Chut Wutty witness had eyes elsewhere
Another witness to the fatal shooting of prominent environmentalist Chut Wutty and military police officer In Rattana has said he did not see who shot the men after testifying in Koh Kong provincial court yesterday. Puom Ravin, a 37-year-old employee of the logging firm Timbergreen said ...