Lawmaker blasts illegal logging in Stung Treng

26 May 2014
The Cambodia Daily
Civil society / Concessions / Crime and law enforcement / Economic policy and administration / Economy and commerce / Electricity infrastructure / Energy / Energy policy and administration / Environment and natural resources / Environment and natural resources policy and administration / Environmental and biodiversity protection / Foreign investors / Forest policy and administration / Forest products / Forests and forestry / Generation and distribution facilities / Government / Hydropower dams / Infrastructure / Investment / Judiciary and courts / Land / Land policy and administration / Land tenure and land titling / Law and judiciary / Law making process / Legal and judicial reform / Logging and timber / Ministries and other national bodies / National parks and wildlife sanctuaries / Protected areas / Protected forest / Public land lease / Renewable energy production / Social development
CNRP / CPP / Forestry Administration / Law on the Status of Judges and Prosecutors / Law on the Supreme Council of the Magistracy / Lower Sesan 2 / Loy Sophat / National Assembly / Royal Group / Virachey National Park

Two draft laws on judicial reform were easily passed by the single-party National Assembly on Friday but the session was overshadowed by a rookie lawmaker’s attack on lax enforcement of forestry laws in Stung Treng province. On the fourth day of the third plenary session of the Assembly—which the opposition CNRP’s 55 lawmakers-elect continue to boycott, claiming the 2013 national election was stolen—the 65 CPP lawmakers present unanimously passed drafts of the Law on the Status of Judges and Prosecutors and the Law on the Supreme Council of the Magistracy. But while those two laws were pushed quickly through the Assembly, Loy Sophat, the former governor of Stung Treng province, who became a CPP lawmaker for the fifth mandate, took aim at other laws that he claims are not being enforced. “The government allowed the construction of the Lower Sesan II hydroelectric dam and made laws on its construction and the clearing of the reservoir,” Mr. Sophat said. … “In that area, logging is out of control,” Mr. Sophat said. “Some powerful people escape the law and take the opportunity to cut wood inside Virachey National Park and other areas and then transport them to this area [Sesan II].” Mark Hanna, chief financial officer for Royal Group, said that while the partnership had faced this accusation previously—logging was halted temporarily in October after reports of trees felled outside the reservoir—he had no knowledge of any renewed complaints. … Virachey National Park, which stretches from the northeastern tip of neighboring Ratanakkiri province into Stung Treng, is a 330,000-hectare swathe of forest touching the borders with Vietnam and Laos. It is ostensibly protected from loggers, but in fact luxury timber is often felled within the park. Mr. Sophat charges that, while the protected forest is being destroyed—with the Sesan II concession as one safety zone for looted timber—authorities are ignoring those most responsible and focusing on small-time loggers. …

 Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lawmaker-blasts-illegal-logging-in-s-treng-59494/