Environment and natural resources

In a statement last week, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature identified ongoing fires in flooded forests as a major threat to the Tonle Sap lake. ...

A Japanese firm, Gomi Recycle 110, plans to invest in a factory in Svay Rieng province to recycle plastic waste into finished products for local markets. Yusuke Okumura, director of Gomi, met with Cambodia’s Minister of Environment Say Samal on Tuesday seeking support from the government ...

Four members of a forest patrol were ambushed in Preah Vihear’s Cheam Pen community forest on Tuesday afternoon, according to deputy forest chief Ros Lim. ...

Environmental DNA collection could be a “silver bullet” for tracking and protecting critically endangered fish in the Mekong, according to a new report.   ...

More than $90,000 worth of luxury timber seized during National Anti-Deforestation Committee (NADC) raids in Stung Treng province will be up for public auction until July 29, the Ministry of Economic and Finance announced last week. ...

Forestry officials in Preah Vihear province confiscated more than 1,100 kg of valuable rosewood early on Tuesday morning, while the two men suspected of transporting the wood were on the run, officials said.   ...

A Khmer version of a smartphone app to help law enforcement deal with the illegal wildlife trade was launched yesterday. ...

Employees of a controversial monkey breeding farm in Pursat City who protested earlier this week for higher wages have accepted their employer’s offer of a $16 monthly wage increase, authorities said on Thursday.   ...

A study of drinking water sources in Kandal province found widespread contamination from human excrement, posing a health risk to residents that likely mirrors the situation across Cambodia, the authors say.   ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen will leave for Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia this week for the two-day Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit starting on July 15. ...

A start-up initiative aimed at reducing plastic waste in the Kingdom is asking locals and expats to live plastic-free in July. The goal of the campaign is relatively simple: eliminate plastics’ harshest offenders from daily consumption. That means plastic straws, bags, bottles, cups and Styrofoam, or ...

The Finance Ministry has rescheduled a trio of timber auctions that had been set to start today after a continued lack of interest from buyers, although bidding for a lot in Stung Treng province will go ahead on Wednesday as planned.   ...

A second pair of endangered pileated gibbons released into the forest near Angkor Wat last year have had a baby. ...

A pile of illegally logged wood discovered by police in Ratanakkiri province earlier this month along a road built by a local rubber plantation often accused of illegal logging has since gone missing, a Forestry Administration official said on Sunday.   ...

Cambodia has one of the world’s highest deforestation rates. But a group of Buddhist monks are stepping up efforts to save forests by publicly revealing wrongdoings and mobilizing local villagers. Ate Hoekstra reports. ...

Two rare gaurs, a mother and calf, have died after being found trapped in a snare in the Cardamom Mountains’ Samlot Protected Area, according to the sanctuary’s chief and an official from the Maddox Jolie-Pitt (MJP) Foundation, a wildlife NGO founded by Angelina Jolie. ...

Cambodia lost 10 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) last year to the negative effect of climate change, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). In announcing a $96 million package to help the Kingdom cope with the loss of livelihoods and income due to ...

Kratie Forestry Administration forces in cooperation with provincial armed forces seized 12 trucks laden with illegal timber yesterday.   ...

Continued widespread logging in the Prey Lang forest is evidence that the government’s recent push to have more than 400,000 hectares of land protected is toothless, according to activists as well as a Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) report released yesterday. ...

Researchers have released new photos offering a rare glimpse of endangered elephant herds seen traveling with calves through the Tonle Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary in Mondulkiri province earlier this month. The photos are part of a conservation supervisory project undertaken by Winrock International and the World Wildlife ...

The government claims not to have issued a single permit to export Siamese rosewood since it agreed to strict new trade rules for the exceedingly rare trees, and says it will look into a U.N.-managed database that states otherwise.   ...

The controversial Don Sahong hydropower dam was off the agenda again during the second day of talks between Prime Minister Hun Sen and his newly appointed Lao counterpart Thongloun Sisoulith yesterday, despite international calls to halt construction and survey the dam’s environmental impact. ...

The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced on Monday that the government will block all illegal rice imports at its borders and limit legal rice shipments from Vietnam based on production cost. ...

The government has indefinitely postponed what was intended to be the first of several public auctions to sell off 71,000 cubic meters of timber seized by au­thorities since January, according to officials, who cited a lack of interest among potential buyers. ...