Environment and natural resources

An initiative to re-home abused, over-worked domestic elephants is supporting the conservation of one of Cambodia’s last and most species-rich rainforests, writes William Laurance. Growing ecotourism in the area, attracted by the elephants, is engaging indigenous communities in forest protection and helping to stave off ...

A dozen diesel-powered boats crawl across Kep Bay, creating a rumble so low that it shakes the pier. They drag weighted, electrified nets across the inshore shallows, scooping up sea life indiscriminately and destroying vital breeding grounds in the process. And they trawl so close ...

Cambodian officials have defended the government’s record on the forestry sector, despite the publication this year of several substantive reports alleging that deforestation is accelerating due to policy failures. In response, Sophalleth echoed previous comments by the prime minister, insisting that once deforested land is ...

Fish stocks in the Mekong River in Cambodia and the Vietnamese Delta could be halved if 11 planned hydropower dams go ahead, according to the preliminary results of an extensive study funded by the Vietnamese government. ...

Customs officials in Kandal province Monday confiscated live snakes and turtles from a man attempting to smuggle the animals across the border into Vietnam, but failed to apprehend the suspect, who fled on foot, an official said. ...

Twenty-nine loggers were sent back to Cambodia from Thailand on Sunday after the group was arrested by Thai soldiers while logging rosewood across the border from Banteay Meanchey province, an official said Monday. ...

A authorities in Preah Vihear province are hunting 12 people, including an environmental protection official, suspected of involvement in illegally harvesting 10 luxury wood trees near the ancient archaeological site of Koh Ker. ...

A protected forest and wildlife sanctuary in northern Cambodia’s Preah Vihear province has come under threat of illegal logging, with migrants to the area and soldiers clearing land and cutting down trees, sources say.​ ...

A protected forest and wildlife sanctuary in northern Cambodia’s Preah Vihear province has come under threat of illegal logging, with migrants to the area and soldiers clearing land and cutting down trees, sources say.Local residents and activists are urging Cambodia’s government to help protect the ...

Two Vietnamese nationals were arrested in Mondolkiri province as they attempted to cross the border back into Vietnam on Thursday in a tour bus loaded with high-grade timber, authorities said Sunday. ...

Authorities in Battambang province arrested a man on Wednesday for possession of 30 kilograms of illegal wildlife meat and body parts, after a raid on a property turned up pieces of bear, muntjac deer and civet. ...

Two military police officials and a tractor driver in Preah Vihear have been accused of beating a timber hauler and injuring a female bystander following an argument over an alleged $200 shakedown.On Tuesday afternoon, four men from Tbeng Meanchey district’s Pou commune who were hauling ...

A Vietnamese national was charged yesterday with smuggling elephant tusks and parts into Cambodia in what wildlife advocates have dubbed a landmark case.Ream Chan Mony, a deputy prosecutor at Siem Reap Provincial Court, said 43-year-old Vu Le Thuy was charged with “smuggling illegal wildlife and ...

A Vietnamese national was charged with smuggling animal parts Tuesday after he was caught with 43 kg of ivory at Siem Reap International Airport on Sunday night, officials said. ...

In late November 2011, Minh Ny found himself in a brawl with a group of heavily-armed policemen in Kompong Thom province’s Sandan district as the police attempted to handcuff the late environmentalist Chut Wutty. When the network was named a winner of the Equator Prize, ...

Doubts have been cast on long-standing plans for a 34-hectare dumpsite in Pailin’s Samlot Protected Forest following an inspection by the environment minister on Saturday. Ministry spokesman Sao Sopheap yesterday said that following the inspection, the minister has called for further research before the project ...

Authorities at the Angkor Temple Complex in Siem Reap province yesterday announced the discovery of two statues dating from the 10th century, uncovered during the digging of a water channel. ...

The director of Hirakawa Zoo in Japan has reportedly publicly stated his zoo wishes to acquire two Asian elephants currently housed at Teuk Chhou Zoo in Kampot province as part of a controversial animal swap deal. ...

This year’s celebration of ASEAN Day for Disaster Management (ADDM) and International Day for Disaster Reduction (IDDR) will be hosted by Cambodia on Oct. 9-10, aiming to raise people’s awareness of disaster risk reduction. ...

The Ministry of Environment submitted an ambitious national climate change plan to the United Nations yesterday ahead of scheduled climate talks in Paris (COP 21), though observers yesterday questioned the plan’s feasibility given a lack of both funding and political will.According to Sao Sopheap, spokesperson ...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $60 million loan to modernize and rehabilitate irrigation systems in Kompong Thom and Battambang provinces. ...

The Prey Lang Community Network, which works to protect Cambodian forests, has been selected by UNDP for an Equator Prize, for outstanding community organizing. In an interview with VOA Khmer, the group’s spokesman, Seng Sok Heng, says the government is “inactive” in protecting Cambodian forests, some ...

Cambodians authorities have cracked down on villagers in three forest communities, arresting them or forcing them to stop clearing land for subsistence agriculture, while companies, military personnel and the government continue to encroach upon the areas, according to commune leaders and rights group officials. ...

Community forest monitors in Preah Vihear province who seized more than 20 chainsaws over the course of a recent weeklong patrol of the Preah Roka forest now plan to ask local officials to join them in publicly setting the confiscated equipment ablaze, according to community ...