Forests and forestry

Forest cover

Cambodian forest shrinks to only 47pct in last 40 over years

Cambodia’s forest cover was over 73 per cent in 1975 but it has shrunk to only about 47 per cent last year. In its Human Development Report Cambodia 2019, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said deforestation was mainly caused by rising wood demand for ...

New Straits Times Staff
https://www.nst.com.my/world/region/2019/11/542639/cambodian-forest-shrinks-only-47pct-last-40-over-years

Officials demolish 49 illegal huts in Siem Reap

After the authorities on Friday and Saturday dismantled 49 of some 1,000 huts which had been built illegally on forest land in Siem Reap’s Phnom Kulen National Park, Banteay Srei district governor Khim Finan said on Sunday that a hunt was on for a group ...

Voun Dara
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/officials-demolish-49-illegal-huts-siem-reap

Deforestation warming Cambodia, activists say

As the impacts of climate change become more apparent worldwide, members of the public are connecting more weather events to the phenomenon. In March and April, for example, extreme heat baked mainland Southeast Asia. On April 20, Vietnam set an all-time observed record high temperature, 43 ...

Michael Tatarski
https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/06/article/deforestation-warming-cambodia-activists-say/

Cambodia’s sanctuaries under threat

Cambodia’s Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary is symbolic of the country’s poor forestry management. Around 2,000 square kilometres (sq km) – around three times the size of Singapore – is lost to illegal logging in Cambodia every year where wildlife sanctuaries – despite their name – ...

Jason Thomas
https://theaseanpost.com/article/cambodias-sanctuaries-under-threat

Preah Sihanouk land dispute agreement nullified ‘to prevent irregular issues’

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has reversed its previous order to allocate land to 48 families in Preah Sihanouk province’s Koki village – the scene of violent clashes between protesters and security forces – in order to follow procedure in trying to resolve ...

Long Kimmarita
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/preah-sihanouk-land-dispute-agreement-nullified-prevent-irregular-issues

Provincial authorities stop degraded forest clearance

The Kampong Chhnang provincial authority and forestry officials on Thursday stopped a group of people from clearing degraded forest where the government plans to replant trees and turn into a protected area in Samaki Meanchey district’s Kraing Lvea commune. Four tractors were seized as evidence ...

Khorn Savi
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/provincial-authorities-stop-degraded-forest-clearance

Government rips into WWF report

The Ministry of Agriculture’s Forestry Administration spokesman Keo Omaliss hit back on Thursday at a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report that claims the Greater Mekong will lose 30 percent of its forests by 2030 without drastic action. ...

Khouth Sophak Chakrya
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/government-rips-wwf-report

Corruption fueling deforestation in Cambodia

Cambodia’s forests are being felled at a shocking rate, as poachers and corrupt officials profit from the black market trade in rare wood species, which is being exported to Vietnam — and beyond. Loggers are illegally felling rare and valuable trees to sell in China and Europe, ...

Kris Janssens
http://www.dw.com/en/corruption-fueling-deforestation-in-cambodia/a-42674051

Ministry asks Japan to help map out forests

The Ministry of Environment is asking Japan for help mapping Cambodia’s forests using satellite imagery, one week after it vehemently refuted a report of such imagery showing accelerating forest loss in the Kingdom. ...

Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ministry-asks-japan-help-map-out-forests

Ministry disputes forests data

The Ministry of Environment released a statement late Tuesday night vehemently refuting University of Maryland data that showed a 30 percent spike in forest cover loss in 2016 over the year before, pointing instead to its own data showing only minimal deforestation over the same ...

Phak Seangly and Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ministry-disputes-forests-data

NUS study: Cambodia deforestation increases child health issues

A team of researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) has found that the loss of dense forest in Cambodia is associated with higher risk of diarrhea, acute respiratory infection, and fever in children. ...

Kongleaphy Keam
https://aecnewstoday.com/2017/nus-study-cambodia-deforestation-increases-child-health-issues/#axzz4rClWtpl4

Ministry disputes illegal logging report

The Ministry of Environment has disputed an environmental NGO report that large-scale illegal logging continues unabated, with large quantities of timber being transported to Vietnam. ...

May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5078976/ministry-disputes-illegal-logging-report/

Tanker filled with timber

A petrol tanker truck was found with more than 2,000 pieces of luxury rosewood stashed inside its tank when it was intercepted by authorities in Phnom Penh last week, National Military Police spokesman Eng Hy said yesterday. ...

Soth Koemsoeun and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tanker-filled-timber

Illegal timber loads seized

The Cambodia Royal Gendarmerie and Kratie provincial military police yesterday concluded a crackdown on a known timber smuggling route in Sambour district, confiscating nearly 100 pieces of wood equivalent to about 40 cubic metres. ...

Mom Sophon
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/40130/illegal-timber-loads-seized/

How Cambodia’s record deforestation is driving crippling drought

Massive deforestation is playing a crucial role in the droughts that have devastated Cambodia. But despite an official ban on timber exports, forests continue to be cut down at a record rate.The Cambodian government awarded between 30 and 40 logging concessions to private companies during ...

Euan Black
http://sea-globe.com/deforestation-drought-cambodia/

MFI loans used for illegal logging

A conservation NGO official yesterday said he planned to ask microfinance lenders to better scrutinise their loans after a spate of cases over the last month showed that such loans had been used by illegal loggers to purchase chainsaws and tractors for transporting timber. ...

Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/mfi-loans-used-illegal-logging

M’kiri logging allegations

About 1,000 hectares of protected forest in Mondulkiri province have been logged under the noses of environment officials, rights group Adhoc and community leaders said yesterday. ...

Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/mkiri-logging-allegations

Prey Lang still threatened

Alleged illegal logging and timber exports continue to happen in the Prey Lang forest, while drug trafficking in the area is also on the rise, according to the latest Prey Lang Com-munity Network (PLCN) report yesterday. The fifth monitoring report on the forest’s status from April ...

Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/33233/prey-lang-still-threatened/

Eyes in the sky put illegal logging in focus

Cambodia’s illegal loggers will soon have a potentially powerful new foe: a pair of NASA satellites with a keen interest in what they’re up to. Researchers at the University of Maryland in the U.S. say an innovative new system that picks up signs of forest loss ...

Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/eyes-sky-put-illegal-logging-focus-121259/

Forests being cleared: report

Ten trucks fully loaded with timber have been spotted entering a heavily guarded sawmill near the Lower Sesan II dam on an hourly basis, claimed a report by the Cambodian Human Rights Task Force (CHRTF), which was released yesterday. According to the report, photos taken from ...

May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/31962/forests-being-cleared--report/

Authorities ordered to enforce forestry laws

Despite numerous laws and committees created to tackle deforestation and illegal logging in Cambodia, the timber trade has continued unabated. In another attempt to deal with the issue, authorities across the country have been ordered to ensure they execute their responsibilities to oversee the enforcement of ...

May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/30209/authorities-ordered-to-enforce-forestry-laws/

How politics is killing Cambodia's forests

Cambodian forests, some of the most biologically diverse areas in the world, are vanishing fast as a result of the Vietnamese, Chinese and Cambodian political interests. Cambodia has one of the largest deforestation rates in the world. Forest Trends, an influential organization with a mission to conserve ...

Abu SMG Kibria
http://thediplomat.com/2016/09/how-politics-is-killing-cambodias-forests/

General implicated in Prey Lang logging

Newly declared protected areas in Prey Lang forest are being illegally logged by companies belonging to a three-star general and his sister, according to Goldman Environmental Prize-winning conservationist Ouch Leng and NGOs with which he is working. Leng, along with 15 NGO officers, patrollers and ...

Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/general-implicated-prey-lang-logging

Troops mobilized to ‘disperse’ farmers clearing state forest

The governor of Kompong Speu on Tuesday ordered 10 armed soldiers to help a team of environmental officials confront a group of “anarchic” farmers clearing state forestland in the province. ...

Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/troops-mobilized-disperse-farmers-clearing-state-forest-117983/

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