Environment and natural resources
Forests and forestry
Police nab timber warehouse boss
The manager of an illegal timber warehouse owned by Lieutenant General Chheng Long was arrested in Kampong Speu on Wednesday, although Long and his son-in-law remain at large. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/police-nab-timber-warehouse-boss
Vietnam stops nine overloaded trucks with illegal lumber
Authorities in Vietnam’s Gia Lai province have recently stopped at least nine overloaded timber trucks crossing into the country from the Kingdom, despite the Cambodian government ostensibly banning wood exports to its eastern neighbour, according to a Vietnamese news report. ...
Shaun Turton and Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/vietnam-stops-nine-overloaded-trucks-illegal-lumber
More timber seized from Ratanakkiri
Ratanakkiri provincial authorities yesterday seized a large cache of luxury wood and arrested four people about to sell the timber to Vietnam. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/37605/more-timber-seized-from-ratanakkiri/
NGO to file report over clearing of forestland
The Natural Resource and Wildlife Preservation Organization, a conservation organisation in Kampong Speu, pledged yesterday to file a letter of complaint to authorities after learning that 6 hectares of protected forestland were cleared illegally. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ngo-file-report-over-clearing-forestland
Kith Meng company secures timber release
Customs officers have released a pair of trucks that local officials said were seized late last month while being used to smuggle timber belonging to business mogul Kith Meng into Vietnam in breach of a government ban, according to police. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/kith-meng-company-secures-timber-release-128163/
PM: Save our flooded forests
Prime Minister Hun Sen has called on the Agriculture Ministry to do more to prevent land grabbing in the country’s endangered flooded forests.Speaking at the closing ceremony of the Agriculture Ministry’s annual meeting yesterday, Mr. Hun Sen said encroachment risks wiping out fish populations that ...
Ven Rathavong
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/37427/pm--save-our-flooded-forests/
Wood confiscated from timber trader’s land
Authorities in Ratanakkiri province have confiscated about 700 small pieces of luxury-grade wood found on an empty plot of land belonging to Yeay Pralit, a timber trader whom local authorities had long suspected of committing forest crimes, deputy provincial court prosecutor Hak Phoan said on ...
AUN PHEAP
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/wood-confiscated-from-timber-traders-land-127795/
Timber found on chief’s land
A stockpile of illegal timber was reportedly found on the land of a district military police chief in Kampong Speu province, while his son-in-law and alleged timber trader Sy Sar remains at large. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/timber-found-chiefs-land
Adhoc accuses Ratanakkiri official of OK’ing sale of sanctuary land
Some 200 hectares of forest in Ratanakkiri’s Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary have been cleared and sold for up to $400 per hectare – allegedly with an official’s blessing – while an additional 700 hectares around the protected area face clearing. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/adhoc-accuses-ratanakkiri-official-oking-sale-sanctuary-land
Kith Meng firm’s wood seized near border
Authorities in Tbong Khmum province seized two trucks that were about to break the government’s ban on timber exports to Vietnam by carting wood across the border for a company owned by business mogul Kith Meng. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/kith-meng-firms-wood-seized-near-border-127418/
Logging investigation finished
Members of the prime minister’s anti-logging task force who had been looking into officials’alleged collusion with Vietnamese timber smugglers in Mondulkiri has ended its 10-day investigation. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/logging-investigation-finished
Illegal logging groups arrested
Eleven Vietnamese men and two Cambodian men have been arrested for border crossing offenses and logging in protected forests. Interior Ministry immigration police officer Bun Chantha said the Cambodians and seven of the Vietnamese were arrested in Rattanakiri province’s Lumphat district on Monday. ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/36993/illegal-logging-groups-arrested/
Transporters released with warning: activist
At least 70 timber smugglers transporting some 200 cubic metres of illegal first- and second-grade wood were stopped by authorities in the Phnom O’ral Wildlife Sanctuary over the weekend, before being allowed to leave without charges and still in possession of the illegal timber. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/transporters-released-warning-activist
Herd of elephants rescued from muddy bomb crater
Eleven wild elephants were rescued on Saturday in Mondulkiri’s Keo Seima protected area after becoming trapped in a former bomb crater without food for four days, though rangers will continue to monitor the herd to ensure it reaccepts one juvenile who was handled by humans ...
Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/herd-elephants-rescued-muddy-bomb-crater
Task force grills officials over allegations of graft
Two military commanders, a military police commander and a provincial police chief in Mondulkiri were questioned by the national military police’s anti-logging task force yesterday for their alleged involvement in a Vietnamese timber smuggling operation. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/task-force-grills-officials-over-allegations-graft
Masked farmers raid, burn down community forestry office
Officials are still investigating an arson attack on a Mondolkiri province community forestry monitoring office by dozens of masked farmers on Friday, in what they suspect was retaliation for preventing the farmers from growing cassava in a protected area. ...
Van Roeun
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/masked-farmers-raid-burn-down-community-forestry-office-126759/
Timber graft case snares officers
More than 10 police and military officers in Mondulkiri province have been summoned for questioning over a big corruption case involving illegal timber exports to Vietnam. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/36585/timber-graft-case-snares-officers/
Forest patrollers accuse authorities of collusion
Prey Lang Community Network conservation activists in Kratie province have accused local officials of colluding with illegal timber transporters after authorities allegedly declined to intervene after being tipped off on Sunday to stockpiles of logs thought to have been felled within a wildlife sanctuary.Ek Sovanna, ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/forest-patrollers-accuse-authorities-collusion
Agreement allows South Korea to manage forests
South Korea will manage the replanting of trees on former economic land concessions—with an eye toward eventually entering Cambodia’s logging industry—under a tentative agreement between the two countries, Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon said on Wednesday. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/agreement-allows-s-korea-to-manage-forests-126309/
Luxury wood haul found, but no arrests
Mondulkiri provincial environment officials and National Military Police early yesterday morning confiscated a seemingly abandoned Toyota Land Cruiser loaded with more than 10 poles of luxury thnong timber in the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary, though no arrests were made. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/luxury-wood-haul-found-no-arrests
Court plans to probe Mondulkiri logging claims
The Mondulkiri Provincial Court is preparing to investigate accusations that Cambodian border officials last month knowingly allowed seven Vietnamese loggers to illegally fell trees in the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary, a court official said yesterday. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/court-plans-probe-mondulkiri-logging-claims
Vietnamese trucks, logs seized in Mondulkiri
Seven Vietnamese nationals were arrested during a timber bust on Wednesday when Mondulkiri authorities intercepted eight trucks loaded with illegal timber in the Keo Seima protected area. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/vietnamese-trucks-logs-seized-mondulkiri
Logger leaves timber business
Try Pheap, director general of the Try Pheap Group and widely known for his extensive involvement in the kingdom’s timber trade, told a government news outlet yesterday that he has ended his involvement in the logging business and did not burn down a lumber warehouse ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/35716/logger-leaves-timber-business/
Ratanikkiri crackdown nets 700 logs, zero loggers
More than 700 logs, many of them luxury timber, were discovered in Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary in Ratanikkiri province on Sunday, according to local military police, though the loggers were nowhere in sight. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ratanikkiri-crackdown-nets-700-logs-zero-loggers