Forests and forestry

A local investment company, Norkor Korkthlok company, owned by Oknha Sieng Nam, recently decided to stop investment on Preah Chey Varaman-Norodom National Park in Kulen Mountain and voluntarily return back to the government. ...

A network of community activists protecting Prey Lang forest has appealed to the government to prevent all forms of intimidation against its members by courts, police and soldiers as well as local officials involved in the timber business. ...

In the remote province of Ratanakiri, in northeastern Cambodia, deforestation and climate change are taking a heavy toll on communities.Drought has damaged crops, from rice to sesame, cashews, beans and potatoes, making it hard for farmers here to earn a living. And deforestation has greatly ...

Thai soldiers opened fire on a group of 17 illegal loggers yesterday evening, wounding two, police said.The group had illegally crossed the border into Thailand in Oddar Meanchey province under cover of darkness when they encountered a Thai patrol, according to Brigadier General Men Leu, ...

Authorities in Banteay Meanchey province’s Mongkol Borei district seized more than 200 illegally poached birds yesterday, officers there said. ...

As activists from Prey Lang forest received the prestigious Equator Prize in Paris on Monday, another, parallel network was asserting itself in Kampong Thom province – one with close ties to the security forces and local governor.The Prey Lang Forest Community Network (PLFCN), funded by ...

The Apsara Authority in cooperation with the Preah Vihear provincial authorities will establish a joint-committee to combat illegal logging and land encroachments within conservation site in Koh Ker temple. ...

After nearly two months tied to a tree near the Lumphat district office in Ratanakkiri province, a female elephant has finally been rehoused by the Mondolkiri Project Elephant Sanctuary, which purchased the animal in early October, according to the sanctuary’s founder. ...

The government’s Apsara authority will join forces with the Preah Vihear administration to establish a joint committee to prevent illegal logging and to manage state land in the protected areas around Koh Ker, officials said yesterday. ...

Patrols have resumed in the area of Preah Vihear protected forests where two forest rangers were fatally shot on November 7th, as police continue their investigation into the murders. The beefed-up patrols are taking new security precautions, and unarmed patrols have not resumed yet because ...

A steady stream of tractors loaded with timber clambered along the dirt roads heading out of the Phnom Aural Wildlife Sanctuary last week, some carrying cheap firewood, others loaded with more valuable logs. ...

Authorities in Mondolkiri province seized three vehicles packed with illegally logged luxury timber at separate locations inside the Snuol Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area in the space of two hours Saturday night but failed to apprehend any of the drivers. ...

An ethnic community in Mondulkiri province has rejected a cash offer from a company that wants to clear thousands of hectares of forest locals claim as their own, saying they value the land more than money. ...

The fate of 70 million people rests on what happens to the Mekong river. With world leaders meeting in Paris next week for crucial UN climate talks, John Vidal journeys down south-east Asia’s vast waterway – a place that encapsulates some of the dilemmas they ...

An estimated 30 to 40 cubic metres of protected luxury timber was intercepted in Ratanakkiri province on Wednesday night while being hauled to Vietnam, according to local officials. ...

Four Cambodians have been released and deported by the Thai authorities after they were detained for three months on charges of illegally entering the country to log rosewood, border officials announced yesterday. ...

Decades after poachers stripped the forests surrounding Angkor Wat of large mammals, an innovative conservation group is bringing them back. Already, Wildlife Alliance has rewilded the forest with gibbons and langurs. And more are coming. ...

A freshwater Mekong dolphin was found dead yesterday morning on a river bank Prek Prosob district, Kratie province, where only only about 80 Mekong dolphins remain, according to officials. ...

A group of 15 Cambodians was arrested in Thailand on Tuesday for illegal logging in the country’s Sa Kaeo province, a Cambodian official said on Wednesday. ...

Rubber and palm oil giant the Socfin Group has committed to a global “zero-deforestation policy” across Africa and Asia amid a legal dispute with ethnic Bunong communities in Mondulkiri province’s Bousraa commune. ...

After years of land-grabbing that has eroded a protected forest in Battambang Province, forestry administration officials took a forceful step yesterday to crack down on the problem. In the early hours of the morning, a team from the forestry administration alongside local police entered the ...

A mass eviction in Battambang province yesterday saw 100 locals kicked out of the Prey Tralach community forest, which local authorities claim was illegally inhabited and deforested by villagers. ...

Ten people, including a soldier, have been arrested over the murders of a forest ranger and a policeman who were investigating illegal logging in Cambodia, officials said on Friday. In the last few decades a surge in illegal logging has contributed to a sharp drop ...

More than 200 villagers living on the fringe of a giant hydropower project in Stung Treng province are lobbying for their commune’s police chief to be removed, alleging that he habitually confiscates illegally logged wood from villagers on behalf of powerful business interests. ...