Forests and forestry

A crackdown on illegal logging in Mondulkiri has yielded more than 50 cubic metres of luxury wood found submerged in a canal and stashed throughout the forest. ...

A group of local journalists in Preah Vihear province allege, in a complaint filed with a rights group, that authorities are involved in the sale of illegally logged timber. Seven journalists, who asked that their names and respective outlets not be identified for fear of retribution ...

A coalition of NGOs yesterday implored Prime Minister Hun Sen to shelve the government’s plans for the Stung Cheay Areng hydropower dam in Koh Kong province and instead turn the wilderness area in question into an eco-tourism site. ...

The constant hum of chainsaws almost drowned out Buddhist monk Sam Kim Sath, 65, as he stood this week in a wildlife sanctuary on Oral Mountain, Cambodia’s highest peak. Forest in the Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary, in the eastern part of the Cardamoms, is being “obliterated” ...

At least four people were injured, one seriously, after Thai soldiers shot them as they allegedly illegally logged the Thai side of the Preah Vihear border on Wednesday. The injured men were part of a group of eight from Preah Vihear province’s Choam Ksan district, provincial ...

Resettlement studies are being carried out at the site of the proposed Stung Cheay Areng hydropower dam in Koh Kong province, officials said yesterday, amid suggestions that yet another Chinese company is now involved in the controversial project.Tou Savuth, Thma Bang district governor, said staff ...

A house in Ratanakkiri owned by a provincial deputy police chief was raided on Saturday, yielding seven cubic metres of luxury timber. Ratanakkiri Provincial Court and Forestry Administration officials carried out the raid on the property where the deputy police chief is the landlord, but he ...

SAMBOR DISTRICT, Kratie Province – A sharply dressed usher in a crisp black shirt, black pants and a shiny black tie escorted guests to one of several bungalow-style, private booths at the Mloub Dong restaurant on a recent evening. While the privacy the restaurant offers is ...

The Forestry Administration on Thursday said it could not comment on the accuracy of new, satellite-generated maps that suggest the government has been vastly overstating the country’s forest cover. Open Development Cambodia, an open data website, on Wednesday published a series of maps using U.S. satellite ...

The Vietnamese embassy fired back yesterday at opposition party leader Sam Rainsy’s claim that Vietnamese companies granted economic land concessions in Prey Lang forest are turning the area into a Vietnamese “colony”. On Wednesday, Rainsy visited the forest and claimed that CRCK, a Vietnamese firm granted ...

Since 2011, an estimated 3,000 resin trees have been illegally razed by rogue loggers and a land concessionaire operating in Mondulkiri’s Sen Monorom district, villagers claimed yesterday. Resin trees are a vital source of income for the Phnong ethnic community in Sokdom commune, according to Thleuk ...

Credit Suisse, a financial services firm based in Switzerland, has been accused of aiding land grabbing in Cambodia by becoming a major shareholder in Vietnamese rubber giant Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) Group. In a statement released today, Global Witness (GW), an NGO based in England, ...

Cambodia’s opposition leader called Wednesday for a halt to land concessions granted by the government to foreign companies in the country’s vast Prey Lang Forest, calling for greater protection of one of Southeast Asia’s last remaining lowland evergreen woodlands. Cambodia National Rescue Party President Sam ...

LUMPHAT WILDLIFE SANCTUARY, Ratanakkiri Province – From behind the corrugated metal walls of Daun Penh Agrico’s wood depot, the raspy buzz of a chainsaw rattled through the surrounding forest on Monday afternoon. As the chainsaw revved and cut, a heavy-duty truck packed full of long, sawn ...

A man facing defamation charges was questioned in Kandal Provincial Court yesterday following his comments in a report that alleged tycoon Try Pheap was illegally logging. San Sen was quoted in a Cambodian Human Rights Task Force (CHRTF) report last month that implicated the tycoon in ...

A pair of endangered pileated gibbons will be released today into the forest in the Angkor Archaeological Park, the beginning of a project that could see the resettlement of many other animals that had been extirpated from the area, wildlife experts said. “We are hoping that ...

The percentage of Cambodia covered in forest has fallen from about 72 per cent in 1973 to only about 46 per cent in 2013, satellite image data released yesterday shows. A series of animated maps that Open Development Cambodia (ODC) produced from NASA satellite images detail ...

A Vietnamese company has been transporting thousands of dollars’ worth of illegally logged luxury timber from Kratie’s Snuol district to Vietnam on a nightly basis under the nose of authorities, an environmental protection NGO said yesterday. At least 10 trucks with an estimated five cubic metres of ...

Two men were arrested and charged on Sunday with smuggling more than 2,000 kilograms of luxury-grade rosewood from Kampong Thom to Siem Reap town, anti-crime officials said yesterday. Thanh Ti, 21, and Viet Thy Thanh, 19, were caught manning a truck transferring 2,400 kilograms of rosewood ...

Air pollution from vehicles and electric generators inside the Angkor Archeological Park and in Siem Reap City is soiling and darkening the monuments at the World Heritage Site, an official at the Apsara Authority, which is responsible for the park, said Friday. Options to decrease ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen and the visiting president of the China-Cambodia Friendship Association (CCFA) each planted a tree inside the Peace Palace compound in Phnom Penh on Wednesday to celebrate the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Gu Xiulian, president of the CCFA, ...

In an epic, six-hour address in September, Prime Minister Hun Sen apologized for the government’s many “problems” and promised a more reformist government over the next five years of his rule. Targeting corruption, deforestation and the lack of transparency across government sectors, the prime minister made ...

Well-known timber magnate Try Pheap is preparing to expand cross-country with a scheme that already gives him exclusive rights to buy all the wood felled on economic land concessions (ELCs) in Ratanakkiri province, a spokesman for the businessman said. The Agriculture Ministry’s Forestry Administration in February ...

Government officials yesterday laid the blame for Cambodia’s deforestation on villagers gathering firewood. “Every day, they need fuel for cooking – that’s a lot of logging,” Chheng Kimsun, director general of the Forestry Administration, said at a workshop aimed at addressing sustainable forest management. Gathered at the ...