Environment and natural resources

Interior Minister Sar Kheng is pushing for an amendment of the forestry law to be done before the end of the current mandate. Earlier this week, Mr Kheng said that illegal logging in Mondulkiri province is rampant and that an amendment was needed to delegate ...

Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) completed a two-year project in Kampong Chhnang and Kampong Thom provinces that created 20 fishing communities and directly influenced the lives of more than 75,000 Cambodians. ...

The National Committee for the Management and Development of Coastal Zones said on Sunday that the government has provided 103 families with land to live on and develop in Preah Sihanouk province. ...

Some 100 families from Pichreada district’s Pu Chrey commune in Mondulkiri province said a private company continues to clear forest in the Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary even after the authority made the firm sign a contract promising to stop its activities. ...

Kampong Chhnang provincial authorities plan to relocate around 1,000 Vietnamese people living on the Tonle Sap river in Kampong Chhnang town next Monday. ...

Minister of Interior Sar Kheng cited satellite footage of recent forest crimes as he criticised inept provincial officials for illegal logging and the flouting of the Kingdom’s forestry law. “You are not born with the forest. We have an obligation to protect the natural resources ...

More than 560 endangered Asian giant softshell turtle hatchlings were released on Thursday into their natural habitat along the Mekong River in Kratie province, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said. ...

Forest activists in Ratanakkiri province’s O’yadav district said on Thursday that a group of Cambodian and Vietnamese traders are colluding with officials and transporting timber from their community forest to Vietnam after they had illegally felled trees there early this month. ...

The ministry’s report, which it shared on its Facebook page, said CRCK II Rubber Development and Bean Heack Investment Co Ltd have been respectively allowed to develop 7,121.78ha and 4,128.66ha within Boeung Pear Wildlife Sanctuary in Kampong Thom province. Following the granting of the concessions, the ...

The United States Agency for International Development has awarded $21 million to Tetra Tech for the next five years to improve nature conservation and strengthen sustainable development in the Prey Lang region, Tetra Tech said on Tuesday. ...

Authorities from Kampong Thom province’s environmental department seized 11 buffalo carts and 10 logs found at Prey Ang Ten wildlife sanctuary on Wednesday. ...

The Wildlife Conservation Society has found seven nests of the globally-threatened Lesser Adjutant Stork in Mondulkiri province’s Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary. Sot Vandoeun, WCS’ wildlife monitoring team leader, said on Tuesday that it is the first time that WCS has found the bird’s nest in ...

The Kampong Thom provincial Forestry Administration yesterday seized three vehicles that were illegally transporting timber. Mom Sophal, Forestry Administration division chief in Kampong Thmar, said his officials seized three vehicles transporting small trees and firewood without permission from authorities at about 10.30am in Baray district. ...

A forest activist from the ethnic Tumpuon community in Ratanakkiri province’s Lumphat district is set to appear at the Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary bureau today for questioning over alleged unauthorised logging and forest clearing in the sanctuary. ...

Some 100 ethnic Banong villagers from Sre Hoy commune’s Chhul and Chhong Pang villages in Mondulkiri province’s Koh Nhek district protested on Tuesday after Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary officials allegedly uprooted wooden posts used to demarcate their ancestral burial sites. ...

After receiving an order from Hun Sen, Minister of Land Management Chea Sophara led a team of experts and relevant officials to Sihanoukville to call a halt to the illegal development of a beach. The prime minister ordered the Prek Treng beach in Otres commune ...

The National Committee for the Management and Development of Coastal Zones is taking action against an unnamed company accused of reclaiming parts of Prek Treng beach in Preah Sihanouk province. ...

Stung Treng provincial police have detained six illegal loggers from Laos who were caught crossing in the province on Friday. Provincial police chief Major General Mao Dara yesterday said that the six men are awaiting repatriation to Laos under an agreement between the countries on ...

The Ministry of Tourism has formed a special committee to investigate a private company’s involvement in a condominium construction on coastal land at Prek Treng beach in Preah Sihanouk province. This follows a strong backlash from the public against land reclamation involving the project. ...

September 15 is World Cleanup Day and Cambodia will be participating with 20 million people from 150 countries across the globe, said Ministry of Environment spokesman Neth Pheaktra. He said that this year, working under the theme “Together for a Clean World”, participants in the ...

The Ministry of Environment issued a warning on Wednesday against encroachment on protected natural areas following some instances of intruders clearing forest land for personal gain. It cited examples of encroachment in the Ream, Bokor and Kirirom national parks and the multi-purpose Kbal Chay freshwater ...

While hunting in the Kingdom’s wildlife sanctuaries has abated, the use of traps have become widespread. That, coupled with deforestation, has caused grave concerns among conservationists who fear the extinction of the endangered yellow-cheeked crested gibbons. ...

The Kampong Chhnang provincial department of agriculture, forestry and fishery is working to identify suspects who had mobilised tractors to illegally clear flooded forest in Toek Phos district’s O’krabey Ngob and O’Klong in Chieb communes. ...

Interior Minister Sar Kheng on Wednesday claimed the recent influx of Chinese visitors to Preah Sihanouk province was raising concerns over the condition of ecosystems on the Kingdom’s coast. Speaking during a ceremony to appoint leaders to posts at both the National Authority for Combating ...