News
Wildlife group busts illegal loggers in Cambodia
An illegal logger in Cambodia has dropped an address book during a bust, leaving behind details of corrupt government officials and spying rangers. The man fled after being intercepted by police over an illegal haul of rare rosewood in Koh Kong province earlier this month. . “We ...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-23/an-wildlife-group-busts-illegal-loggers-in-cambodia/4709882
Cambodia creates safe zones for Mekong dolphins
The Cambodian government on Friday said it will limit fishing in a zone in the Mekong River to protect critically endangered freshwater dolphins The Irrawaddy dolphin conservation area will cover a 180-kilometre-long (110 miles) stretch of river from eastern Kratie province to the border with Laos, ...
http://news.xin.msn.com/en/regional/cambodia-creates-safe-zones-for-mekong-dolphins-2
Cardamom Mountains Need Green Economy And Development
In a ceremony of launching new book highlighted solutions to Cambodia’s cardamom conundrum, Author and scientist Timothy Killen explains the potential for Cambodia to become a world leader by pursuing an innovative, low carbon, green development pathway that will foster economic growth and create opportunities for its people, while conserving the natural environment. “Cambodia is ...
Cambodian forest campaigners fight rampant logging
KOH KONG, Cambodia – Frustrated by government inaction, Cambodian citizen patrollers are risking their lives to take on the country’s illegal loggers in a bid to save their shrinking forests. The shooting of a prominent environmentalist by a military policeman last month after he refused to ...
http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20120527-348666.html
Blind eye to forest's plight
Rangers paid by an internationally funded conservation organisation have been directly profiting for years from the very trade they are supposed to be preventing in southwest Cambodia, documents obtained by the Post allege. Former Conservation International (CI) staff members say when they spoke up about endemic ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012032655247/National-news/blind-eye-to-forests-plight.html
As Plans for Dam Gain Traction, Villagers Balk
For hundreds of years, the ancestors of Vam Sovann have lived in Koh Kong province’s remote Araeng valley. Some 70 km from the nearest national road, Mr. Sovann’s village has no electricity or phone coverage, no paved roads or running water; instead, it has access ...
Sold
Last year saw a record increase in economic land concessions and the area controlled by agro-industrial companies jumped to more than 2 million hectares nationwide, according to human rights groups who track such projects. Mining companies are also flocking to Cambodia and those already have ...
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/selected_features/Carving%20Up%20Cambodia.pdf
River Dolphin Conservation Gets Go-Ahead
A government committee yesterday approved a draft sub-decree aimed at protecting the endangered Mekong River dolphin and will send it to the Council of Ministers within a few weeks. Among the provisions contained in the sub-decree is the creation of a 180-km-long conservation area stretching ...
Hun Sen Ends Tonle Sap Fishing Lot System
Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday that he would permanentlycance all 35 fishing lots on the Tonle Sap lake – which had already been suspended in recent months – and turn them into a conservation zone to protect the lake’s pressurized wild fisheries, on which ...
Hun Sen calls off deals on protected land
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday ordered an end to all private land deals inside the country’s protected areas and warned local businessmen and officials against making such illegal deals. “All official paperwork in connection with natural protected areas is invalid,” he said while speaking at the ...
Gathering of youths makes case for forests
Cambodia’s National Youth Congress called on the government yesterday to act to protect the country’s natural resources from illegal traders. About 100 young people from 30 colleges in Phnom Penh, Kratie and Kampong Thom Chhnang provinces attended a discussion about protecting natural resources – with a ...
Logging in the wild west
Illegal logging of staggering proportions abetted by military personnel is decimating stocks of luxury rosewood in the Central Cardamom Protected Forest, while the conversation group tasked with protecting the area and its government counterparts deny the trade is even happening. In a period of several hours ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011122153536/National-news/logging-in-the-wild-west.html
Firm denies dam report bias
A consulting firm commissioned by the Lao government to prepare a report on the controversial US$3.8 billion Xayaburi dam project has rejected claims by environmentalists that their assessment was “biased” due partly to existing ties with a project backer. On Wednesday, conservation group International Rivers claimed ...
Project to conserve Bakheng Temple gets $450,000 grant
A nearly half-million-dollar grant will allow a conservation project at Phnom Bakheng Temple – one of the oldest temples in the Angkor Archaeological Park – to be completed, according to the World Monuments Fund. The $450,000 grant was donated by the US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural ...
USAID Report Offers New Way to Protect Prey Long Forest
The government should abandon its current management of Prey Long forest and shift to a plan that conserves the forst while also optimizing its economic uses, such as agriculture, carbon credits and controlled timber exploitation, according to a recent report by the US Agency for ...
Mekong environment ministers talk on sustainable economic development
Cambodia on July 28th hosted the 3rd Greater Mekong Sub- Region Environment Ministers to look forward to sustainable economic development in the region and to talk about current projects to reduce harm for regions and also to minimize several environmental challenges affecting natural resources, forest and ...
(Khem Sovannara and Chhorng Long Heng, p 7)
http://thesoutheastasiaweekly.com/?p=1289
Sell-Off of Wildlife Areas Faster than Believed
500 sq km of land from three conservation areas have been granted by the Cambodian government to agribusiness companies. Prime Minister Hun Sen has approved 50,750 hectares, through nine concessions, to be granted areas of land that were previously conservation areas. Reththy Kiri Sakor Co. ...