News

A new report by Citizens Engaged in Environmental Justice for All (CEEJA) on forest monitoring revealed that Cambodia has lost 120,829 hectares of tree cover in 2023, with nearly half occurring inside these protected areas. The Ministry of Environment has dismissed the report’s findings. ...

The Ministry of Information has criticized non-governmental organizations and press groups for “pursuing their own political agendas”, portraying negative press freedom in Cambodia, in relation to jailed environmental journalist Uk Mao’s case. The ministry claimed that Mao “violated journalistic ethics”. ...

Environmental activists and communities launched a campaign urging the government to revoke a sub-decree that allows a private company to build a cement factory on 99 hectares of protected forest in Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary. ...

The Ministry of Environment is conducting a study on Cambodia’s current forest canopy to facilitate successful tree planting and expansion, aiming to increase the country’s green cover to 60 per cent over the next 25 years. ...

Open Development Cambodia on September 1, 2024 released a report on forest cover in Cambodia from 2015 to 2023. In this report, ODC claims that forest cover in Cambodia will fall below 40% by 2023. ...

A month-long government crackdown on environmental crimes in Pursat concluded this week with 18 people in pre-trial detention in provincial prison. ...

Eight people have been reprimanded and one suspect has been sent to court during the beginning of a 30-day campaign against state land occupation and deforestation in Pursat province. ...

Cambodia lost 31 percent of tree cover from its wildlife sanctuary protected areas between 2001 and 2022, and more than 100,000 hectares (ha) in 2022, equivalent to 1.2 percent, according to a Citizens Engaged in Environmental Justice for All (CEEJA) report.  ...

The government has permitted private firm Focus Trans Global Venture Co Ltd (FTGV) to study the construction of a new airport in Mondulkiri province, northeast of Cambodia, as well as invest in a build, operate and transfer (BOT) model, the Office of the Council Minister ...

A recent report by Equitable Cambodia has exposed the commercial gold mining industry’s involvement in deforestation, violation of rights, encroachment and land grab of traditional indigenous forested areas. ...

Residents of a village in O’Yadao district, Ratanakiri province, due to debt, went to cut down trees in the community, transported them across the border and sold them to Vietnam in order to repay the bank, according to village and community authorities. ...

A company linked to the son of tycoon Ly Yong Phat received a 6,234 hectare concession inside Botum Sakor National Park, according to a January sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen and published on Wednesday. ...

Senior officials of the Ministry of Environment has urged park rangers to educate and advertise people living around protected areas to understand the law and the impact of deforestation and wildlife conservation for the long term benefit of the future. ...

New satellite data reveals that Cambodia’s remaining dense forests were further depleted last year, with four major protected areas and national parks registering higher deforestation than in 2021. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has issued strict regulations to prevent deforestation and encroachment on state land as the election approaches. ...

Phnom Khnong Veal youth and community groups claim that forest crime continues to be a cause for concern in Oral Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary, especially large forests along the road up to Phnom Khnong Veal in the village Sastra, Ta Sal commune, Oral district, Kampong Speu ...

Cambodia’s long term economic growth faces significant threats from climate change and could dampen prospects for becoming an upper-middle income country in the coming years, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) report issued last week. ...

Kampong Thom’s Sandan district: Snang An village chief Sok Heng proudly displays a photo of his new home, constructed in July 2021, as his phone’s background image. But Late Cheng Mining Development, a gold mining firm with ties to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit, ...

Local authorities in Koh Kong province claim that they are still unaware of the case of mangrove deforestation and construction of solid structures into the sea within its jurisdiction yet. ...

A group of 30 environmental activists dressed in white marched to the Ministry of Environment to petition for an end to restrictions on civil liberties in forest protection activities in Cambodia. ...

The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime in September released its new research’s results on the illegal logging structure in Cambodia. ...

The Metta forest community in Kampong Speu says three Buddha statues around the forest’s pagoda have been destroyed after wind blew down nearby trees, and residents are blaming loggers who they say are continuing to cut down the surrounding forest. ...

The Royal Academy of Cambodia (RAC) has found eight cases of deforestation and land encroachment in the Techo Sen Russey Treb Park in Preah Vihear province. ...

Indigenous community patrollers found around 250 cases of suspected deforestation at Preah Vihear’s Prey Preah Roka forest during two patrols in July and August, and are urging authorities to allow more patrols into the forest. ...