News

The Kratie provincial court on Monday released four forest activists after protesters outside the court demanded their release. ...

The winner of the 2016 Goldman Environmental Prize along with three other forestry activists were sent to the Kratie provincial court yesterday after Korean-owned Think Biotech Cambodia Co Ltd accused them of trespassing on company premises. ...

A committee of more than 20 national and international organisations filed a petition to the EU on October 10 to prevent it from signing a timber trade agreement with Vietnam, noting that the deal would be disastrous to the Kingdom’s forests. The petition claims Vietnamese ...

The Mondulkiri provincial authority on Wednesday refuted claims that it had turned a blind eye to illegal timber trafficking to neighbouring Vietnam. The denial followed the discovery of over 500 pieces of first-grade timber by the National Military Police in protected areas and local media ...

Three boats carrying three containers with 53 pieces of luxury wood allegedly intended for export to Vietnam were confiscated by the Customs Navigation Office in Kampot province’s Prek Thnout commune on Tuesday, Kampot Military deputy police chief Keo Sophal said. ...

New resorts, restaurants and casinos could be coming to Bokor National Park after environment officials endorsed an “improved” plan for the mountain along with oknha Sok Kong’s hotel company, according to the government’s news agency. ...

The Goldman Environmental Prize winner Ouch Leng, president of the Cambodian Human Rights Task Force, has been awarded the Asia Game Changer Award for 2017 from the Asia Society. Mr Leng will go to collect the award in New York on November 1 with eight ...

Despite numerous laws and committees created to tackle deforestation and illegal logging in Cambodia, the timber trade has continued unabated. In another attempt to deal with the issue, authorities across the country have been ordered to ensure they execute their responsibilities to oversee the enforcement of ...

Eleven Cambodian environmental campaigners received “moniseraphon” medals from the government last month in recognition of their work to support the nation, according to a sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen. But Buntenh, the founder of the Independent Monk Network for Social Justice, and social media ...

Newly declared protected areas in Prey Lang forest are being illegally logged by companies belonging to a three-star general and his sister, according to Goldman Environmental Prize-winning conservationist Ouch Leng and NGOs with which he is working. Leng, along with 15 NGO officers, patrollers and ...

The National Committee for Forest Crime Prevention has admitted that despite claims from a variety of high-level government officials that deforestation and illegal logging had been stopped entirely, the illegal timber trade was still ravaging the country’s forests. In June, Environment Minister Say Samal claimed the ...

Half of a Kuoy ethnic community forest in Stung Treng province – for which villagers are seeking official recognition – has been logged in the past three years for private commercial gain, according to recently returned environmental activist twins Chum Hout and Chum Hour. Seven ...

The high-pitched whine of chainsaws drowned out the sound of birds and bugs you usually hear during any trek through Prey Lang forest. What was once an area full of animals scurrying under the shade of gargantuan trees is now largely populated by stumps and ash. The ...

The Ministry of Economy and Finance has announced the date of the auction for timber confiscated from logging companies by the National Anti-Deforestation Committee (NADC) earlier this year, inadvertently releasing the official names of seven previously unknown companies caught housing illegally logged wood. ...

Environment Minister Say Samal claims Cambodia has put an end to illegal logging and timber exports to Vietnam, despite reports of continued, and even rising, levels of forest clearing and timber being transported to the Kingdom’s neighbor. ...

The government is failing to protect Cambodia’s forests, activists, civil society groups and students said during yesterday’s World Environment Day celebration in Phnom Penh. ...

In a startling admission yesterday, the Ministry of Agriculture finally acknowledged that the Kingdom’s forest cover has decreased rapidly over the past few decades, down from a high of 73 percent in 1965 to now, where only 49.5 percent of the country’s forests remain. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has signed a sub-decree to mark 18 protected areas over nearly three million hectares of land across Prey Lang forest, according to a Ministry of Environment statement released yesterday. ...

The latest crackdown on illegal logging in Cambodia is “just a game” and big timber traders are winning, says Ouch Leng, a former government official who has spent two decades helping poor villagers fight poaching of precious tropical forests. Leng’s tenacious and perilous crusade to stop ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has agreed to legally protect nearly 1 million hectares of the Kingdom’s forest land, including the Prey Lang forest. Speaking during the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport’s annual meeting at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia, Mr. Hun Sen said he ...

Although they remain publicly unnamed, nine businessmen in the timber industry were summoned to appear at the Tbong Khmum provincial court today for alleged deforestation crimes and illegal business dealings, according to officials. ...

More than a month has passed since National Anti-Deforestation Committee (NADC) named the people it suspects of profiting from the trade in illegal timber, but not a single arrest warrant or court summons has been issued since. As perpetrators continue to go unpunished, the illegal ...

A parliamentary committee will look into allegations of illegal logging and timber exports, where big money and deep corruption have led to conflict, deforestation and tax fraud. Opposition lawmaker Ho Vann, who leads the National Assembly committee, told VOA Khmer he is looking into evidence and ...

Six economic land concessionaires in Preah Vihear and Oddar Meanchey provinces have had their contracts to supply the government with wood to build housing for soldiers and their families cancelled. In 2011, after the conflict with Thailand over the Preah Vihear temple, the government encouraged the ...