News
Illegal wildlife dealer caught in rescue raid
A 34-year-old Vietnamese man was arrested and put into pre-trial detention on Monday in Ratanakkiri province for allegedly putting a veritable menagerie on the black market. Prom Nol, Forestry Administration chief officer with Wildlife Alliance’s Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team, said yesterday that the raid on the ...
Firms’ Timber Trade Decried
Two firms holding concessions in rapidly disappearing northern forests are amassing stockpiles of tens of thousands of luxury logs cut both within and outside their leases and trucking them on to Vietnam, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights has alleged. CCHR investigators that tracked logging operations ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052865880/National/firms-timber-trade-decried.html
Mekong forest facing sharp decline: WWF
BANGKOK: Demand for farmland may strip the Greater Mekong region of a third of its remaining forest cover over the next two decades without swift government action, a leading conservation group warned Thursday. Forests are being cleared for commodities such as rubber and rice while illegal logging is decimating ...
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/mekong-forest-facing-sharp-decline-wwf/661574.html
Bokor development harms biodiversity
Two studies have found that development on Bokor Mountain in Kampot province is threatening some of the area’s plant and animal species. The Sokimex Group has been granted development rights for the entire mountain and in May, the first of three hotels to be built ...
Luxury Hotel Resort Threatens Bokor Mountain's Biodiversity
An ongoing project to build hotels, luxury villas and a casino on Kampot province’s Bokor Mountain is a threat to the area’s unique animal and plant species, according to two new studies. Local conglomerate Sokimex Group has been granted property development rights on the entire mountain, ...
Wildlife at odds with ELCs
Economic land concessions strewn over the remote Western Siem Pang forest, in Stung Treng province, are threatening the survival of Cambodia’s national bird, the giant ibis, a report reveals. The forest, flanking the Kingdom’s border with Laos, is home to five critically endangered bird species, yet ...
Thais arrest 38 Cambodians on charges of illegal logging
A combined task force of Thai soldiers and national park officials yesterday arrested 38 Cambodian villagers who encroached on the Panom Dong Rak Wildlife Sanctuary in Thailand’s Si Sa Ket province, which borders Oddar Meanchey province. Thai National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department chief Damrong ...
Forest on the auction block
Almost 30,000 hectares of a wildlife sanctuary in Oddar Meanchey, Siem Reap and Preah Vihear provinces have been reclassified as state private land for agricultural development, drawing sharp criticism from rights groups. Four sub-decrees signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on July 22 reclassify land ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011080950943/National-news/forest-on-the-auction-block.html
Mass Evictions Loom for Wildlife Sanctuary
Ms Sam On, 37, has already lost her house. It was one of three homes razed in April by Kratie provincial military police, environment officials and workers of the Sovannvuthy rubber company, after a tense stand-off with about 100 villagers that villagers said ended with ...
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. ...