Forests and forestry
Forest cover
App boosting Prey Lang network’s data collection
The number of illegal logging sites discovered within Prey Lang forest between April and July was 14 percent higher than the previous four-month period, according to a report released on December 15 by the Prey Lang Community Network based on data collected with a novel ...
New timber ban questioned
As of January, another of Cambodia’s highly traded varieties of rosewood will be protected by an international convention as an endangered species, but given past “dodgy trade”, observers are sceptical of how meaningful that protection will be. Demand from the Chinese market for Myanmarese rosewood ...
Forestry dept offers assurances, admits flaws in wake of lawsuit
The Forestry Department has broken its silence after a Swedish court last week penalised an importer of Myanmar teak, dramatically calling into question the country’s documenting processes for timber sourcing. In a public statement, the Forestry Department claimed that current control systems should be “capable ...
ELCs bring no benefits to local communities: study
A study looking at economic land concessions in Ratanakkiri province has found that, contrary to the oft-repeated government narrative, they have brought almost no benefits to local communities. Speaking at a launch event for the study yesterday, one of the researchers behind it, Dr Neth ...
Over 470 hydropower projects to be cut
The Ministry of Industry and Trade removed 471 hydropower plant projects from its power development plan after reviewing the plan in accordance with a National Assembly resolution passed in 2013. According to the ministry and the people’s committees of provinces nationwide, the projects are mostly small ...
Small-scale farming threatens rainforests in Sumatra
Rainforest cover in the Indonesian archipelago has since declined rapidly in recent years giving way to large-scale plantations of rubber and oil palm. A recent study published in Nature Communications finds that small-scale farming can be just as damaging to biodiversity as the plantations, since ...
Funding a priority at COP22 climate conference
A Cambodian delegation arrived in Morocco on November 7 for the start of the COP22 international climate change conference armed with reasons why the country should receive international funding to fight global warming. “We will deliver a statement at COP22, and one of the points is ...
ACIAR extends support to forestry sector
The Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research is ready to continue assisting people’s tree plantings in northern Luang Prabang province and will also extend support to the wood processing sector in Laos. The extension in support comes after the ACIAR project achieved success in the ...
New guidelines on impact assessments almost ready
Civil society groups are getting closer to unveiling a new set of guidelines that will change how the impact of big development projects is assessed across the Mekong region, NGOs said on November 1, following the end of a two-month public consultation period. Activists, however, ...
Laos, China agree to strengthen border security
Laos and China have reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthen cooperation in the maintenance of security along their shared border with the signing of a new agreement. The agreement was signed by the Head of the National Boundary Committee Office of the Ministry of Foreign ...
