Forests and forestry
Forest cover
‘An optimistic place to start’: Myanmar enacts national logging ban
According to environmental watchdogs, overexploitation of Myanmar’s forests have been driven by corruption and mismanagement in the country’s timber industry sector. They say the new ban is a big step in the right direction. “This is a decision that demonstrates clear intent to tackle corruption within ...
Land used for palm oil could double without damaging forests, say researchers
The area covered by palm oil plantations worldwide could double without damaging protected areas or sensitive forests, Austrian researchers said on Tuesday (July 26).Researchers from the Austria-based International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) studied satellite maps from South-east Asia, Africa and Latin America to ...
Rosewood exports to Vietnam achieved with fake signatures: official
housands of cubic metres of endangered Siamese rosewood were sent to Vietnam in 2014 with export permits bearing the Photoshopped signature of a retired Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) secretary of state, a ministry official said yesterday.The trade in Siamese rosewood was internationally ...
Government, plantation managers trade blame
The managers of some of Cambodia’s most controversial agribusiness plantations on 21 July blamed their many land disputes on the government, accusing officials of failing to educate communities about the benefits of their giant farms. Rights groups blame economic land concessions for some of Cambodia’s worst problems, ...
How Buddhist monks are battling deforestation in Cambodia
Cambodia has one of the world’s highest deforestation rates. But a group of Buddhist monks are stepping up efforts to save forests by publicly revealing wrongdoings and mobilizing local villagers. Ate Hoekstra reports. In Cambodia, where over 90 percent of the population is Buddhist, monks enjoy ...
Revenue gain not equal to forestry losses: Govt
Even though more than US$100 million has been generated in national revenue from the timber industry over the past 10 years, this is insufficient to compensate for the loss of the country’s forestry resources. Forestry officials said losses in revenue from the timber industry were ...
Seizure of large quantities of illegal timber continues
With a crackdown announced on the illegal timber trade—and a proposed nationwide logging ban by the end of the fiscal year in March 2017—seizures of illegally cut logs have exceeded 10,000 tons in the first quarter from April to June. Myo Min, director of the Forestry ...
Prey Lang still logged: community
Continued widespread logging in the Prey Lang forest is evidence that the government’s recent push to have more than 400,000 hectares of land protected is toothless, according to activists as well as a Prey Lang Community Network report released on 29 June. The report’s purpose was ...
Son Tra Nature Reserve biodiversity threatened
Overlapping efforts and poor management among agencies pose serious threats to biodiversity in the Son Tra Nature Reserve, a biologist said during a dialogue on protecting the red-shanked douc langur. The Da Nang-based reserve is home to 300 red-shanked douc langurs, which are critically endangered and ...
Laos's Attapeu seizes 9,000 cubic metres of illegal lumber
More than 9,000 cubic metres of illegal timber has been seized in southern Attapeu province since late last year, according to a report by the provincial authorities. Timber traders have reportedly been attempting to export timber through the province, despite an export ban imposed by the ...
