Forests and forestry
Forest protection
Students debate forest protection measures

A group of university students in Phnom Penh on 31 January organised a debate on how to protect Prey Lang, with the winners standing to receive a trip to the critical forest preserve. The “Prey Lang Forum”, held at Zaman University in Phnom Penh, sought to raise ...
WWF mapping project shows Mondulkiri forest in danger

A sophisticated new environmental analysis software package has painted a grim picture of Mondulkiri province’s future environmental health. Presented and debated in Phnom Penh on 25 January, the WWF-led project, dubbed InVEST, short for Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs, predicts that by 2030, Mondulkiri, ...
Convoy of Lao trucks transports logs to Vietnam, despite ban on timber exports

Laos has continued to transport logs from its forests to Vietnam, despite a government ban on timber exports that took effect in August and a leaked report by an international environmental group two months ago, revealing huge increases in illegal logging with the implication of ...
Vietnam falls short on forestry protection plan

Vietnam is facing a critical reduction in forest areas five years after it implemented the national forest protection and development programme, forest authority officials said. Deputy Director of Viet Nam Forestry Administration, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Nguyen Ba Ngai said nearly 1.2 million ...
11 primate species in Vietnam are critically endangered: study

A new study by global primate experts found Vietnam in a dire situation with an increase in critically endangered species, several of which are endemic to the country. Experts assessed the threat of extinction for 182 kinds of primates in South China, South and Southeast Asia, ...
Lao forestry officials dismiss WWF report about illegal logging
Lao forestry officials dismissed a recent WWF report which exaggerated the scenario of illegal logging in Laos, a senior official in charge at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has confirmed. Deputy Director General of the Department of Forest Inspection under the Ministry of Agriculture and ...
Ministry puts brakes on Pailin dump plans

Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment has called on local authorities in Pailin province to find a new location for a 34-hectare dumpsite currently planned for a protected forest. Environment Minister Say Sam Al, who led a team to inspect the site on 3 October, wrote to Pailin Governor ...
Three resorts face encroachment counts in Thai national park

The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation will file charges against three resort owners accused of forest land encroachment in Phu Rua district of this province. The resorts reportedly belong to state officials, including a retired senior forest official. Keep reading ...
Myanmar-China illegal timber trade still thriving: report

Timber extracted from Myanmar’s frontier forests is flowing into China in illegal transactions worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year, according to a report published on 17 September. The research, by the UK-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and partly financed by the UK, the European ...
Forest conservation project launched to protect Vietnam biodiversity

The Vietnam Administration of Forestry and Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Co-oporation and Development have launched the “Programme on Conservation and sustainable use of forest biodiversity and ecosystems services in Vietnam”. Keep reading ...