Forests and forestry

The recent, devastating floods highlight the fragility of the country’s natural environment. Deforestation, expanded farming, timber harvesting, and hydroelectric dams are the main culprits. In four years, 7,300 hectares of forest have been lost. So far, about 800 large, medium and small plants have been ...

Around 700,000 ha of land in Vietnam are still available for afforestation purposes, an expert said while discussing the role of forests in flood prevention. Vietnam has set the target of growing around 200,000 ha of forest each year while in reality, the country still has ...

Ministry of Environment spokesman Neth Pheaktra said the Asian elephant is being severely threatened in world sanctuaries. In Cambodia, eight elephants have recently died in wildlife sanctuaries. Pheaktra said Asian elephants are listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. ...

There has been a sudden demand for old-growth wild ornamental trees in recent years, leading to the destruction of forest trees in the Central Highlands and South Central Vietnam while local authorities have their hands tied. Ancient trees from Central mountains are being harvested to bring ...

Lao officials and representatives of the local office of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) have discussed progress on the first draft of the forestry strategy till 2030 which aims to push the country’s forest coverage by 70 percent. The two sides held the 6th Joint ...

Vietnam is set to receive tens of millions of dollars to help it keep a promise not to cut down trees, part of a controversial World Bank program that critics say does not produce its intended effect — carbon emission reductions. The Southeast Asian nation has ...

Every two years, the World Wide Fund for Nature publishes a report that sums up the state of the world’s wildlife based on the monitoring of its projects around the world. The latest WWF report, titled the “Living Planet Report,” describes stunning declines in biodiversity caused ...

A landscape protection zone for the My Son Sanctuary, a world cultural heritage site in the central province of Quang Nam, has been set up to preserve both historical and cultural relics and biodiversity there. It covers more than 1,160ha of land, including over 1,100ha of natural forests, in Duy Phu ...

The population of critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphins in the Mekong River in Cambodia has been stable in the last four years, according to a new census report released on Thursday. The census was conducted by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Fisheries Administration of Cambodia. The ...

Born in Phaung Gyi village on an island near the shore of the Ayeyarwady River in Nyaung-U Township, just under 150 kilometers south-west of Mandalay, Ko Aung Zaw Oo feels agitated whenever he returns home. He is now 43. Throughout his life, his village has moved ...