Environment and natural resources
Forests and forestry
Under cover of COVID-19, loggers plunder Cambodian wildlife sanctuary
Nestled in the far reaches of eastern Cambodia lies Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary, one of the nation’s most vital areas of protected forest and a haven for rare wildlife. Yet right now, it’s also seeing frequent visits from well-documented human predators. Exploitative agricultural companies and illegal ...
CHRIS HUMPHREY
Deforestation Brings Hardship For Cambodia’s Wild Honeybee Hunters
Every morning at 5:30, Yang Phorn and some of his neighbors from a village west of Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh, climb on motorbikes to go honeybee hunting in a forest far from home. Before the 47-year-old and the others set, they prepare bags of rice and ...
RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Sovannarith Keo. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Specialised zones in Phú Quốc Marine Protected Area adjusted
The Mekong Delta province of Kiên Giang has adjusted the zoning of the marine protected area of Phú Quốc National Park on Phú Quốc Island. Of the more than 40,909ha of the Phú Quốc Marine Protected Area, the strictly-protected zone covers more than 7,087ha, including some ...
VNS
Hin Nam No to gain World Heritage status by 2022
Laos is hopeful that Hin Nam No (Karst) National Protection Area in Bualapha district of Khammuan province will achieve UNESCO World Heritage status by 2022. The 9th national steering committee meeting on the application for achieving this status for the site was convened in Vientiane on ...
Souksamai Boulom
Photo Essay: Turning the Tide on the Relentless Destruction of Cambodia’s Forests
Few countries have suffered such severe deforestation over the past two decades as Cambodia, a land once covered with expansive woodlands that were home to Indochinese tigers, elephants, and scores of endemic plant and animal species. Satellite surveys show that only 3 percent of Cambodia’s primary ...
SEAN GALLAGHER
Thailand’s turtle hatchlings finally have the beach to themselves
When Kosum Kao-Uthai’s family noticed mysterious imprints in the sand outside the hotel resort they own in Koh Samui, she knew exactly which animal had paid a visit. She remembered spotting the same marks, left by a nesting sea turtle, when, as a teenager, she ...
Rebecca Ratcliffe
Nong Khamsene wetland’s management discussed
The AFC in cooperation with World Wilde Fund for Nature to Laos organized a workshop to promote collaborative management of the Nong Khamsene wetland in Vientiane on Aug 14, 2020. The Nong Khamsene wetland is located about 20 km southwest of Vientiane. It is shared by ...
Lao News Agency
Vietnam approves $9 billion development within mangrove reserve
A $9.3 billion residential and tourism development has been approved within the buffer zone of the Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve here in this city of 13 million, Vietnam’s largest urban area. The project was proposed by the Can Gio Tourism Urban Area Joint Stock Company, a ...
Tim Rist
Tiger sightings in Thailand boost conservationists’ hopes
A century ago tigers were kings of the jungle across much of Southeast Asia. Literally so. The striped predators ruled supreme at the top of food chains in thick forests from Laos to Malaysia and from Burma to Vietnam. No longer. Most of those forests have ...
The Large-antlered muntjac — Southeast Asia’s mystery deer (Commentary)
A blue whale has a big heart the size of an adult wild yak. Everyone knows the plight of blue whales — as everyone likewise knows the plight of tigers, elephants and pandas. But few know the threats to wild yaks. And even fewer know ...
Joel Berger and Minh Nguyen