Forests and forestry

For the first time, the Myanmar Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (MEITI) has opened the books to share information with the public on revenue Myanmar’s government collects from harvesting timber. Last month, the MEITI released two reports juxtaposing statistics on production and tax payments from government ministries’ ledgers ...

While wandering through northwestern Myanmar in 2016, a group of scientists stumbled on hundreds of huge tracks in the ground. According to a new paper in the journal Mammalia, these footprints, made by Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), have a lasting impact. Even when the giants that made ...

Cambodia is seeking Vietnam’s help to curb timber smuggling and crack down on forestry crimes along shared borders. National Assembly Foreign Affairs commission chairman Chheang Vun made the request to his Vietnamese counterpart during a two-day conference of parliamentarians from Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos in Vietnam’s ...

The National Committee for Prevention and Crackdown on Natural Resource Crimes on Monday impounded nine trucks used to transport timber to Vietnam through Kratie province’s Snuol district. Committee spokesman Eng Hy declined to provide details, citing the ongoing investigation. “We are still working on the case ...

As a park chief himself, Soeung Khemarak, the deputy director of the Oyadav National Park in Rattanakiri province, fully understands the problems faced by Cambodia’s Kulen Prum Tep Wildlife Sanctuary and adjacent parks near the border with Thailand where bombs, illegal logging and poaching are ...

The European Union (EU) has teamed up with wildlife and conservation groups in the Greater Mekong region, Malaysia, and China to try and disrupt the flow of illegally trafficked wildlife through the region. The €10 million (about $11.14 million) project which will run through until December ...

The Special Senior Officials Meeting of the 40th Meeting of the ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry (Special SOM-AMAF) opened in Vietnam’s central province of Thua Thien-Hue on August 5. The event brought together 130 delegates from 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian ...

In late January, WildAid and the Ho Chi Minh City-based Center of Hands-on Actions and Networking for Growth and Environment (CHANGE) launched a graphic anti-wildlife trafficking campaign focused on three animals: pangolins, elephants and rhinos. In a bold move, the organizers brought a group of bloodied, weakened statues ...

Civil society and forest protection activists on Monday called for officials in the government and armed forces guilty of corruption and exploiting state property to be removed from their positions and have their assets frozen.  The request came after a government spokesman said Prime Minister Hun ...

Mondulkiri Provincial Court yesterday charged three Chinese nationals and is questioning a provincial environment department and two forestry administration officials over illegal logging activities linked to tycoon Soeng Sam Ol. Meas Pros, court spokesman, yesterday confirmed that the provincial court prosecutor charged the three Chinese nationals ...