Environment and natural resources

Forests and forestry

Online workshop on physical inspection of timber shipments in the Lower Mekong Region hosted by the CITES Secretariat

The Lower Mekong Region is home to around 100 CITES-listed tree species. These include CITES Appendix-II timber-producing species of rosewoods (genus Dalbergia), yew trees (genus Taxus spp.), and agarwood (genus Aquilaria), some of which are highly valuable for international trade. This has made some of these species a target ...

Back to the land: Thai forest draws young, green farmers

Like many locals, Matthana Abhaimoon left rural Thailand to study in the city. Unlike most, she chose to come back – and fight for her right to farm in the forest as her forefathers had done. After a 20-year campaign, residents of Mae Tha won a ...

Rina Chandran

Bringing “the people” back in: Forest Resources Conservation with Dr. Apichart Pattaratuma

With a lifetime dedicated to forest conservation, Dr. Apichart Pattaratuma reflected back on his career and what forest management means to Thailand. In the year 1978, he received the prestigious United Nations and Ananda Mahidol Foundation Scholarship to attain higher education at the College of ...

Rattana Lao

New World Heritage Site forest imperils Thai indigenous people

When Gib Tonnarmpech and her family were forced to leave their home in Thailand’s Kaeng Krachan National Park by authorities, they walked more than two days in dense forest with about 60 other families to get to their resettlement site. They named the new site Bang ...

Rina Chandran

Myanmar seizes over 510 tonnes of illegal timbers over one month

Myanmar authorities seized over 510 tonnes of illegal timbers across the country over one month, according to a release from the Forest Department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation on Wednesday (Oct 6). The seizures were made in the country’s regions, states and ...

Quang Tri residents protect rare forest to let it grow again

Local residents tasked with protecting the 100-hectare Linh forest are doing their job well, minimizing human destruction including logging and other harmful activities.  Classified as a special forest that serves nothing but conservation purpose, Linh stands beside Hien Thanh and Vinh Hoa communes in Vinh Linh ...

Hoang Tao

Following coup, Myanmar’s Indigenous vow to protect forests ‘until the end of the world’ (commentary)

The Tanintharyi Region in southern Myanmar is a beautiful and rich expanse of rainforest, ocean, and mangroves where we still have wild tigers and elephants, and where the forest provides all that we need in life. It is my home land. Our Indigenous communities depend ...

Esther Wah

Ministry reports illegal land grabs in Bokor National Park

Authorities have identified 201 cases of illegal land encroachment, involving more than 619 hectares, in Preah Monivong (Bokor) National Park from July 3 last year to July 31 this year. Ministry of Environment spokesman Neth Pheaktra said recently that the ministry had submitted an official letter ...

Son Minea

Mangrove restoration done right has clear economic, ecological benefits

In the green and dimly lit mangrove forests of West Papua in Indonesia, towering Rhizophora trees loom more than 40 meters (130 feet) overhead into the canopy, their tangled roots taller than a human. Oceans away in the Caribbean, mangroves of the same genus reach a maximum ...

Sheryl Lee Tian Tong

Kingdom’s vulture number a ‘positive’ sign

In Cambodia’s four sanctuaries with vulture populations, there are 140 vultures currently present – a number considered small but encouraging among relevant ministries and partner organisations involved in the protection and preservation of the species. According to a joint press release on the results of a ...

Voun Dara

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