Environment and natural resources
Forests and forestry
RCAF stripping timber from Oral Wildlife Sanctuary: probe
Military vehicles are hauling wood from a protected area to be burned as fuel in garment factories, investigators from NGO Wildlife Alliance have found. Seng Bunra, country director of NGO Conservation International, said on August 16 that RCAF trucks have become notorious for taking wood from ...
Drones will prove vital to land and wildlife conservation in Southeast Asia
The Sumatran orangutan is one of the world’s most high-profile critically endangered species. Only 6,000 are left, and the Bornean orangutan doesn’t fare much better. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that no more than 69,000 of the latter remain. Saving these animals from extinction requires innovative solutions from ...
EU asks gov’t to cancel Mondulkiri border crossing plan
The EU has called on the government to kill plans for a controversial border checkpoint in the Mondulkiri Protected Forest that has drawn the ire of conservationists since it was first mooted two years ago. At a meeting with Interior Minister Sar Kheng on August 9, ...
Many more species at risk from Southeast Asia tree plantations, study finds
As more of Southeast Asia’s forests are cleared for tree plantations, a study finds that 42 percent of mammal, bird and amphibian species endemic to the region’s forests face a higher risk of extinction from habitat loss than previously thought. Many of the species inhabit ...
Certification ‘key’ to better forest management
Laos and Indonesia’s keen efforts to certify their logging industries have paved the way for access to wider markets, better timber prices, and less deforestation and illegal logging. Six timber-processing businesses in Laos have been certified and five million hectares of plantation forest has been certified ...
Laos, ASEAN take stocks to pursue goals on forest protection
Laos and other ASEAN member countries are pursuing efforts to meet common goals and address problems related to deforestation as well as promoting sustainable forest management. In his opening remarks at the 19th ASEAN Senior Officials on Forestry on August 4, Deputy Minister of Agriculture ...
‘An optimistic place to start’: Myanmar enacts national logging ban
According to environmental watchdogs, overexploitation of Myanmar’s forests have been driven by corruption and mismanagement in the country’s timber industry sector. They say the new ban is a big step in the right direction. “This is a decision that demonstrates clear intent to tackle corruption within ...
Farmers choose solar farm over endangered bird
When given a choice between renewable energy and wildlife conservation, people in Samut Sakhon have opted for a solar farm for financial reasons. Tractors and trucks loaded with soil were seen busily working in a field yesterday to fill a salt pan in Ban Khok ...
Closed Mae Sot zinc mine to become forest
Padaeng Industry closed its zinc mine in Mae Sot last month because of the depletion of ore reserves. Managing director Francis Vanbellen said on 27 July that PDI’s mine concluded its 32 years of sustainable operations after producing its last 140,000 tonnes of zinc-silicate ore this ...
Land used for palm oil could double without damaging forests, say researchers
The area covered by palm oil plantations worldwide could double without damaging protected areas or sensitive forests, Austrian researchers said on Tuesday (July 26).Researchers from the Austria-based International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) studied satellite maps from South-east Asia, Africa and Latin America to ...
