Environment and natural resources
Forests and forestry
Lao officials fail to enforce government ban on timber exports
A recent ban on the export of raw logs imposed by the Lao government to increase the value of processed wood products is not being enforced in the country’s southern provinces because some national leaders are involved in timber smuggling, a civil society official with ...
Vietnamese rubber giant makes deal with Cambodian villagers
A “major breakthrough” has been reached in discussions between Vietnamese rubber giant Hoang Anh Gia Lai and 11 indigenous communities in Ratanakkiri province that have lost land and resources to the company’s plantations. During a three-day meeting with community representatives, NGOs and its own subsidiaries, the ...
Myanmar-China illegal timber trade still thriving: report
Timber extracted from Myanmar’s frontier forests is flowing into China in illegal transactions worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year, according to a report published on 17 September. The research, by the UK-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and partly financed by the UK, the European ...
Sweet plans for future of Shan honey
Honey may soon join wine and coffee as among Shan State’s best-known local commodities, as production grows. Myanmar is set to export about 3500 tonnes of the sweet stuff this year, and experts say the “Made in Myanmar” honey label may soon spread. Rabbi Yossi Ives, chief ...
Military police seize vehicle with army plates, rosewood
Military police in Kompong Chhnang province said they found 290 kg of rosewood in the back of an SUV with military license plates on 14 September but failed to apprehend the driver, who escaped in a car that had been following his. Keep reading ...
Forest conservation project launched to protect Vietnam biodiversity
The Vietnam Administration of Forestry and Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Co-oporation and Development have launched the “Programme on Conservation and sustainable use of forest biodiversity and ecosystems services in Vietnam”. Keep reading ...
Myanmar third-worst for deforestation rate, says UN
Myanmar’s forests are in trouble. Two recent reports reveal the rapid loss of tree cover over the past five years has been so severe Myanmar ranks among the worst for deforestation in the world. Since 2010, Myanmar has lost more than 546,000 hectares (over 1.3 million ...
Trees ‘felled for pepper’
Batambang’s Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary is being illegally logged for pepper posts, with brokers bribing environment officers to transport the timber, residents and NGO workers have said. Keep reading ...
NGO files suit over ‘seizures’ in Phnom Oral
A Kampong Speu-based NGO has accused a police officer and several rangers working for the provincial Environment Department of seizing more than 100 hectares of Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary, demanding a court order to restore the land and hold the parties to account. Keep reading ...
Cambodia logs top spot
Forest loss in Cambodia has accelerated faster than any other country in the world since 2001, according to a leading resource-monitoring initiative. Satellite data released by Global Forest Watch suggest that Cambodia has experienced the highest rate of tree-cover loss in the world over the past ...
