Forests and forestry
Forest cover
Vietnam-bound timber seized
Ratanakkiri provincial forces and military police yesterday seized 15 logs of luxury wood bound for export to Vietnam. Provincial military police chief Kim Reaksmey said the haul was found when officers targeted the location in Patort village in Lumphat district for the second time. The team ...
The last nghien wood kingdom is being destroyed
The nghien (excentrodendron tonkinense) kingdom growing on the rocky mountains in Ha Giang and Tuyen Quang is getting smaller because of illegal logging. This is a hard, tough and durable wood with no termites, even if it is buried underground. Tay and Nung ethnic minorities like ...
Sơn Trà master plan needs amending
The central city plans to petition the Prime Minister for adjustments to the Sơn Trà Master Plan in order to better protect the eponymous nature reserve. Đà Nẵng Deputy Chairman Nguyễn Ngọc Tuấn also said at a press conference on Monday that the city will ...
Illegal logging groups arrested
Eleven Vietnamese men and two Cambodian men have been arrested for border crossing offenses and logging in protected forests. Interior Ministry immigration police officer Bun Chantha said the Cambodians and seven of the Vietnamese were arrested in Rattanakiri province’s Lumphat district on March 27. The provincial ...
Ranger station razed by mob
A mob of some 60 men burned down an environmental ranger station inside Mondulkiri’s Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary on Friday, allegedly as revenge against rangers who had previously stopped them from clearing forest, an official said yesterday. Keo Sopheak, provincial environmental department director, said the ...
Probe finds high-ranking officials involved in smuggling timber to Vietnam
An official investigation has found that more than a dozen police, military police and army officials allegedly colluded with Vietnamese timber smugglers to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars in bribes, according to a letter from National Police Commissioner Neth Savoeun. Signed by ...
Illegal logging in Quảng Nam
Local administration and provincial agencies are investigating illegal logging in the Bắc Trà My District’s protective forest. Trần Anh Tuấn, Chairman of the district’s People’s Committee, confirmed the ongoing investigation to the Việt Nam News on March 15, saying that the illegal forest destruction has occurred in Trà ...
What happens when the soy and palm oil boom ends?
Over the past thirty years demand and production of oils crops like oil palm and soybeans has boomed across the tropics thanks to rising incomes, macroeconomic changes and government policies, and substitution effects. This rapid expansion has in some places taken a heavy toll on ...
Khammuan confiscates large illegal timber haul
Yommalath district authorities in Khammuan province this week seized illegally harvested timber which was hidden inside a shipping container and buried underground at a sawmill in Donpeuay village. The incident was outlined by local media after provincial Forest Inspection Division officials teamed up with local ...
Hundreds of logged trees found in protected Pursat forest
An official delegation led by the head of the nation’s illegal logging task force found hundreds of felled trees inside protected forest areas in Pursat province on February 14, officials said. National Military Police chief General Sao Sokha, who heads the task force, and more ...