Forest protection
Protected areas
Myanmar online wildlife trade on rise, says WWF report; threat to public health and endangered species
A report by the World Wildlife Fund shows illegal purchases of wildlife online are growing in Myanmar in a threat both to public health and to endangered species. The report issued Friday found that enforcement of bans on such transactions has weakened amid political turmoil ...
Agence France-Presse
Thai authorities demolish resorts in parks, but struggle to prosecute encroachers
Since October 2020, Thailand’s national parks authority has demolished or ordered the demolition of more than 20 luxury mansions, resorts and tourist hotels illegally built in national parks throughout the country’s Western Forest Complex, a globally significant biodiversity conservation corridor. Among the properties already demolished are ...
Kannikar Petchkaew
Rhino horns pierce a wall between crime and affluence in Vietnam
A suspicious package listed as textiles arrived at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport in July 2019. For fabric, the parcel was heavy, weighing in at 126.5 kilograms (278.8 pounds). Customs officials flagged the goods. On inspection, police found 55 rhino horns encased in plaster. An investigation ...
GOVI SNELL
Greater Mekong primates struggle to cling on amid persistent threats: Report
When scientists described the Popa langur (Trachypithecus popa) as a species new to science in 2020, it was already staring extinction in the face. Fewer than 260 of the fluffy gray leaf-eating monkeys are estimated to remain across four precariously isolated patches of forest on Myanmar’s central ...
Carolyn Cowan
Endangered ‘barking deer’ strikes a pose for conservationists
The spots on the back of the large-antlered muntjac may have given it away as a fawn, but the photo of the deer suckling from its mother served as confirmation. Photographs of the moment are the first known images of a large-antlered muntjac fawn in Cambodia. ...
ANTON L. DELGADO
Thai construction tycoon jailed for poaching protected animals
Thailand’s supreme court has sentenced construction tycoon Premchai Karnasuta to two and a half years in prison without probation on charges related to the poaching of protected animals, a prosecutor told Reuters news agency. Premchai, president of Thai construction company Italian-Thai Development, was found guilty on ...
AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
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
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
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
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