Environment and natural resources
Forests and forestry
Towards innovative, conflict-sensitive and human rights-based approaches to forest monitoring
The Governments of Myanmar and Finland today launched a trailblazing project designed to allow for monitoring of forests in a manner that is sensitive to local conflicts and protects human rights. The five-year project will be led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United ...
FAO Media Relations Office
Endangered banteng still dying from illegal trapping and hunting
The Ministry of Environment has stated since the beginning of this year at least 10 banteng have died in Cambodia’s protected areas due to traps and hunting. The news came after ministry spokesman Neth Pheaktra said yesterday a male banteng was found dead in Sorng Rukhavorn, ...
Pech Sotheary
Elephants' migration to village brings new stress
A thousand elephants threatened by starvation have journeyed through the hills of northern Thailand, making a slow migration home from tourist sites forced shut by the pandemic. Home for some of the animals is the northern village of Huay Pakoot, where generations of ethnic Karen mahouts ...
AFP
New study shows loss of Southeast Asia’s peat forests drives climate change
A new study by researchers in Singapore from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) uses satellite data to show just how rapidly Southeast Asia’s vital peat forests are being cleared, drained and dried out. The paper, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, uses remote sensing to document how peatlands ...
Skylar Lindsay
Myanmar’s mangrove forests are in grave peril
Mangrove forests are under threat across Southeast Asia and in the country of Myanmar alone more than 60% of them were lost within just two decades between 1996 and 2016, according to researchers at the National University of Singapore. “Mangroves are one of the world’s most ...
Stop grabbing forest land
The Siem Reap provincial Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries called on citizens to stop stealing forest land belonging to the state. It said village, commune and district authorities should cooperate to protect forest land in the province. Department director Tea Kimsoth told The Post on ...
Voun Dara
Transnational trust trumps trafficking
Early on the morning of January 8, a team from the Wildlife Inspection Unit in Chiang Kong, Chiang Rai province, Thailand, was conducting a search at the Bann Jam Pong morning market. They had been sent there by Wachirayut Kietthibudr, head of the Wildlife Inspection ...
MIA SIGNS
Myanmar Condemns Report on Illegal Teak Exports to EU
Myanmar’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation has disputed the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)’s latest report which claims illegal teak from Myanmar is being shipped to Europe through the black market. “All the teak we export is legal,” U Kyaw Zaw Oo, the deputy ...
THIHA LWIN
WWF Contributes to the Development of Viet Nam Timber Legality Assurance System - a Critical Step in Promoting Legal Timber Supply Chains
In an effort to ensure the legality of its entire timber supply chain and exports, Viet Nam has developed a draft Timber Legality Assurance System (VNTLAS) Decree to go into effect later this year. VNTLAS is a part of Viet Nam’s Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with ...
Cambodian firm accused of creating a ‘monopoly in the timber business’
A surge in deforestation alerts from Cambodia’s Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary has raised fresh concerns over the role of a controversial timber firm in illegal logging. The 34,000-hectare (17,000 acre) Think Biotech concession was approved in 2012 under an agreement between Cambodia and South Korea aiming ...
DANIELLE KEETON-OLSEN