Environment and natural resources
Forests and forestry
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 ...
Vietnam busts illegal transport of 18 bear legs from Laos
Police in the central province of Thanh Hoa seized 18 frozen bear legs transported aboard a bus by its driver without a license Tuesday.The limbs, weighing 38 kilograms in all, were identified as belonging to red-listed sun bears, news website VnExpress said.Dinh Hong Phuong, 47, ...
Rosewood exports to Vietnam achieved with fake signatures: official
housands of cubic metres of endangered Siamese rosewood were sent to Vietnam in 2014 with export permits bearing the Photoshopped signature of a retired Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) secretary of state, a ministry official said yesterday.The trade in Siamese rosewood was internationally ...
Disney carbon deal follows past emissions credit failure
A $2.6 million deal by Walt Disney Company to preserve nearly 300,000 hectares of eastern Cambodian forest through the purchase of carbon credits will need to overcome past failures to succeed, critics said on 25 July. The carbon trade aims to counter 365,000 tons of emissions ...
Government, plantation managers trade blame
The managers of some of Cambodia’s most controversial agribusiness plantations on 21 July blamed their many land disputes on the government, accusing officials of failing to educate communities about the benefits of their giant farms. Rights groups blame economic land concessions for some of Cambodia’s worst problems, ...
Veneers can be exported, despite unfinished wood product ban: Govt spokesman
The government has agreed in principle to allow the export of veneers, despite recently imposing a ban on the export of all unfinished wood products, government spokesman Dr Chaleun Yiapaoher has said. Speaking at a press conference at the Prime Minister’s Office on 15 July, the ...
NUOL receives funding for environmental protection activities
The Environmental Protection Fund has agreed to provide over US$2 million in support of environmental protection activities in three faculties of Environmental Sciences, Natural Sciences and of Economics and Business Administration. The fund is aimed at broadening the knowledge of students and lecturers on the management ...
How Buddhist monks are battling deforestation in Cambodia
Cambodia has one of the world’s highest deforestation rates. But a group of Buddhist monks are stepping up efforts to save forests by publicly revealing wrongdoings and mobilizing local villagers. Ate Hoekstra reports. In Cambodia, where over 90 percent of the population is Buddhist, monks enjoy ...
EPF extends support to environmental protection
The Environmental Protection Fund has decided to forecast a budget of over 2.5 billion kip to support its environmental protection activities in four target provinces of LuangNamtha, Phongsaly, Oudomxay and Bokeo, all of which have ample natural resources and valuable preserved wildlife habitats in the north ...
