Environment and natural resources
Forests and forestry
Illegal timber seized at temple, man arrested
A man was arrested and a quantity of illegally cut timber logs seized at a temple in Sai Yok district of this western border province on Monday. Sawit Jiamjiraporn, the Sai Yok district chief, led a team of administrative officials and defence volunteers, to search Nong ...
PIYARAT CHONGCHAROEN
Deforestation surge continues amid deepening uncertainty in Myanmar
Carved out of the of the narrow isthmus that connects the Malay Peninsula to the rest of mainland Southeast Asia, Myanmar’s southern Tanintharyi region rises from the Andaman Sea in the west to the forested Tenasserim Hills that border Thailand in the east. While much of ...
Carolyn Cowan
Illegal logging on the rise in Arakan amid political instability: environmental group
Despite the depletion of forest resources in Arakan State and the need for timely conservation efforts, illegal logging has been increasing during Myanmar’s current political unrest, said Dr. Maung Maung Kyi, chairman of the Rakhine Coastal Region Conservation Association (RCA). He continued that while forest resources ...
Development Media Group
Guardians of Nature: Bold and brave women rangers of Cambodia stand tall
As Cambodia marks World Ranger Day on July 31, Khmer Times highlights a handful of bold brave, and resilient women rangers who are standing alongside men to conserve and protect the wildlife and natural resources of the protected forest. Over the years, women have navigated from ...
Sen David
Ramsar designation planned for Boeung Prek Lapouv area
The Boeung Prek Lapouv Protected Landscape Area in Takeo province – renowned as a habitat for many species of rare water and migratory birds – is set to be designated a Ramsar site, or a wetland of international importance. Ministry of Environment spokesman Neth Pheaktra said ...
Orm Bunthoeurn
MOE ignores ‘twisted’ CYNA report on high forest crimes
The Ministry of Environment (MoE) yesterday rejected the report of the Cambodian Youth Network Association (CYNA) and Prey Lang Community Network that found high forest crimes in the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary. Forest activists in the Prey Lang community claimed 366 forest crimes in the Prey ...
Son Minea / Khmer Times
Guar herd caught on camera: ministry
A herd of gaurs with calves was spotted by an infrared-triggered camera trap at one of the Kingdom’s many wildlife sanctuaries, raising hopes among local and international biodiversity conservationists that the species can be saved from extinction, according to the Ministry of Environment on July ...
Mom Kunthear
Creeping deforestation is threatening alpine environments across Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia was once largely covered in dense rainforests, but intense forest clearing over the past decades has denuded much of the tropical region of its forest cover. On the island of Borneo, for instance, 5.9 million hectares of trees were lost between 2004 and 2017 to logging, ...
Daniel T Cross
Fortress conservation in Wildlife Alliance’s Southern Cardamon REDD+ Project: evictions, violence, and burning people’s homes. “We’re proud of our work. The forest, the wildlife, you come to feel they’re yours.”
“Our project has been successful because we have developed and implemented an approach to defending the forest that meets the threat level with a truly effective response,” Suwanna Gauntlett, chief executive of Wildlife Alliance, recently told Gerald Flynn, a freelance journalist working in Cambodia. Gauntlett was talking about ...
Chris Lang
Endangered Species Are Paying the Price of COVID-19
The table we’re writing on is made of rosewood, the most trafficked wildlife product in the world. For months, we’ve been researching the uptick in logging and poaching, which are gradually emptying out the forests here in Cambodia as well as neighboring Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, ...
Lindsey Kennedy, Nathan Paul Southern