News
Laos, EU discuss targets for trade in legal timber products
Representatives of the European Union (EU) and the Lao government have held discussions on an agreement on combating illegal logging and promoting trade in legal timber products. The issue was discussed at the fourth Joint Expert Meeting (JEM) on a voluntary partnership agreement (VPA) on forest law ...
In Cambodia, a sweeping new environment code languishes in legal limbo
In Cambodia, the Mekong River winds past Southeast Asia’s largest remaining lowland evergreen forest before filling up Tonle Sap, the region’s largest freshwater lake. The river, lined with valuable sand, is home to an abundance of endangered species like the Mekong giant catfish and giant ...
Andrew Nachemson
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
Timber-processing plants raided in Kampong Chhnang, Oddar Meanchey
A 39-year-old man was sent to the Oddar Meanchey Provincial Court on Wednesday for operating a timber-processing facility in Trapaing Prasat district’s Trapaing Prasat commune without a permit. Provincial environment department director Phuong Lina said 14 cubic metres of timber was seized from the makeshift workshop. “We ...
The right to community forest in Tanintharyi Region
When Charcoal burners began casting covetous eyes over the mangrove forest next to coastal Kanyin Chaung village in Tanintharyi Region, its residents joined forces to protect a natural resource that had served their community for generations. The threat emerged in about 2005 and it worried the ...
Kyaw Lin Htoon
Study examines forest loss in Mekong region
Dramatic forest degradation and loss in the Greater Mekong region have both their causes and potential solutions rooted in forest governance, according to a recent publication by researchers from the Center for People and Forests (RECOFTC), the University of British Columbia, and WWF. (The full ...
Karen Mo
Civil society organisations discuss forest governance in Mekong region
Representatives from civil society organisations, government line agencies and donor organisations met in Vientiane yesterday to discuss the strengthening of non-state actors for improved forest governance in the Mekong region. Keep reading ...
Vientiane Times Reporter