Prime Minister Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit has left the cleared area of Phnom Tamao forest after occupying it for about a month starting in August, seeming to transform a piece of the protected forest into an apparent park after a land giveaway controversy embroiled the area just three months ago.
The Agriculture Ministry backed two of its employees who have been charged with smuggling long-tailed macaques — and one of whom was arrested in the U.S. on Wednesday — and said it would make the “utmost efforts” to absolve them.
The Metta forest community in Kampong Speu says three Buddha statues around the forest’s pagoda have been destroyed after wind blew down nearby trees, and residents are blaming loggers who they say are continuing to cut down the surrounding forest.
Sitting alone in a small wooden house, Kham Salong, 37, says she has struggled without her husband, but still fully supports the environmental work he pursued that landed him in jail.
Marker poles have begun to be laid through the center of the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary for the construction of a major power transmission line. Members of a community protected area disrupted by the project fear oncoming harm for wildlife and communities.
Indigenous community patrollers found around 250 cases of suspected deforestation at Preah Vihear’s Prey Preah Roka forest during two patrols in July and August, and are urging authorities to allow more patrols into the forest.
The national military police are investigating a deputy bureau chief for alleged involvement in illegal timber trafficking.
Hundreds of personnel from the elite Bodyguard Unit have garrisoned the northeast corner of Phnom Tamao forest, which was stripped clean in 10 days, with soldiers now leading reforestation efforts ordered by the prime minister.
Fresh satellite imagery shows rapid destruction of the Phnom Tamao forest this week, an estimated 130 hectares razed between Friday and Wednesday.
Excavators have begun tearing strips through the protected Phnom Tamao forest — recently privatized for development by select tycoons — raising fears among locals and a wildlife sanctuary that shares the land.
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