The Anti-Corruption Unit closed its investigation into a Kampong Chhnang ex-governor whose vast tracts of protected flooded-forest land were confiscated amid a crackdown on illegal encroachment.
Cambodian authorities’ ban on community forest patrols didn’t stop an environmental group from returning to Prey Preah Roka Wildlife Sanctuary over the weekend, where they found hundreds of felled resin trees that they say are vital for the local community.
A prominent environmentalist had his conviction overturned by an appeal court but will likely remain in prison on account of a second sentencing earlier this month, said a lawyer.
Prime Minister Hun Sen railed against critics in a speech Friday morning, saying anyone complaining about forest loss should relinquish their land to the state to replant trees, and ordering authorities to continue arresting anyone posting “fake news” about Covid-19.
After a few months of rapid deforestation, tree-cutting activity at Kampong Speu’s Metta forest has slowed down in recent days as clearings reach the boundary limits of land allocated to families from the military’s tank unit.
Unidentified criminals have cut down and stolen four prized rosewood trees from a Siem Reap conservation area, officials say.
Monks and villagers say that a group of people purportedly hired by the military to cut down Kampong Speu’s Metta forest are continuing to destroy a densely forested area full of wildlife, and are now only about 200 meters from a pagoda inhabited by a nature-protecting monk.
Locals attempting to protect the Kampong Speu forest say ten trailers full of logs per day are being removed with the oversight of soldiers.
Environmentalists are calling for more action to protect the Cardamom Mountains National Parks and Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary, which they say are suffering illegal logging on a daily basis.
Community forests and a timber company overlap on the land east of Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary, leading to competing interests and allegations of impropriety.
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