World Environment Day: Update! Illegal Logging has Finished.

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newkidontheblock
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Re: World Environment Day: Update! Illegal Logging has Finished.

Post by newkidontheblock »

It seems like things are slowly changing for the better.

Not too long ago, illegal timber used to be loaded onto military style cargo trucks, guarded by the local military troops. Even the local forest activist was shot to death by the military guard. The forest rangers were a joke then.

Now the forest rangers and the military are trying to stop the loggers.

Illegal loggers have now resorted to using rafts, motos, vans.

The real question is? Is it too late?

Cambodia will need a massive sustained replanting program to bring the forests back to the way it was before.
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Re: World Environment Day: Update! Illegal Logging has Finished.

Post by John Bingham »

It's still done exactly the same way, small tractors, remorques etc transport lumber out of the forest, then it's put in larger vehicles ( including military trucks) and brought to a processing factory or exported.
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Re: World Environment Day: Update! Illegal Logging has Finished.

Post by Bitte_Kein_Lexus »

Exactly. Nothing has changed NKOTB. I ride around those logging areas very often, and there are ranger stations but the guys in hollowed out Sangyongs just stop/pay. Same for tractors closer to the source.

Often the guys drive out at night (or just after 5), then it's considered ok. So a lot of those tractors/minivans/large trucks just travel at night instead. Pay a fee and be allowed to travel at night, no biggie. Very few old growth forests with large trees left though. I still see some of the huge trucks, but not nearly as many as before as I guess they're just too obvious now, even if you're connected.
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Re: World Environment Day: Update! Illegal Logging has Finished.

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Cambodia News,(Stung Treng): After the National Committee launched an operation to crack down on forest resource crime in Stung Treng province, it has been reduced and calmed down for a while, but now forest crime is growing once again.
According to the source today, big traders continue to transport illegal timber through Stung Treng, at around 70 vehicles every night across the province, while the officials involved in preventing and cracking down on forest crime in Stung Treng province may be asleep.
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Separately, a source from an official in Stung Treng province said that for the past three to four months, traders have been rushing to transport rosewood from Siem Pang district to Stung Treng province to Kratie province, passing through Snuol district, and transporting shipments to the border to sell in Vietnam, without encountering any legal impediments if they pay a fee.
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The names of the major traders transporting rosewood from Siem Pang district are known to the journalists and local people, and should also be known to authorities: Mr. Kaing II, Mr. Heng III, Mr. Nak.
It should also be noted that the above traders, in a rush to transport their illegal rosewood wood at night, drive at high speed, regardless of their life or the safety of other people, causing accidents and loss of life on the roads.
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Re: World Environment Day: Update! Illegal Logging has Finished.

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

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Cambodia News, Ratanakkiri Province: 21 pieces of illegally logged wood, hidden by traders in two different locations in Andong Meas district,Ratanakkiri, have been seized in a joint crackdown by the authorities. The forces at the scene include the Provincial Armed Forces, the Economic Crime Police Force, the Forestry Administration Force, the Andong District Police Inspector Force Meas and local military forces from Andong Meas district, with the coordination of Mr. Raborandi, Deputy Prosecutor of the Ratanakkiri Provincial Court.
The crackdown was ordered by Mr. Thong Savun, Chairman of the Ratanakkiri Provincial Unity Command, and took place on 31 October 2020.
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According to the source, 11 pieces of wood were confiscated in the first location in Mui village, Sre Krom, and in the second location, in Ket village, Nhang commune, Andong Meas district, 10 pieces of wood were found and confiscated.
After measuring, all the above wooden exhibits were handed over to the Ratanakkiri Provincial Forestry Administration to be processed according to the forest law.
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It should be noted that a few days before the above crackdown, the social network Facebook showed a video of motorbikes transporting wood through Ratanakkiri, speeding like a tornado toward the Vietnam border. Following an outcry on social media, Mr. Thong Savun ordered the forces to inspect the area and confiscate any such wood and arrest the transporters. However, there was no activity of motorbikes transporting wood like in the social network Facebook on the day of the raid by the authorities, and they had to content themselves with confiscating the stockpiles.

It should be noted that the Ratanakkiri Provincial Unity Command has restricted all forms of illegal timber transportation so that there will be no traders. However, the wood is still being stolen and sold illegally.
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Re: World Environment Day: Update! Illegal Logging has Finished.

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Cambodia News, (Stung Treng): On 6 December 2020, it is reported that local residents are still seeing trucks carrying large logs into a timber company located at Borey O' Svay Sen Chey district, Stung Treng province.

In Borey O'Svay, Senchey district, Stung Treng province, the company is known to have been operating the business of clearing forest trees under the pretext of taking land for agricultural processing and using large trucks to transport timber day and night to the company.
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According to sources, the company used to be called Siam Mon Cambodia, but now it is called Angkor Plai Vuot because Siam Mon Bank went bankrupt and sold the business to Angkor Plai Vuot.
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Currently, the company is acting against the rules of law, transporting trees in from outside into the company property, to sell the wood as if it is legal wood from forest clearing.
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Re: World Environment Day: Update! Illegal Logging has Finished.

Post by AndyKK »

Money. Small hands don't take from big hands, it is deemed as an illegal activity, saw mills and timber yards in the north of the country are scattered alongside the banks of the Mekong, most areas have strong military presence.
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Re: World Environment Day: Update! Illegal Logging has Finished.

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

Angkor sells out: Cambodia turns a blind eye to vanishing forests
December 7, 2020
A growing number of reports show that large-scale deforestation continues in Cambodia’s protected forests, often with tacit endorsement from government officials—despite promises of conservation.

Editorial
A series of reports this year show that protected forest areas across Cambodia are under increasing threat from land grabs and deforestation.

As Cambodians struggle with the economic impacts of COVID-19, journalists and advocates report that illegal logging and land development continues, from central Cambodia’s Prey Lang Forest to the Cardamom Mountains and the vital Tonle Sap lake.

A new study published in August by researchers at University of Nevada found that forest-loss rates since 2011 for Cambodia and the Sekong–Sesan–Srepok river basin were twice as high as in the period from 2004 to 2011, and three times higher than forest-loss rates in the 1990s. From 2001 to 2018, Cambodia lost around a quarter of its forest cover, reports Global Forest Watch. The country saw more deforestation than any country in Asia during the period, driven in large part by agricultural plantations and logging for valuable timber like rosewood.

According to some advocates—such as the Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN)—this forest loss has spiked during COVID-19, with officials allowing illegal logging and timber smuggling. “Now, with coronavirus, the destruction has increased massively,” said PCLN member and Goldman Environmental Prize winner Ouch Leng.

In the early 2000s, the Cambodian government handed over more than 10% of the country’s land to agricultural firms, much of it for rubber plantations backed by foreign investment, reports the Thomson Reuters Foundation. A portion of the country’s deforestation is also driven by environmental changes, including fires exacerbated by record low water levels in Tonle Sap lake and on the Mekong River.
Full article: https://www.aseantoday.com/2020/12/angk ... g-forests/
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Re: World Environment Day: Update! Illegal Logging has Finished.

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

Some Cambodian journalists continue to publish allegations of police and military involvement in illegal logging, and some officers are unhappy about this.

Journalist alleges threats from Kratie Military Police official over illegal logging story
12 December 2020 4:48 PM
Khuon Narim

A Kratie journalist has alleged that the provincial Military Police commander threatened him for reporting a story of illegal timber transports, where sources claimed the Military Police facilitated the movement of luxury logs.

Kin Sary, owner of Basith TV, said he filed a complaint with the national leadership of the Military Police, alleging that Kratie Military Police Commander San Bunthan had threatened him, an allegation denied by the official.

“I fear for my personnel security when I go to report somewhere, after [San Bunthan] threatened me,” Sary said.

The news publication owner said he was following four to five motorcycles carrying timber on November 16 at 10 p.m. The motorcycles were heading to the Vietnam border and Sary took photos and published a story the next day, he said. The journalists also had sources claiming that the timber transport involved giving bribes to Military Police officials.

“They can transport timber because they collude with and pay money to Military Police officers,” Sary said, referring to source interviews.

After publishing the story, Sary said Bunthan walked towards him at a restaurant on November 22 and threatened him. “You be careful,” Bunthan said. “Why have you published a story about only my subordinates? Why not about police and military officials at the border?”
Full article: https://cambojanews.com/journalist-alle ... ing-story/
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Re: World Environment Day: Update! Illegal Logging has Finished.

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Cambodia News, (Kampong Speu): The patrol force of Thmar Rong Headquarters, who were patrolling at (0401317-1242375) in Treng Trayeung commune, Phnom Sruoch district, Kampong Speu province, came across an illegal logging and wood workshop site located inside the Kirirom National Park area.
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The patrol have registered the site location, and confiscated the illegal timber and one chainsaw machine, which have been deposed at the Thmar Rong Patrol Office as evidence.
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