Environment and natural resources
Forests and forestry
‘You don’t kill people to protect forests’: New Thai parks chief raises alarm
The controversial whistleblower who helped expose corruption in Thailand’s parks department has gained a major promotion — and increased scrutiny of his own checkered history, which includes two murder charges, a corruption investigation, and multiple allegations of human rights abuses. Senior forest officer Chaiwat Limlikit-aksorn arrived ...
Kannikar Petchkaew
Traders defy the law to import more teak into the USA from Myanmar than before the coup
Despite sanctions put in place against the brutal military junta in Myanmar, US traders continue to source precious teak from the country for luxury yachts and flooring. The allegations are made in the new EIA report Acts of Defiance – How US traders are ignoring sanctions to import ...
Cambodian plan to allow hunting in protected areas worries conservationists
Hunting in Cambodia’s protected areas and forests would be legal in some cases under a proposal from the country’s Ministry of Environment that conservation groups fear could lead to abuses that threaten wildlife populations, according to drafts of rule changes seen by RFA. The ministry is ...
Jack Adamović Davies
India Should Exercise Caution Over Myanmar Timber Imports
The confusion over Myanmar timber exports to India was laid to rest last month when the central government in New Delhi informed the Indian border state of Mizoram that timber was not on the restricted list of commodities from Myanmar. New Delhi’s directive was in response to a ...
RAJEEV BHATTACHARYYA
Vietnam’s minorities lose right to farm forests
One afternoon at the end of 2017, officials in Dakrong district in Central Vietnam’s Quang Tri province visited Ho Thi Nieng’s house. They claimed she and her husband had “burned the protected forest to do farming.” “We had been cultivating that land for a long time ...
Nguyen Dac Thanh
Pristine bay in Phuket under threat from marina developers
A marina developer has plans to turn one of Phuket’s few remaining mangrove forests into a new gateway for luxury yachts and cruises post the Covid-19 pandemic period. In Ao Kung, a quiet bay in the northern part of bustling Phuket island, Sujirtra Thothip stood in ...
Wanpen Pajai
Cambodian people urged to help end snaring and wildlife trafficking
The Cambodian government and wildlife conservationists have urged the people to help end the snaring crisis and combat wildlife trafficking. They called upon all Cambodians to stop buying, selling, and consuming wildlife as this would bring an end to the notorious practice of snaring wild animals. According ...
New Straits Times
Warning of ecological disaster over Malaysia forest plantations
When Sia Beng Hok goes to check his rubber and batai (Moluccan albizia) trees, he makes sure he has a rifle on the backseat of his four-wheel drive. His plantations – all 5,000 hectares (19sq miles) of them – sit on forest reserve land in Kelantan ...
Yao-Hua Law
Mangroves in the Mekong Delta: growing opportunities or going under?
The Mekong Delta is home to the largest expanse of mangroves in Viet Nam but is also highly vulnerable to the twin effects of the climate crisis and coastal development, given its proximity to Ho Chi Minh City. The Delta is facing a high risk of ...
PHAM THU THUY
The Buddhist monks blessing trees to prevent deforestation
Wrapped in orange robes, occasionally with ornaments nestled into the roots and incense burning at the foot, such trees seen across Thailand could be confused for an art installation. Instead, their decoration is a signifier that the trees have been blessed by a Buddhist monk ...
Rebecca L. Root
