Forestry crimes including logging, poaching and encroachment on state forest land for private ownership increased considerably last year despite stricter law enforcement, according to an annual report by the Ministry of Environment.

Ministry spokesman Neth Pheaktra said forest rangers cracked down on 8,917 cases in 2020 compared to just 5,745 the previous year – an increase of 3,442 cases or nearly 40 per cent.

The Congo Basin contains the world's second-largest rainforest, crucial for regulating the world's climate. Inside it, a plan to halt the forest's decline is bearing fruit.

With a gentle tug of his left hand, Patrick Wasa-Nziabo eases dozens of kernels from a sun-dried cob and into a large plastic bucket brimming with lemon-yellow corn at his bare feet.

Minister of Environment Say Sam Al urged the public to prevent land disputes and contribute to forest and wildlife conservation in the Phnom Tnout-Phnom Pok Wildlife Sanctuary.

Sam Al made the call during a public forum that discussed land dispute cases in the sanctuary. The forum was held earlier this week at the Boeung Per Wildlife Sanctuary office in Rovieng district’s Romny commune of Preah Vihear province.

He asked the people to switch from hunting wild animals, which is a criminal offence, to raising livestock such as buffaloes, cows, goats and lambs.

LAND grabs and encroachment on protected forest are becoming more rampant in northern Cambodia, said environmental activists.

Cambodian forest and wildlife conservationists said it was increasing, especially in the Phnom Tnout-Phnom Pok Wildlife Sanctuary, which spans two districts in Preah Vihear province and one district in Siem Reap province.

They said it was a bad sign for the future of Cambodia's wildlife sanctuaries if the trend continued.

The Ministry of Environment on December 28 issued a report detailing crackdowns on illegal activities in protected natural areas and biodiversity conservation corridors.

According to the report, forest rangers responded to 8,917 cases of natural resource crimes over the past 12 months, an increase of 3,442 cases, or 63 per cent, over last year’s 5,475 reported incidents.

Rangers had logged 27,588 patrols for the year, up from 24,048 the previous year, but the number of cases sent to courts for prosecution had declined from 631 to 605.

The Kampot provincial authorities will grant land titles for 2,500 plots covering 6,649ha in Preah Monivong Bokor National Park to local residents who applied for official occupation and usage permits, according to the provincial Department of Environment director Suy Thea.

Thea told The Post on December 21 that titles will be issued to 2,138 families who applied for the eligible plots after officials survey and demarcate the land.

The Preah Vihear Provincial Court has set tentative dates in December this year to announce the verdicts for three separate wildlife sanctuary land grab cases, which happened last year.

Provincial court spokeswoman Chum Kaniya said on December 10 that the court’s investigating judge had heard the three cases of forest logging and land encroachment on December 8.

On December 10, deputy head of the provincial Department of Environment Meas Nhem said he attended the hearings for all three cases.

Eleven monks in Kampong Speu province have escaped to avoid being defrocked by the provincial monk council after authorities found that they were involved in state forest land encroachment.

Phnom Sruoch district’s deputy chief monk Venerable Nou Chin told The Post on December 8 that the provincial authorities had torn down some hermitages built illegally by the monks in the Kirirom National Park area.

The construction was led by Sam Norn, the former monk at the Buddhist Cultural Centre within the National Park areas.

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.

More than 200 indigenous Bunong families in Mondulkiri province have asked authorities to retrieve 5ha of community forest land they claim had been secretly stolen from them by speculators.

Roch Chok, a representative of the more than 200 families, told The Post on November 30 that two people in Koh Nhek district’s Or Buonloeu commune deployed two bulldozers to clear the forest land on November 29.

The two, he said, claimed to represent an unnamed tycoon with the title oknha – an honorific bestowed on those who donate at least $500,000 to the state for development.

Minister of Interior Sar Kheng has instructed all provincial governors, and the Mondulkiri provincial governor in particular, to regularly inspect forests and natural resources in helicopters.

Sar Kheng, also the deputy prime minister, said relevant ministries and leaders in Mondulkiri have to protect natural resources. The work, he said, will gain the support of people and attract tourists and investors to the area.

“It is our ancestral wealth,” he said.

Kagenal Incorporated Land Group (ILG) a group in the Central Inland Pomio (CIP) LLG in Pomio district of East New Britain will be receiving 52 per cent revenue of a project that is underway in their LLG.

The project is known as Reducing Emission Deforestation Degradation (REDD+) operating under a company, Night Incorporate, which is an American corporation that operates in the country in partnership with the LLG specialising in carbon trade credit.

CIP LLG has preserved 60 000 square kilometers of land for reforestation under this project.