Forest inside Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary
The Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture has granted a sawmill
license to a company previously implicated in illegal logging, which operates
an agricultural concession issued inside a protected area.
The Phnom Penh Post reports that Lim Royal Joint Stock Co
was granted the licence on Thursday, allowing them to operate a sawmill within
company land in Kratie and Mondulkiri provinces.
Lim Royal was linked to forestry crimes as recently as last
year, with a report by the Ministry of Economy and Finance noting at the time
that 264 cubic metres of illegal timber were seized on its land and later sold
at auction.
The company was granted a controversial Economic Land
Concession (ELC) in the Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary in 2012.
The issuance of ELCs, sometimes violently displacing
communities, and the co-opting of the judiciary to cover up the practice,
prompted the International Criminal Court to consider such crimes within its
remit.
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Penh Post to read the story in full.
