Virachey National Park
Encyclopedia
Virachey National Park is a national park
National park
A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...

 in north-eastern Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...

. Although partly protecting flora and fauna of international conservation priority, the park is under serious threat from illegal logging
Illegal logging
Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission or from a protected area; the cutting of protected species; or the...

 in the region.

The park is one of only two Cambodian ASEAN Heritage Parks  and is one of the top priority areas for conservation in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

. The park overlaps Ratanakiri
Ratanakiri
Ratanakiri is a province in northeastern Cambodia that borders Laos to the north, Vietnam to the east, Mondulkiri Province to the south, and Stung Treng Province to the west. The province extends from the mountains of the Annamite Range in the north, across a hilly plateau between the Tonle San...

 and Stung Treng
Stung Treng
Stung Treng is the capital of Stung Treng Province, Cambodia. It is located in the western part of the Virachey National Park.It is the major city of both the district and province and has a population of 29,665 ....

 Provinces in northeastern Cambodia covering an area of 3,325² km.

Virachey National Park was created under the Royal Decree Concerning the Creation and Designation of Protected Areas, issued on the 1st of November 1993, and is under the administration of the Ministry of Environment of Cambodia.

Description

Located in some of the most deepest and isolated jungles of Cambodia, Virachey is largely unexplored and holds a large assortment of wildlife, waterfalls and mountains. The park comprises dense semi-evergreen lowlands, montane forests, upland savannah, bamboo thickets and occasional patches of mixed deciduous forest. Most of the area lies above 400 meters up to 1,500 meters.

Further reading

Baird, Ian G. "Making Spaces: The ethnic Brao people and the international border between Laos and Cambodia" in the journal Geoforum 41 (2010) 271-281

Baird, Ian G. and Philip Drearden "Biodiversity Conservation and Resource Tenure Regimes: A Case Study from Northeast Cambodia" in the journal Environmental Management Vol. 32, No.5, pp. 541–550

Bourdier, Frederic. The Mountain of Precious Stones: Ratanakiri, Cambodia. The Center for Khmer Studies, Phnom Penh, 2006.

Bourdier, Frederic. "Development and Dominion: Indigenous Peoples of Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos." White Lotus Press, Bangkok. 2009.

"Cambodia's Last Frontier Falls" by Stephen Kurczy in the Asia Times Online.

External links

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