AFP UK

Experts in Chile on Tuesday were investigating the appearance of an enormous sinkhole, bigger than a tennis court, that has appeared near a copper mine in the Atacama desert.

Experts were dispatched to examine the hole, some 32 meters (104 feet) across and twice as deep, which appeared in an area about 800 kilometers (nearly 500 miles) north of Santiago over the weekend, the National Geology and Mining Service (Sernageomin) said in a statement.

A 100-meter security perimeter has been erected around the hole in the Tierra Amarilla municipality, near the Alcaparrosa mine operated by Canadian firm Lundin Mining.

The company said in a statement there had been “no impact to personnel, equipment or infrastructure,” and the sinkhole has remained stable since its detection.

As a preventive measure, “development work in an area of the Alcaparrosa underground mine has been temporarily suspended,” the company said.

Sernageomin director David Montenegro said experts would seek to determine the cause of the collapse and “ensure that all safety measures are taken to safeguard the lives of workers and communities close to the site.”

Cristian Zuniga, mayor of the Tierra Amarilla municipality of some 13,000 inhabitants, told journalists the sinkhole was unprecedented.

“We ask that the cause be clarified: whether the collapse is the product of mining activity or something else,” he said.

Chile is the world’s largest copper producer, responsible for a quarter of global supply.

Experts in Chile on Tuesday were investigating the appearance of an enormous sinkhole, bigger than a tennis court, that has appeared near a copper mine in the Atacama desert.

Experts were dispatched to examine the hole, some 32 meters (104 feet) across and twice as deep, which appeared in an area about 800 kilometers (nearly 500 miles) north of Santiago over the weekend, the National Geology and Mining Service (Sernageomin) said in a statement.

A 100-meter security perimeter has been erected around the hole in the Tierra Amarilla municipality, near the Alcaparrosa mine operated by Canadian firm Lundin Mining.

The company said in a statement there had been “no impact to personnel, equipment or infrastructure,” and the sinkhole has remained stable since its detection.

As a preventive measure, “development work in an area of the Alcaparrosa underground mine has been temporarily suspended,” the company said.

Sernageomin director David Montenegro said experts would seek to determine the cause of the collapse and “ensure that all safety measures are taken to safeguard the lives of workers and communities close to the site.”

Cristian Zuniga, mayor of the Tierra Amarilla municipality of some 13,000 inhabitants, told journalists the sinkhole was unprecedented.

“We ask that the cause be clarified: whether the collapse is the product of mining activity or something else,” he said.

Chile is the world’s largest copper producer, responsible for a quarter of global supply.

At least four people are now known to have died in a wildfire sweeping through California, authorities said Tuesday, as they warned the toll from the state’s worst blaze this year could rise further.

Rain and cooler conditions brought some relief to hundreds of firefighters battling to protect the 8,000-person town of Yreka, but the human cost of the inferno was already mounting.

“We have four fatalities confirmed, and that number could change,” Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Courtney Kreider told AFP.

Two of the dead were found in a car on Sunday, apparently caught in the flames as they tried to flee.

There were no details about the other deaths.

At least 3,000 people have been told to leave their homes in and around the town of Klamath River, with 100 structures already destroyed.

“Our goal today is to effectively communicate with people, and we’re asking them to obey the evacuation orders,” Kreider said.

“Our priority is to protect life and property.”

State fire department CalFire said better weather overnight had helped limit the spread of the so-called McKinney Fire, but vegetation remained extremely dry and vulnerable to lightning strikes.

“The continued threat of thunderstorms and the associated strong, erratic winds could result in increased fire behavior,” CalFire said.

The fire, which is burning in the Klamath National Forest near the border with Oregon, is California’s largest this year, having consumed around 56,000 acres (22,600 hectares).

Firefighters were working to contain its spread, using bulldozers to create firebreaks around Yreka.

They were also battling spot fires, which erupt as sparks shoot off from the main blaze and ignite some distance away.

Those who had fled the flames spoke of the speed with which they were spreading.

“When we left, everything was on fire,” Sherri Marchetti-Perrault told the Los Angeles Times of her home.

“It happened so fast. We left with the clothes on our back. We couldn’t breathe and we couldn’t see.”

– ‘Holding out’ – 

Some were not prepared to go until absolutely necessary.

“I’m holding out trying not to leave too soon because I’m helping out my mom,” said Rafael Franco, who lives inside the mandatory evacuation area.

“She’s not in the best physical health to get around,” Franco told AFP.

“At the last minute if I see the fire cross the ridge where we are, we are going to head out and grab what we can and get going and hope for the best.”

California, along with much of the western United States, is in the grip of its worst drought in more than 1,000 years.

The drought, exacerbated by man-made climate change, has left the countryside parched and vulnerable to naturally occurring wildfires, making the blazes hotter, faster and more destructive.

Dennis Burns, a fire behavior analyst with the California Interagency Incident Management Team, said there was a potential for thunderstorms and heavy downpours on Tuesday that could give firefighters the edge they were looking for.

“We’re not expecting any significant movement of the fire but we could still see active flaming,” he said.

“For today we have a very moist atmosphere and are expecting some severe thunderstorms.

“With the weather we have we’re pretty confident that we’re going to see some success.”

The McKinney Fire comes just days after the Oak Fire near Yosemite National Park destroyed dozens of buildings and forced thousands to evacuate.

California still has months of fire season ahead of it.

Other parts of the world have also faced intense wildfires this year, as scientists say climate change is making heatwaves more frequent and more intense, increasing the risk of fires.

The James Webb Space Telescope has peered through time and huge amounts of dust to capture a new image of the Cartwheel Galaxy, revealing the spinning ring of colour in unprecedented clarity, NASA and the European Space Agency said Tuesday.

Located around 500 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Sculptor, the Cartwheel gained its shape during a spectacular head-on collision between two galaxies.

The impact sent two rings expanding from the galaxy’s centre, “like ripples in a pond after a stone is tossed into it”, NASA and the ESA said in a joint statement.

A smaller white ring remains closer to the galaxy’s centre, while the outer ring, with its spokes of colour, has been expanding into the universe for around 440 million years, the statement added.

As the outer ring expands it runs into gas, sparking the formation of new stars.

The Hubble telescope had previously captured images of the rare ring galaxy, which is believed to have been a spiral galaxy like our own Milky Way before it was hit by a smaller intruder galaxy.

But the Webb telescope, which launched in December 2021 and revealed its first images to global fanfare last month, has a far greater reach.

Webb’s ability to detect infrared light allowed it to see through the “tremendous amount of hot dust” obscuring the view of the Cartwheel Galaxy, NASA and the ESA said.

This revealed new details about star formation in the galaxy, as well as the behaviour of the supermassive black hole at its heart, they said.

It was also able to detect regions rich in hydrocarbons and other chemicals, as well as dust that is similar to dust on Earth.

Behind the Cartwheel, two smaller galaxies shine brightly, while even more galaxies can be seen behind them.

The observations show that the Cartwheel Galaxy is still in “very transitory stage”, the space agencies said.

“While Webb gives us a snapshot of the current state of the Cartwheel, it also provides insight into what happened to this galaxy in the past and how it will evolve in the future.”

Rain and cooler conditions brought some relief on Tuesday to hundreds of firefighters battling a wildfire in northern California that has killed two people and threatens the 8,000-strong town of Yreka.

State fire department, CalFire, said that while the weather had “mitigated fire spread,” vegetation in the area “remains extremely dry” and in danger of being ignited by lightning strikes. 

“The continued threat of thunderstorms and the associated strong, erratic winds could result in increased fire behavior,” CalFire said.

The McKinney fire burning in the Klamath National Forest near the border with Oregon is California’s largest wildfire so far this year — though it remains much smaller than last year’s Dixie Fire, which burned nearly one million acres.

More than 55,000 acres (22,000 hectares) of the sparsely populated forest have been ravaged and the blaze is zero percent contained, according to CalFire.

Firefighters are constructing containment lines to prevent the fire from spreading, including using bulldozers to build a firebreak to protect Yreka, the county seat of Siskiyou County.

The McKinney Fire has killed two people, according to the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office.

Firefighters found two people dead on Sunday inside a burned-out car in the driveway of a home in the town of Klamath River.

Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue said the pair were likely caught in the swift-moving blaze as they tried to flee.

Sherri Marchetti-Perrault, who lived off of Highway 96, told the Los Angeles Times that her home had burned to the ground.

“When we left, everything was on fire,” Marchetti-Perrault told the newspaper. “It happened so fast. We left with the clothes on our back. We couldn’t breathe and we couldn’t see.”

– ‘Holding out’ – 

California, along with much of the western United States, is in the grip of its worst drought in more than 1,000 years.

The drought, exacerbated by man-made climate change, has left the countryside parched and vulnerable to the wildfires that naturally break out, making the blazes hotter, faster and more destructive.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency in Siskiyou County, and more than 2,000 residents of the rural area are under evacuation orders.

According to the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office, the fire has destroyed more than 100 structures — including homes, a grocery store and a community center — in the area around Yreka.

“Surrounding areas should be ready to leave if needed. Please don’t hesitate to evacuate,” the county sheriff tweeted.

“I’m holding out trying not to leave too soon because I’m helping out my mom,” said Rafael Franco, who lives in the mandatory evacuation area.

“She’s not in the best physical health to get around,” Franco told AFP.

“At the last minute if I see the fire cross the ridge where we are, we are going to head out and grab what we can and get going and hope for the best.”

Marjie Lawrence, who fled Klamath River on Friday night, said she went back to retrieve some belongings in case the fire spread to her home. 

“We are taking stuff in case the house goes, we are taking things we want, but not too many,” Lawrence said.

The McKinney Fire comes just days after the Oak Fire near Yosemite National Park destroyed dozens of buildings and forced thousands to evacuate.

California still has months of fire season ahead of it.

Other parts of the world have also faced intense wildfires this year, as scientists say climate change is making heatwaves more frequent and more intense, increasing the risk of fires.

The world must prepare for a “climate endgame” to better understand and plan for the potentially catastrophic impacts of global heating that governments have yet to consider, scientists warned Tuesday. 

Climate models that can predict the extent of global warming depending on greenhouse gas emissions are increasingly sophisticated and provide policymakers with an accurate trajectory of global temperature rises. 

What is less well explored is the cascading impact of certain events, such as crop failures and infrastructure loss due to extreme weather events, which are made likelier to occur with every degree of warming. 

Researchers at the University of Cambridge and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) outlined what is currently known about “catastrophic outcomes” and found gaping knowledge gaps. 

Writing in the journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, they proposed an international research agenda to help governments plan for “bad-to-worst cases”. 

These included four main areas of concern — what the authors termed the “four horseman” of climate change: famine and malnutrition, extreme weather, conflict, and vector-borne diseases. 

“Irreversible and potentially catastrophic risks caused by human induced climate change must be factored into our planning and actions,” said Johan Rockstrom, PIK director and a study co-author. 

He said that the more research is done on Earth’s climate tipping points — such as the irreversible melting of the ice caps or the Amazon rainforest turning from a carbon sink to source — showed the ever-greater need to factor in high-risk scenarios into climate modelling. 

“Key is to do the math of disaster, in order to avoid it,” he said.

– ‘Mismatched caution’ –

The authors pointed out that successive UN climate science reports have mainly focused on the predicted effects of 1.5C-2C of warming and largely discounted the possibility of more excessive temperature rises. 

Government plans put Earth on course to rise as much as 2.7C this century, a far cry from the 1.5-C cap envisaged in the 2015 Paris climate accord. 

The study suggested that a scientific disposition to “err on the side of least drama” led to a lack of focus on potential impacts at 3C of warming or higher. 

“This caution is understandable, yet it is mismatched to the risks and potential damages posed by climate change,” it said.

In addition, risk assessments for so-called low-likelihood, high-impact events are notoriously difficult to accommodate in long-term climate modelling. 

The researchers calculated areas of extreme heat — with an annual average temperature of over 29C — could cover two billion people by 2070. 

They warned that temperatures posed a major risk of multiple “breadbasket failures” due to drought such as that gripping western Europe and heatwave such as the one that hit India’s wheat harvest in March/April.

The team called for a special UN science report focusing on “catastrophic climate change scenarios” similar to its 2018 report on 1.5C of warming.

“We have to get serious about understanding the profound risks that come with moving our planet into unknown territory,” said Joeri Rogelj, director of research at Imperial College London’s Grantham Institute, who was not involved in the study.  

“Researching these extreme cases means that we’ll be able to better prepare, including by being more serious about reducing emissions now.” 

Total economic losses caused by natural disasters hit an estimated $72 billion in the first half of 2022, fuelled by storms and floods, Swiss reinsurance giant Swiss Re estimated Tuesday.

Though the figure is lower than the $91 billion estimate for the first six months of 2021, it is close to the 10-year average of $74 billion, and the weight is shifting towards weather-induced catastrophes.

“The effects of climate change are evident in increasingly extreme weather events, such as the unprecedented floods in Australia and South Africa,” said Martin Bertogg, Swiss Re’s head of catastrophe perils.

The Zurich-based group, which acts as an insurer for insurers, said the losses were also propelled by winter storms in Europe as well as heavy thunderstorms on the continent and in the United States.

So-called secondary natural disasters like floods and storms — as opposed to major disasters such as earthquakes — are happening more frequently, the reinsurer said.

“This confirms the trend we have observed over the last five years: that secondary perils are driving insured losses in every corner of the world,” Bertogg said.

“Unlike hurricanes or earthquakes, these perils are ubiquitous and exacerbated by rapid urbanisation in particularly vulnerable areas,” he said.

“Given the scale of the devastation across the globe, secondary perils require the same disciplined risk assessment as primary perils such as hurricanes.”

Swiss Re said floods in India, China and Bangladesh confirm the growing loss potential from flooding in urban areas.

Man-made catastrophes such as industrial accidents added on a further $3 billion of economic losses to the $72 billion from natural disasters, taking the total to $75 billion — which is down on the $95 billion total for the first half of 2021.

– Insured losses at $38 bn –

Total insured losses stood at $38 billion: $3 billion worth of man-made disasters and $35 billion worth of natural catastrophes — up 22 percent on the 10-year average, said the Swiss reinsurer, warning of the effects of climate change.

February’s storms in Europe cost insurers $3.5 billion, according to Swiss Re estimates.

Australia’s floods in February and March set a new record for insured flood losses in the country at so far close to $3.5 billion — one of the costliest natural catastrophes ever in the country.

Severe weather and hailstorms in France in the first six months of the year have so far caused an estimated four billion euros ($4.1 billion) of insured market losses.

The Swiss group also mentioned the summer heatwaves in Europe, which resulted in fires and drought-related damage, without providing estimates at this stage.

A warming climate is likely to exacerbate droughts and thereby the likelihood of wildfires, causing greater damage where urban sprawl grows into the countryside, Swiss Re said.

“Climate change is one of the biggest risks our society and the global economy is facing,” said the group’s chief economist Jerome Jean Haegeli.

“With 75 percent of all natural catastrophes still uninsured, we see large protection gaps globally exacerbated by today’s cost-of-living crisis.”

Firefighters faced “extremely dangerous” conditions Monday as they battled to save a community of 8,000 residents, with lightning strikes threatening to worsen a blaze that has already killed at least two people and become California’s biggest fire of the year.

Hundreds of personnel were involved in the fight against the fast-moving McKinney Fire, which has torn through more than 55,000 acres (22,000 hectares) near the border with Oregon, forcing thousands from their homes.

The National Weather Service meanwhile issued a warning because of the threat of dry lightning — powerful electrical strikes that come without any of the desperately needed rain.

“These conditions can be extremely dangerous for firefighters, as winds can be erratic and extremely strong, causing fire to spread in any direction,” said CalFire, an interagency website that collates fire information.

California, along with much of the western United States, is in the grip of its worst drought in more than 1,000 years.

The drought, exacerbated by man-made climate change, has left the countryside parched and exceedingly vulnerable to the wildfires that naturally break out, making the blazes hotter, faster and more destructive.

The McKinney Fire on Sunday claimed its first human lives, with the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office saying firefighters found two people dead inside a burned-out car in the driveway of a home in the town of Klamath River.

Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue said the pair were likely caught in the swift-moving blaze as they tried to flee.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency in Siskiyou County, and more than 2,000 residents of the rural area are under evacuation orders.

“I’m holding out trying not to leave too soon because I’m helping out my mom. She’s not in the best physical health to get around,” Rafael Franco, a resident who is in the mandatory evacuation area, told AFP.

“At the last minute if I see the fire cross the ridge where we are, we are going to head out and grab what we can and get going and hope for the best.”

Marjie Lawrence, who fled Klamath River on Friday night, said she went back to retrieve some belongings in case the fire spread to her home. 

“We are taking stuff in case the house goes, we are taking things we want, but not too many,” she said.

– Complicated firefight –

A heat wave with temperatures of over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius), tinder-dry terrain and thunderstorms packing strong winds are complicating the efforts of firefighters battling the blaze.

“Fire growth is expected to spread in all directions,” the Klamath National Forest service said in a statement. 

“Warning for thunderstorms and lightning. Gusty outflow winds of 30 to 50 mph (50 to 80 kph) will be possible near thunderstorm cells.”

According to the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office, the fire has destroyed more than 100 structures — including homes, a grocery store and a community center — in the area surrounding Yreka, though it has not yet encroached upon the town of about 7,800 people.

“Surrounding areas should be ready to leave if needed. Please don’t hesitate to evacuate,” the county sheriff tweeted.

The McKinney fire is California’s largest wildfire so far this year — though it remains much smaller than last year’s Dixie Fire, which burned nearly one million acres.

– Animal rescue –

An AFP journalist working in the fire area captured a photograph of a kitten with singed whiskers cowering in between rocks in the Klamath National Forest.

As the picture ricocheted around the internet, users asked for updates, with one seemingly offering to look after the animal.

“Do you know if this kitten has been cared for and adopted at this point?” tweeted @bobbiescat.

Another journalist shared footage of a young puppy gratefully lapping at a bowl of water after emerging from the ashen ruins of a home in Klamath River.

Rescue Ranch Yreka, which took in the stricken pup, said it had received nearly 140 dogs in less than two days, and appealed for donations to help feed and care for them.

The fast-spreading blaze comes just days after the Oak Fire near Yosemite National Park destroyed dozens of buildings and forced thousands to evacuate.

California still has months of fire season ahead of it.

Other parts of the world have also faced intense wildfires this year, as scientists say climate change is making heatwaves more frequent and more intense, increasing the risk of fires.

Firefighters faced “extremely dangerous” conditions Monday as they battled to save a community of 8,000 residents, with lightning strikes threatening to worsen a blaze that has already killed at least two people and become California’s biggest fire of the year.

Hundreds of personnel were involved in the fight against the fast-moving McKinney Fire, which has torn through more than 55,000 acres (22,000 hectares) near the border with Oregon, forcing thousands from their homes.

The National Weather Service meanwhile issued a warning because of the threat of dry lightning — powerful electrical strikes that come without any of the desperately needed rain.

“These conditions can be extremely dangerous for firefighters, as winds can be erratic and extremely strong, causing fire to spread in any direction,” said CalFire, an interagency website that collates fire information.

California, along with much of the western United States, is in the grip of its worst drought in more than 1,000 years.

The drought, exacerbated by man-made climate change, has left the countryside parched and exceedingly vulnerable to the wildfires that naturally break out, making the blazes hotter, faster and more destructive.

The McKinney Fire on Sunday claimed its first human lives, with the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office saying firefighters found two people dead inside a burned-out car in the driveway of a home in the town of Klamath River.

Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue said the pair were likely caught in the swift-moving fire as they tried to flee.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency in Siskiyou County, and more than 2,000 residents of the rural area are under evacuation orders.

A heat wave with temperatures of over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius), tinder dry terrain and thunderstorms packing strong winds are complicating the efforts of firefighters battling the blaze.

“Fire growth is expected to spread in all directions,” the Klamath National Forest service said in a statement. “Warning for thunderstorms and lightning. Gusty outflow winds of 30 to 50 mph (50 to 80 kph) will be possible near thunderstorm cells.”

According to the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office, the fire has destroyed more than 100 structures — including homes, a grocery store and a community center — in the area surrounding Yreka, though it has not yet encroached upon the town of about 7,800 people.

“Surrounding areas should be ready to leave if needed. Please don’t hesitate to evacuate,” the county sheriff tweeted.

The McKinney fire is California’s largest wildfire so far this year — though it remains much smaller than last year’s Dixie Fire, which burned nearly one million acres.

– Animal rescue –

An AFP journalist working in the fire area captured a photograph of a kitten with singed whiskers cowering in between rocks in the Klamath National Forest.

As the picture ricocheted around the internet, users asked for updates, with one seemingly offering to look after the animal.

“Do you know if this kitten has been cared for and adopted at this point?” tweeted @bobbiescat

Another journalist shared footage of a young puppy gratefully lapping at a bowl of water after emerging from the ashen ruins of a home in Klamath River.

Rescue Ranch Yreka, which took in the stricken pup, said it had received nearly 140 dogs in less than two days, and appealed for donations to help feed and care for them.

The fast-spreading blaze comes just days after the Oak Fire near Yosemite National Park destroyed dozens of buildings and forced thousands to evacuate.

California still has months of fire season ahead of it.

Other parts of the world have also faced intense wildfires this year, as scientists say climate change is making heatwaves more frequent and more intense, increasing the risk of fires.

In Portugal, a blaze broke out in the Mafra area, north of Lisbon, over the weekend while in France at least four firefighters were seriously injured and motorways were closed.

Also over the weekend, hundreds of firefighters battled a blaze in eastern Germany, with four people injured.

The melodic songs from families of endangered monkeys ring out over the jungle near Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temple complex — a sign of ecological rejuvenation decades after hunting decimated wildlife at the site.

The first pair of rare pileated gibbons were released in 2013 as part of a joint programme between conservation group Wildlife Alliance, the forestry administration and the Apsara Authority — a government agency that manages the 12th-century ruins.

The gibbon duo, named Baray and Saranick, were born from parents rescued from the wildlife trade and produced offspring a year later.

“We have now released four different pairs of gibbons within the Angkor forest and they have gone on to breed and now seven babies have been born,” Wildlife Alliance rescue and care programme director Nick Marx told AFP.

“We are restoring Cambodia’s natural heritage back into their most beautiful cultural heritage.”

Globally, gibbons are one of the most threatened families of primates, while the pileated gibbon is listed as endangered.

Marx says his team rescues some 2,000 animals a year and many more will soon call the Angkor jungle home.

There are hopes that once the baby gibbons reach sexual maturity in about five to eight years, they will also pair up and mate.

“What we are hoping for the future is to create a sustainable population of the animals… that we released here within the amazing Angkor forest,” Marx said.

– ‘Big victory’ –

Cambodian authorities have hailed the gibbon baby boom that began in 2014.

“This means a big victory for our project,” Chou Radina from the Apsara Authority said, adding that as well as gibbons, tourists could now see great hornbills flying over Angkor Wat.

The programme has released more than 40 other animals and birds including silvered langurs, muntjac deers, smooth-coated otters, leopard cats, civets, wreathed hornbills, and green peafowl.

All were rescued from traffickers, donated or born in captivity at the Phnom Tamao wildlife sanctuary near Phnom Penh.

The Angkor Archaeological Park — which contains the ruins of various capitals of the Khmer Empire, dating from the ninth to 15th centuries — has some of the oldest rainforest in Cambodia.

It is also the kingdom’s most popular tourist destination.

Since Angkor Wat became a world heritage site in 1992, its jungle, which covers more than 6,500 hectares, has benefited from increased legal and physical protections.

There are hopes that wildlife sightings will also spark interest in local and foreign tourists and boost conservation education efforts.

– Ongoing threats –

Rampant poaching, habitat loss from logging, agriculture and dam building has stripped much wildlife from Cambodian rainforests.

Last year, authorities removed 61,000 snare traps, environment ministry spokesman Neth Pheaktra said, adding that the government had launched a campaign to discourage hunting and eating of wildlife meat.

But widespread poverty even before the pandemic left many households without much choice but to continue hunting so their families could eat protein.

Animals are also hunted for traditional medicine and to be kept as pets.

According to Global Forest Watch, from 2001-2021 Cambodia lost 2.6 million hectares of tree cover, a 30 percent decrease since 2000.

Commercial interests are trumping protection efforts in some quarters — the Phnom Tamao zoo and wildlife rescue centre is under threat from a shadowy rezoning development plan, Marx said.

Back at Siem Reap — the gateway city to Angkor Wat — villager Moeurn Sarin shops at the market for bananas, watermelon, rambutan and fish to feed the pileated gibbon families and otters.

“We are happy to conserve these animals,” the 64-year-old said, adding he likes to watch the gibbons’ tree swinging antics.

“In the future, these animals will have babies for the young generation to see.”