Project no.1 NATIONAL (Environment)

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered a moratorium from January 1 2002 on cutting trees and exporting wood, as he vowed action to save the country's badly depleted forests.

In a New Year radio address, the prime minister said anyone who broke the ban would be arrested. He also threatened to cancel contracts with forest concession companies which have been lobbying fiercely against attempts to restrict the timber industry.

Hun Sen announced last year that a moratorium would be declared so that an environmental impact study could be carried out.

International environment groups have said the logging firms in Cambodia are out of control and that many have the backing of influential government officials. Companies have strongly resisted attempts to restrict their practices.

Project no. 2 NATIONAL (Conflict)

Cambodia says it has destroyed its last stockpile of landmines as part of war-ravaged country's effort at demilitarization. After more than three-thousand anti-personnel mines were destroyed at a public ceremony, the Interior Minister, Sar Kheng, said there were no more left in government warehouses. However, correspondents say the Cambodian countryside remains blighted by millions of mines planted during decades of civil war. Cambodia has one of the highest number of amputees in the world, through land-mine injuries.