National Assembly of Cambodia. Photo by Sorn Seang Heng, taken on 12 June 2010. Licensed under CC-BY 2.0.With a constitution written a little more than 20 years ago, the current rule of law in Cambodia is relatively new, and continues to be shaped by many ...

There are four major international donors to land rights development and reform in Cambodia: the World Bank, Germany, Finland and Canada. Their support spans multiple programs and several years with the overall objective of improving land tenure security and promoting stable land markets. ...

The Ministry of Environment is the main authority mandated to oversee environmental issues, including protected areas, environmental impact assessments, and management of natural resources. ...

Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy. According to the 1993 Constitution, although he is the head of state, the king has very limited powers compared to the prime minister, the head of the government. Unlike the 1947 Constitution, power does not come from the king but ...

The 7th National Consultation Workshop on the Draft of the Environment and Natural Resource Code of the Kingdom of Cambodia. Photo by Open Development Cambodia, taken on 22 March 2018. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.With 76% of its people living in rural areas,39 Cambodia holds ...

The judiciary is one of the three powers, together with the executive (the Government) and legislative (the National Assembly and the Senate), that constitute the state. 71 Its role is to monitor the application of the law and punish its violation. This power is vested ...

Aerial view of Cambodia paddy rice field. Photo by Sai Kwong, taken on 23 October 2010. Licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.Land lies at the center of debates about Cambodia’s socioeconomic development. For farmers in the fertile lowlands, private land ownership rights have enabled recovery of ...

Tonle Sap lake reflections. Photo from Mariusz Kluzniak. Uploaded on 1 January 2012. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0Despite severe droughts striking the country frequently, Cambodia possesses substantial water resources, mostly contained in the Mekong River and the Tonle Sap great lake and river. The lake ...

There is no large industrial-scale extraction of minerals carried out in Cambodia yet, but many exploration licenses have been granted and some mining companies have reported promising finds of minerals such as gold. Today companies from China, Korea, Vietnam, Australia and elsewhere are exploring for ...

One of the key goals of the 2030 Agenda is to “decouple economic growth from resource use and environmental degradation”.251 Sustainable consumption and production involves promotion of resource and energy efficiency as well as reduction of economic, social and environmental costs. These are intended to ...

According to the Kingdom of Cambodia’s 2019 general population census, the total Cambodian population is 15,552,211 (51.31% of females).280 By 2021, the population increased to 16,589,023.281 Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams and other minorities also live in the country. Indigenous ethnic groups known as “Khmer Loeu” live ...

In Cambodia, alternate periods of drought and heavy rains bring challenges for water management. The current trends show increasing annual rainfall and temperature throughout Cambodia, with a likelihood that both flooding and droughts will increase in frequency, severity and duration316. Water management involves issues of ...

Cambodia is known for its rich cultural diversity, including ethnic minorities and indigenous communities. As the country has developed, efforts have been made to recognize and protect these groups’ rights through policies and initiatives to promote inclusivity, preserve cultural heritage, and address issues such as ...

Construction on a Phnom Penh tower block. Photo by Axel Drainville, taken on 4 May 2011. Licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0The construction industry has boomed in Cambodia. From 2000 to November 2018, Cambodia’s Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction approved 43,136 construction projects representing ...

Counting money. Photo by Aaron Gilson, taken on 5 April 2013. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.Cambodia re-opened for international trade in the 1980s, opened up to foreign investment in 1994, joined ASEAN in 1999, and became a member of the WTO in 2004. Its bilateral ...

As Cambodia emerged from years of conflict, pressures grew on natural resources and sensitive areas. In response, a number of protected areas were created by royal decree in 1993 to protect ecologically and culturally important places. More detailed guidelines on managing the country’s protected areas ...

Under Cambodia’s Constitution, all Khmer citizens have equal status before the law, regardless of wealth or station.497 This promotes a political principle called the rule of law,498 an ideal that all members of a society, both the people and the State, are held equally accountable ...

Cambodia’s sub-national administration consists of three tiers: capital city/province, municipality/district and sangkat/commune. Phnom Penh is the capital, and there are 24 provinces, 159 districts (including 26 municipalities and 12 khans), 1406 communes and 227 sangkats. ...

The Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Land Law of 2001 both guarantee an individual’s right to property protection. Though part of the Government’s policy framework since 2002, not until 2010 did a legal framework exist to govern the process by which the ...

Election ballots, Cambodia. Photo by Daniel Littlewood, taken on April 20, 2004. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0History of Cambodia’s electionsCambodia saw consecutive civil wars for more than 20 years after the coup in 1970. In 1991, parties in the conflict reached agreement to end the ...