Environment and natural resources

More than 6,400 residents of Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia have signed and thumb-printed a statement on the Don Sahong Dam project, airing concerns ranging from the river’s diminishing fish stocks to the lack of transparency of the Mekong River Commission. The statement, presented last week ...

Farmers in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam have called for a halt to the construction of hydroelectricity projects along the upstream of the Mekong River citing negative impact to the environment and on their livelihoods.Farmers in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam have called for a halt to ...

Ten people, including a soldier, have been arrested over the murders of a forest ranger and a policeman who were investigating illegal logging in Cambodia, officials said on Friday. In the last few decades a surge in illegal logging has contributed to a sharp drop ...

More than 200 villagers living on the fringe of a giant hydropower project in Stung Treng province are lobbying for their commune’s police chief to be removed, alleging that he habitually confiscates illegally logged wood from villagers on behalf of powerful business interests. ...

Cambodia may not be an industrialized nation, and therefore not putting as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as other countries, but it nevertheless is contributing to climate change through deforestation, experts say. ...

Six men suspected of involvement in the weekend murder of a local police officer and a forest ranger in Preah Vihear province were charged Wednesday with illegal logging, while authorities continue to search for evidence linking them to the double homicide, a court official said. ...

A hand-painted sign nailed to a tree at the entrance of Sre Ko village along the southern banks of the Se San River in Stung Treng province greets visitors with a disturbing message – one made even more alarming by the seemingly tranquil environment and ...

Evidence of illegal logging perpetrated by Vietnamese lumberjacks in collusion with local authorities in Ratanakkiri’s Andong Meas district was submitted to a local rights group by an ethnic Jarai community yesterday. ...

The rate at which the population of Irrawaddy dolphins in the Mekong River is declining has dropped dramatically in recent years, although more dolphins must be protected into adulthood to save the species from extinction, according to a new report released Tuesday. ...

Authorities in Preah Vihear province on Tuesday arrested a local soldier on suspicion of being involved in the fatal shooting of a police officer and a Forestry Administration ranger on an overnight patrol for illegal loggers early Saturday morning. ...

If global temperatures continue to rise, Cambodia’s dependence on fishing and its under-developed healthcare and sanitation sectors will make it particularly exposed to the adverse effects of climate change, according to a World Bank report published on Sunday. ...

Several weeks after villagers on the outskirts of a community forest in Battambang Province began clearing trees and seizing land, forestry administration officials say there has been a lull in deforestation. ...

Settlers and rangers have cleared 200 hectares of Samlot Protected Forest in Battambang and Pailin provinces, according to local authorities and staff of the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which is helping to protect the area. ...

Authorities in a northern Cambodian province on Monday rounded up six suspects for questioning in the killing of two officials and wounding of another who were on patrol in a preserved forest area, in the latest apparent confrontation between illegal loggers and officials, provincial police ...

A police officer and a Forestry Administration official were shot dead by illegal loggers in Preah Vihear province early Saturday morning in an attack that also left a second officer injured, according to a local official who gave two different versions of the incident. ...

Officials in Preah Sihanouk province on Thursday gave a series of conflicting explanations as to what a team of cargo ships and accompanying barges are doing in the waters between Koh Rong and the mainland. ...

Members of the Jarai ethnic community in Ratanakkiri province turned to human rights NGO Adhoc for help yesterday after briefly detaining alleged illegal loggers. ...

Work began yesterday on Cambodia’s first national environmental plan in more than a decade. Once completed, the National Environmental Strategy and Action Plan (NESAP) will form the backbone of Cambodia’s environmental policy until 2023. The far-reaching plan – which is expected to be put into ...

In the latest twist in a long-running dispute over a protected community forest in Battambang province, villagers disgusted by rampant land grabbing have begun scrambling for a piece of the action. ...

Work began yesterday on Cambodia’s first national environmental plan in more than a decade. Once completed, the National Environmental Strategy and Action Plan (NESAP) will form the backbone of Cambodia’s environmental policy until 2023. The far-reaching plan – which is expected to be put into ...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is supporting the government of Cambodia to develop a National Environmental Strategy and Action Plan (NESAP) to help the country achieve its sustainable development goals. ...

A border official and a reporter gave drastically different accounts Sunday of events that transpired after a group of journalists was blocked as they attempted to visit the Chambok border checkpoint in Banteay Meanchey province on Friday. ...

Authorities in Ratanakkiri prov­ince said they confiscated a vanful of illegal luxury-grade timber on Wednesday after a van driver crashed into a motorbike on his way to the Vietnamese border with the wood, but let the driver go because he was injured. ...

Most years the rice fields outside Battambang are an unbroken sea of electric green, but this year they look more like a patchwork quilt. Some paddies are a healthy green, but others are a sickly yellow, while others are little more than empty, muddy fields ...