Environment and natural resources
MRC documents fish species found in Upper Mekong in China
The Mekong River Commission has documented 186 fish species identified by the Kunming Institute of Zoology as being found in the Upper Mekong Basin in China’s Yunnan province. A list of the species with their scientific and common Chinese names as well as their distribution in ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=MDJkZjMxNzgzZjB
Firm ‘logging in sanctuary’
A company in Mondulkiri’s Sok San commune has been gradually cutting down a community forest, pushing more than 100 families off their land, villagers said yesterday. “That land belongs to us, the government granted it to us in 1999. But the company invaded and let us ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/firm-%E2%80%98logging-sanctuary%E2%80%99
Patrol detains loggers
A forest patrol in Ratanakkiri’s O’Yadav district spotted five loggers clearing the community’s ancestral forest on Tuesday, villagers and rights group Adhoc said yesterday. Adhoc provincial coordinator Chhay Thy said that three representatives of nearly 200 ethnic Jarai families in Pak Nhai commune asked for help ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/patrol-detains-loggers
District forestry boss charged over ‘logging’
The director of the Lumphat district forestry department in Ratanakkiri province was charged and put in pre-trial detention on Monday for allegedly logging on protected land around Ou’Sinlair waterfall, police and court officials revealed yesterday. Deputy Police Chief Klol Thoeun said that Meung Bunthin was picked ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/district-forestry-boss-charged-over-%E2%80%98logging%E2%80%99
PM to fete controversial dam
In the wake of several international scandals, the 120-megawatt Stung Atai hydropower plant in Pursat province and its transmission line will be inaugurated today in a celebration headed by Prime Minister Hun Sen. The $255 million hydropower project financed by China Development Bank has been operating ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-fete-controversial-dam
Koh Russey, a jewel by the sea
After its November launch in Hong Kong, Alila Villas Koh Russey will break ground late next month, initiating the construction of a world-class luxury resort. Alila Villas occupies 25 hectares on Koh Russey, an island in the Koh Rong archipelago in the Gulf of Thailand, with ...
Post Staff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/koh-russey-jewel-sea
Kuoy villagers say patrols put logging on pause
For three days last week, the Preah Roka forest in Preah Vihear province was silent, the usual cacophony of chainsaws notably absent. The buzz of trucks arriving empty and later leaving heavily loaded with timber had been replaced by ethnic Kuoy villagers, about 300 in all, ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kuoy-villagers-say-patrols-put-logging-pause
Factory waste blamed for health, crop woes
Forty families in Kampong Chhnang province’s Peani commune complained yesterday that a local factory has been polluting their land with toxic liquid waste. Kong Yom, 40, a representative of the 40 families in Krang Ta Ekh village, said yesterday that this is not the first time ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/factory-waste-blamed-health-crop-woes
Areng Valley mining may unseat dam
A highly controversial, Chinese-backed hydropower project in the Areng Valley could be delayed in favour of mining, should “research” for the dam approved by Phnom Penh in February uncover precious metals or gems. Sinohydro Resources Ltd, a holding company for Sinohydro Group, was granted approval on ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/areng-valley-mining-may-unseat-dam
Illegal ivory a sign Cambodia is new transit point
The seizure on Friday of a large haul of African elephant tusks in Svay Rieng province, only one month after police intercepted a large ivory haul in Siem Reap, could indicate that Cambodia is becoming a major transit point for illegal ivory, experts said Monday. The ...
Simon Henderson and Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/illegal-ivory-a-sign-cambodia-is-new-transit-point-54876/
Friends in high places
A Chinese developer with a “family-like” relationship to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit has accelerated construction at its $5 billion resort – ostensibly cancelled by royal decree in 2010 – in a protected national park in Preah Sihanouk province. The 3,300-hectare Golden Silver Gulf resort ...
Daniel Pye and May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/friends-high-places
Second haul of illegal ivory in a month found in Svay Rieng
Military police in Svay Rieng province on Friday seized more than 250 kg of elephant tusks stashed inside 10 suitcases in a van heading for the Vietnamese border, officials said. This is the second such haul in the space of a month, leading to fears Cambodia ...
Saing Soenthrith and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/second-haul-of-illegal-ivory-in-a-month-found-in-svay-rieng-54762/
Neighbours wary of Laos dam plan
In its race to cash in on hydropower without first addressing its downstream implications, Laos could pitch the region into a water crisis and jeopardise millions of Cambodian’s food security, conservation groups and Cambodian government officials said yesterday. “Lao PDR is exploiting the Mekong River to ...
Laignee Barron and Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/neighbours-wary-laos-dam-plan
Cambodian illegal loggers repatriated
Three Cambodian illegal loggers arrested more than a year ago in Thailand were released by the Thai authorities yesterday, and returned to their home country, officials said. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cambodian-illegal-loggers-repatriated
It’s paradise – for some
On the shore of Koh Kong province’s Kiri Sakor district overlooking a cluster of islands, a flourishing new golf course lies vacant but for a handful of workers tending its empty greens. The Romanesque hotel behind it, replete with a bold central dome, luxury VIP suites ...
May Titthara and David Boyle
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/its-paradise-%E2%80%93-some
Logging firm fails again to notify and pay taxes
Logging by Vietnamese-owned concessionaire Company 72 has once again spilled the boundaries of its land in Ratanakkiri’s O’Yadav district, this time without paying proper taxes to the Forestry Administration (FA), local forest conservation activist Romas Svang said yesterday. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/logging-firm-fails-again-notify-and-pay-taxes
Cambodian experts concerned over Laos dam project near border
Cambodian experts on Thursday expressed concerns over the Laos Don Sahong dam development project, saying the proposed hydroelectric dam would pose a serious threat to the existence of the biodiversity on the Mekong River in Cambodia. Some 90 conservationists, environmentalists, development partners, academia, fishery scientists, and ...
Global Times News Staff
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/849722.shtml#.UyucxvmSxqU
Tonle Sap Lake fisheries a concern for dam project
Already under attack by overfishing, pollution and deforestation, Tonle Sap Lake fisheries face an even bigger threat in the form of hydropower dams, according to experts. Laos’ planned Don Sahong Hydropower Project in particular has environmentalists fearing an emptier, less bio-diverse lake, and a nation pitched ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tonle-sap-lake-fisheries-concern-dam-project
Dam critics outline litany of risks
As villagers in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley continue to block Sinohydro Corp employees from entering the area where the Stung Cheay Areng dam is planned, conservationists and rights workers have spoken of the havoc it will wreak if it goes ahead. In terms of the ...
Daniel Pye and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dam-critics-outline-litany-risks
Standoff in Areng Valley continues
Seven Chinese nationals were prevented from entering the Areng Valley in Koh Kong province yesterday as locals continued their standoff with the operator of the Stung Cheay Areng dam concession, villagers at the scene said. Ven Vorn, a community leader among those blocking a road used ...
Phak Seangly and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/standoff-areng-valley-continues
Authorities allowing logging: M’kiri locals
Members of six ethnic communities in Mondulkiri’s Sen Monorom town yesterday accused local authorities of blocking their efforts to protect community and wildlife sanctuary forests, where they say luxury timbers are logged by Villas Development, a company co-owned by the wife of Mondulkiri Deputy Governor ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/authorities-allowing-logging-m%E2%80%99kiri-locals
Power couple linked to Sinohydro project
Two of the country’s most powerful and politically connected business owners are on the board of governors of the company thought to have brokered a controversial deal between the world’s largest hydropower developer and the Cambodian government, documents obtained by the Post show. Cambodian People’s Party ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/power-couple-linked-sinohydro-project
Laos promises transparency over Don Sahong dam
More than 100 representatives of Mekong River Commission (MRC) member countries, development partners, international NGOs, and Lao and foreign media yesterday visited the site of the planned Don Sahong hydropower project. The two-day site visit provided an opportunity for participants to learn from experts how fish ...
The Cambodia herald news Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=YWU3ZjgwNzk1MWI
Vietnamese charged with illegal logging
The Mondolkiri Provincial Court on Tuesday charged 15 Vietnamese nationals with illegally crossing the border and logging protected forest, four days after the group was detained by members of the ethnic Bunong minority in a community forest 20 km from the border. Ya Narin, director of ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/vietnamese-charged-with-illegal-logging-53975/