Environment and natural resources

At least 20,000 tourists and travellers will participate in the so-called “sea festival” at the end of this year, officials at the Kep province tourism department said. The two-day event, which started in 2011 as a tourism booster for the country’s coasts and beaches, was cancelled ...

Villagers in Kandal province have instigated a turf war over a private company they accuse of illegally pumping sand out of Koh Prak River. Fearing riverbank erosion could damage the surrounding community, about 100 residents of Koh Prak village in Kien Svay district’s Phoum Thom commune ...

Hundereds of families have been evacuated from their homes in Banteay Meanchey province, with about 1,000 more refusing to leave, despite water that is chest-deep in some areas due to Mekong River flooding. The evacuation of more than 500 families began late last week, as heavy ...

Employees reportedly working for the controversial Company 72 have allegedly been illegally felling timber in a community forest in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadav district and shipping it across the Vietnamese border, community members and Adhoc said yesterday. Romas Svat, a community representative in Paknhai commune’s Lom village, ...

More than 140 NGOs have called on the Mekong River Commission to freeze all hydropower damn construction in the Lower Mekong River. “The degration of fish production in the river can’t be replaced and the blockage of sediment will affect the fisheries resources in the river’s ...

Hundreds of hectares of farmland have been inundated by the rain-swollen Mekong River in Kratie province’s Bos Leav commune since late last week, officials said yesterday. Bos Leav commune chief Nai Khhy said seven of the commune’s eight villages are flooded affecting more than 800 ...

People living along the banks of the Mekong, Bassac and Tonle Sap rivers should exercise caution in the coming days, and be particularly aware of possible riverbank collapses as water levels are rising in Stung Treng province and elsewhere in the country, Prime Minister Hun ...

Residents living in the Mekong River basin are expressing concerns over water degradation in the Mekong river and its impact on farming, aquaculture and the livelihood of the millions of people who live in the region. People from Cambodia, Thailand and Viet Nam’s Cuu Long (Mekong) ...

Cambodia’s Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology on Tuesday warned people not to travel by sea from August 3-5 because the country would suffer from the impact of a storm and cause torrential rain. The ministry’s statement said according to the forecast, a depression on the ...

Thousands of people have been evicted from their homes to make way for a Chinese development in Koh Kong province. But some of the families have returned to their land, leaving a relocation site they say was insufficient for their needs. For families like those of ...

Thousands of villagers in a remote district of the coastal province of Koh Kong have been evicted or are facing eviction in the face of a Chinese resort development project. Some families have moved unwillingly to relocation sites. But others are refusing to leave, setting the ...

Cambodia’s manufacturing and tourism sectors will face adverse effects from climate change due to the country’s focus on hydropower, according to a report produced jointly by British and Cambodian think tanks. ...

A weather forecast predicting heavy rain in the next five days is causing some trepidation among election monitors, who fear flooding might keep some voters from the polls. Minister of Water Resources and Meteorology Lim Kean Hor issued a warning Monday that a low-pressure system hitting ...

Business is booming on Koh Pich. Since development began in 2006—and about 300 families were pushed off what was then farmland—the island has slowly grown into the symbol of commercial modernity in Phnom Penh. The developer, Overseas Cam­bodia Investment Corp., is also extending the island by ...

Prior to 2009, Kong Channa, a rice farmer from Svay Rieng province, would leave his wife and young child for months at a time in neighbouring provinces to supplement his income in the off season. This all changed, though, when he began working with the Cambodian ...

Grandis Timber Ltd.’s teak plantation in Kompong Speu province is the fist company in Cambodia to receive a certification from U.S-based Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) for its best practices in forest management, Grandis announced yesterday. “FSC certification recognizes FSC standard’s commitment to sustainable development of ...

Construction of a special economic zone (SEZ) near the Vietnamese border in Ratanakkiri province’s eastern O’Yad­aw district is on track, but who exactly will avail of the facility and its services remains a mystery—even for senior provincial officials. The latest announced venture of agro-industry land concession ...

Since last year, up to a half of nearly 8,000 hectares of community forest has been encroached upon and cleared in Oddar Meanchey province’s Banteay Ampil district by soldiers, community representatives said yesterday. Din Heng, chief of Ang Dong Bor community, said the army has cleared ...

Romam Gvin could be described as a counterintuitive voter. Intuition might lead you to believe that Mr. Gvin blames the government for the loss of his land to the Vietnamese rubber company that now owns everything for as far as the eye can see here in ...

A $300,000 sum to repair Siem Reap City’s fire-ravaged Doeum Kralanh market, originally billed on Monday as a donation from Prime Minister Hun Sen, will actually be taken from the national budget, according to a senior ruling-party official. Less than three weeks before the July 28 ...

An infestation of large snails is destroying rice fields in Preah Sihanouk province’s Prey Nop district, raising concerns among farmers that yields from this year’s harvest will be much lower than usual. Eng Samol, Prey Nop district agriculture director, said Tuesday that the snails had already ...

Cambodia observed the Forest Day on Tuesday, urging people to plant trees in order to ensure the sustainability of forest and environment. The celebration was presided over by King Norodom Sihamoni and attended by Prime Minister Hun Sen and senior officials of the government, the parliament, ...

More than 30 families evicted from a former airport site in Preah Vihear province’s Chea Ksan district have filed four complaints with the provincial court since April against district governor Sok Hay. Lor Chan, provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc, said a total of 31 families ...

A controversial land titling program set up by Prime Minister Hun Sen has been suspended ahead of the July 28 elections, but critics say the program should not be restarted. The titling program itself began in December 2012 and is expected to end after elections scheduled ...