Environment and natural resources

Surveys conducted by the World Wildlife Foundation have revealed that the world’s largest population of banteng, an endangered species of cattle that once thrived in the Kingdom, remains at risk due to economic land concessions and poaching inside protected areas The number of banteng in Cambodia ...

A draft sub-decree sent to the Council of Ministers last week aims to strengthen the protection of the critically endangered Mekong dolphin population by designating key protection zones in the 180km stretch of Mekong River where the dolphins live. Touch Seang Tana, chairman of the Commission ...

Singapore’s decades-long effort to reclaim land from the ocean has expanded the nation’s coastline and fueled its building boom. But it has also depleted its supply of sand.  In recent years, the massive sand shortage has been worsened by export bans by neighboring countries, driving ...

Three families have lodged complaints against China National Heavy Machinery Co after a storm at the company’s hydropower dam project in Koh Kong province on September 10 swept away a group of workers, leaving two dead and five missing, rights group Adhoc said yesterday. Neang Boratino, ...

A villager living at Boeung Kak lake claimed yesterday that staff from Shukaku Inc, owned by ruling party senator Lao Meng Khin, threatened to demolish her home if she rejected an alleged US$80,000 offer to purchase the property Lao Vann, deputy director-general of Shukaku Inc, yesterday ...

Eight workers at the Stung Tatay hydro project, in Koh Kong province, are presumed dead after being swept away by floodwaters on Sunday. Seven of the men drowned while trying to rescue a colleague who had fainted after floodwaters swept over a bridge, stranding him at ...

Heavy flooding during the rainy season, affecting 10 out of 17 provinces in Laos, has underlined the need for stronger disaster-management efforts, experts say. Tropical storm Haima struck central and northern parts of the country on June 24, with Nock-10 hitting central and southern areas on ...

The Xayaburi dam project in Northern Laos might increase the probability of earthquakes in a region already prone to seismic activity, according to a recently translated report from Vietnam. The 1260-megawatt project sits about 100 kilometres south of the Lai Chau-Dien fault line. Construction activity on the ...

HCM CITY – A workshop to develop disaster management capacity for the four Lower Mekong countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Viet Nam by encouraging collaborative efforts through dialogue and information exchange opened yesterday in HCM City. The five-day Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) Disaster Management workshop, ...

Laos wants to start construction this year on the $3.8 billion (Bt115 billion) Thai-financed Xayaburi hydropower plant on the Mekong River after changing the design of the dam to placate neighbouring countries opposed to the project. Laos completed a review of the dam recently to ease ...

Opposition party lawmaker Son Chhay has sent a letter to Deputy Prime Minister Sok An asking for the immediate suspension of a Vietnamese rubber plantation in the endangered Prey Long forest, accusing the firm of illegal deforestation. In the letter dated Wednesday, Mr Chhay also asked ...

Cambodia was ranked the ninth most at risk country of being exposed to natural disasters out of 173 countries surveyed in a new report by the UN University’s Institute for Environment and Human Security A UNDP report released in August supported the World Risk report’s findings ...

Mount Borkor Resort, the highest location in Cambodia, located near the coastline, will be inaugurated to welcome tourists from all destinations by the end of 2011, while the road climbing to the plateau’s peak and other tourism structures are about to be completed So far, the ...

During the past four years, Cambodia has seen drastic decreases in rare species of trees due to illegal logging, community research from the National Resource Protection Group indicates. If continued unabated, illegal logging threatens to wholly deplete Cambodia’s rare tree species, Chut Wutty said. Cambodia’s ...

The Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Economy and Finance and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) collaborated to launch the 2011 Cambodia Human Development Report (CHDR) on August 30th which identifies climate change as a threat to human development gains and a source of increasing ...

The government should abandon its current management of Prey Long forest and shift to a plan that conserves the forst while also optimizing its economic uses, such as agriculture, carbon credits and controlled timber exploitation, according to a recent report by the US Agency for ...

Lists and describes protected areas and community forests in Cambodia, which may also be viewed on an interactive map. ...

The Cambodian economy faces major problems for its predominantly rural population in the event of more erratic climate shifts, according to the United Nations Development Programme’s 2011 Cambodian Human Development Report. “This is an agrarian economy that depends very much on weather. And we are among the ...

Democrat MP for Surat Thani Suthep Thaugsuban denies he held secret talks with Cambodian officials about oil and gas interests in the overlapping marine area during the tenure of the Democrat-led government. Mr Suthep, a former deputy prime minister, conceded yesterday he met Cambodian Deputy Prime ...

The number of visitors arriving by cruise ship in Sihanoukville dropped steeply in the first six months of the year compared to the same period last year, a Tourism Ministry official said yesterday. A lack of attractions in Sihanoukville and high visa fees were keeping ...

Officials working in Boeng Per Wildlife Sanctuary and in nearby communities said yesterday that they were receiving new motorbikes and digital cameras from businessman Try Pheap, who in recent months received large-scale rubber concessions in the Preah Vihear province sanctuary. Earlier this week, it was ...

Finance minister Keat Chhon yesterday identified reforming the management of natural resources as a priority in the government’s efforts to reduce poverty.  Keat Chhon also called on wealthier nations to help fund climate change-related projects in developing nations like Cambodia. Minister of Environment Mok Mareth said ...

Government officials and armed police burnt down 25 homes in Oddar Meanchey province’s Anlong Veng district yesterday claiming they were in the protected Kulen Prumtep Wildlife Sanctuary, villagers and a rights group investigator said yesterday.  The houses, which are part of larger community of about ...

Almost  650,000 hectares of ecologically-rich flooded forest surrounding the Tonle Sap lake has been protected by a sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday. The 647,406 hectare area spans sections of Kampong Chhnang, Pursat, Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, Siem Reap and Kampong Thom provinces. ...