Environment and natural resources

Siem Reap town’s civil society organisations and citizens have criticised the release of wastewater from guesthouses, hotels and restaurants into Siem Reap River, which has contaminated its water. Authorities are looking into measures to improve the main river of the Kingdom’s principal historic tourism city. ...

A lorry discovered to be secretly transporting illegally logged wood on Monday was impounded by Kampong Thom provincial authorities, with the vehicle’s driver now in hiding, according to a provincial forestry administration official. ...

A dozen Cambodian migrant workers suspected of cutting down trees in a Thai protected forest were arrested on Sunday by military police at a rubber plantation in Thailand’s Nakhon Reachasima province. According to a report by the Bangkok Post, Thai military police conducted a raid ...

With no immediate cause ascertained for the death of an Irrawaddy dolphin calf in the Mekong River in Stung Treng province, conservationists on Sunday requested the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) to investigate further. The dolphin was found floating on the river on Saturday in ...

A historian has raised fears that the drought currently gripping Cambodia could affect the foundations of the Kingdom’s globally renowned Angkor Wat, while the temple complex’s Apsara Authority management has said that, while it was prepared, it was not expecting such a problem. ...

Local authorities on Tuesday decided to close a canal at Sihanoukville’s Sokha Beach following the completion of four facilities in Preah Sihanouk province designed to treat wastewater before it reaches the sea. Four more facilities are still under construction. The first four water treatment plants, ...

Ministry of Environment spokesman Neth Pheaktra on Wednesday blamed climate change and global warming on greenhouse gas emissions from heavy industrial factories and the burning of fossil fuels in developed countries. He said deforestation is only a small contributing factor. ...

More than 15,000 luxury neang nuon trees have been planted along Sihanoukville’s streets, around four water treatment facilities and along the Ochheuteal canal, in order to mitigate the pollution of the coastal environment when dirty water flows into the sea. ...

A Mondulkiri provincial committee has discovered six forest locations totalling more than 10ha in a protected area of Pech Chreada district’s Bou Sra commune that has been cleared for farming. Several people have been detained but authorities are looking to find land for them in ...

The Ministry of Environment on Wednesday approved the environmental impact assessment for a new special economic zone in Kandal province. Plans to build Suvannaphum SEZ, which will be located 46 kilometres away from Phnom Penh, can continue after the EIA for the project was approved ...

The United States has begun making payments towards its $37 million aid for the protection of the Prey Lang protected area.​ The Prey Lang protected area encompasses four different provinces, including Kampong Thom, Kratie, Stung Treng and Preah Vihear. ...

Two men who allegedly led some 30 villagers to illegally grab and clear forest land within the Ream National Park for private ownership were detained by the Preah Sihanouk provincial authority on Saturday. Neth Pheaktra, secretary of state and spokesperson of the Ministry of Environment, ...

As a member of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites), Cambodia has been pursuing ways to improve its law enforcement activities to prevent and crack down on the trafficking of elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn. ...

Officials have said that four facilities designed to prevent waste water from reaching the sea in Preah Sihanouk province would be ready for testing on Monday, as engineers readied to complete the projects before deadline. Yos Chorm Narady, under-secretary of state at the Ministry of ...

The Ministry of Health has issued advice on avoiding health problems as temperatures continue to rise this hot season, warning some conditions brought risks to life. The announcement comes as the weather heated up across Cambodia, with the dry season predicted to prolong into the ...

A forest ranger protecting the Prey Ang Ten biodiversity conservation corridor in Kampong Thom province was attacked on Tuesday by an unidentified perpetrator, causing injuries to his head, neck and wrist. Neth Pheaktra, spokesman of the Environment Ministry, yesterday said the incident occurred as five ...

Cambodia produced more that 13 million tonnes of cassava last year, a drop on 2017 despite a six per cent increase in cultivation to 650,510ha nationwide, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The data shows Cambodia produced 13,750,076 tonnes of cassava last ...

Civil society organisations monitoring land disputes in Preah Sihanouk province continue to voice concerns over the environmental impact of developing public land after permission was granted to reclaim a site in the O’Touk area to build a boat terminal. Sok Sokhom, the director of the ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday said the country is now facing an electricity shortage of about 400 megawatts, leading to power outages, and appealed to people, especially those in the business sector, to understand that this is because of an ongoing dry spell. Speaking ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday ordered all ministries and relevant institutions to prevent illegal sand dredging, fishing and the cutting down of mangrove trees. Presiding over the 5th River Festival held in Kampong Chhnang province, Mr Hun Sen said that he ordered all relevant ...

Inspired by their affection for the environment, a desire to have a clean and beautiful city, and wanting to send a message to people to stop littering, a group of some two dozen volunteer youths have taken to picking up trash day and night from ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday urged relevant authorities to stamp out the export of timber abroad without authorisation and transparency. Speaking during an annual meeting of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on Thursday, Hun Sen called on officials to work together in ...

Ten villagers were briefly detained by Ream National Park rangers in Preah Sihanouk province on Wednesday and instructed to dismantle their tarpaulins from aconservation area. Authorities said the villagers had secretly erected their tents there in order to illegally settle down and clear state forest ...

Hundreds of hectares of forest in Siem Reap and Kampong Thom provinces have been destroyed by a fire that raged on Monday and Tuesday, according to provincial authorities. The blaze, which authorities said was caused by human negligence, destroyed both natural forest and state-administered forest ...