Environment and natural resources
Pollution and waste
New action plan to aid environmental protection
The Ministry of Environment is drafting an action plan to further strengthen its efforts to protect the environment and people’s health. Environment Minister Say Samal said on his Facebook page yesterday that the ministry is looking into the financing for environmental protection measures that include ...
Pech Sotheary
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50512932/new-action-plan-to-aid-environmental-protection/
Fingers pointed for city’s floods
Blame is being passed around on the cause of flooding along the Boeung Trabek canal which inundated people’s homes after two consecutive days of heavy downpours on Monday and Tuesday as the rainy season moves into full swing. The finger is being pointed at pumping ...
Mech Dara
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/fingers-pointed-citys-floods
UN official urges government to reduce use of plastic
A senior environment officer for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on Monday urged the Ministry of Environment to prepare a waste management system for plastics and to strive for clean air in the country, particularly in Phnom Penh. Erik Solheim, the executive director of ...
Soth Koemsoeun
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/un-official-urges-goverment-reduce-use-plastic
Ministry lifts ban on herbicides
The import of agricultural pesticides and herbicides resumed yesterday after a two-week ban that was prompted by a poisoning case in Kratie province that hospitalised hundreds and left 13 people dead. ...
Kratie officials find brewery ‘linked’ to poisoning deaths
Local authorities in Kratie province believe they have identified the source of the deadly rice wine, made with lethal levels of methanol that killed 14 people. The discovery was made after investigations traced the incident to the owner of a brewery who died after drinking ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kratie-officials-find-brewery-linked-poisoning-deaths
Authorities shutter illegal mines
Nearly 30 illegal gold mining operations have been shuttered in Mondolkiri province over the past week as officials with Mines and Environment ministries continue a compliance push in the wake of a poisoning case that killed 13 villagers downstream in Kratie province. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50494978/authorities-shutter-illegal-mines/
Miners flee amid compliance push
Chong Phlas commune, Mondulkiri province – As officials from the Mines and Environment ministries continue their compliance push here, villagers from the Chong Phlas Gold Mining Community have fled or withdrawn into their homes, too scared to continue their work for fear of being blamed ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50494101/miners-flee-amid-compliance-push/
Cyanide ‘found in samples’
A senior official at the Ministry of Environment said on Thursday analysis of blood samples from victims of Kratie province’s contaminated water incident earlier this month have confirmed the presence of cyanide, albeit at very low levels. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cyanide-found-samples
Governor threatens to dump newly-hired waste company
The Sihanoukville governor yesterday expressed his disappointment over the city’s garbage problem and warned the city’s waste management company that its license could be revoked if they fail to solve the problem within three months. ...
Pav Suy
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50492835/governor-threatens-to-dump-newly-hired-waste-company/
Villagers’ deaths prompt mines meeting
Mines Minister Suy Sem yesterday ordered mining operators to follow the law to prevent mining waste from polluting rivers in the wake of more than 10 villagers dying from consuming tainted water in Kratie province. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50492837/villagers-deaths-prompt-mines-meeting/
Villagers not poisoned by cyanide: Mines Minister
Mines Minister Suy Sem has dismissed a claim by Industry Minister Cham Prasidh, who said that villagers in Kratie province were poisoned and killed by cyanide-tainted water due to run-off from gold mines. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50492555/villagers-not-poisoned-by-cyanide-mines-minister/
Villagers in Kratie province were poisoned by mining: Industry Minister
Industry Minister Cham Prasidh has said that villagers in Kratie province’s Chetr Borei district were poisoned after consuming water tainted with cyanide which was used for mining operations in Mondolkiri and Kratie province. ...
Gold mine waste blamed for deadly poisoning in Cambodia
Experts from the ministry examined the water in the river of Prek Te in Kratie and found chromium and cyanide. The substances were found at various mining sites between Kratie and neighboring Mondulkiri and the ministry believed that they were improperly handled and that rain ...
Radio Free Asia staff
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/water-toxic-05172018161901.html
Ten dead, nearly 100 others hospitalised after drinking contaminated water
Contaminated water from a river in Kratie province has been blamed in the deaths of at least 10 ethnic Phnong people as of late Sunday, with nearly 140 others hospitalised and hundreds more families fleeing their homes for fear their ancestors are “angry” at them, ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Phak Seangly
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ten-dead-nearly-100-others-hospitalised-after-drinking-contaminated-water
Government denies Phnom Penh has air pollution problem
Contradicting measurements showing pollutant levels exceeding international guidelines, the Environment Ministry on Friday issued a statement claiming “there is no serious air pollution yet” in Phnom Penh. ...
Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/government-denies-phnom-penh-has-air-pollution-problem
Environment Ministry rolls out plastic bag fee
Customers at shopping centres and supermarkets will be charged 400 riel per plastic bag beginning April 10. Heng Nareth, the director of environmental protection at the Ministry of Environment, said the aim is to reduce wasteful use of plastic bags. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Daphne Chen
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/environment-ministry-rolls-out-plastic-bag-fee
Japan funds wastewater treatment plant in capital
The kingdom’s first wastewater treatment plant will be built in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district, with $27 million in assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency. Sam Piseth, director of the municipal department of public works and transport, told reporters on Saturday that the treatment plant would ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50108258/japan-funds-wastewater-treatment-plant-capital/
New Mekong guidelines lacking, government official says
A Cambodian representative to the Mekong River Commission (MRC) said yesterday that new guidelines for hydropower development agreed to late last month don’t fully address threats to the health of the imperiled waterway. ...
Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-mekong-guidelines-lacking-government-official-says
Stung Treng officials crack down on dredging site
Stung Treng provincial authorities on Friday shut down an illegal sand dredging operation on the Sesan River and confiscated equipment after having warned the company to cease operations since December, officials said yesterday. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/stung-treng-officials-crack-down-dredging-site
Phnom Penh’s sewers criticised
Interior Minister Sar Kheng bemoaned Phnom Penh’s sewage infrastructure and criticised the Ministry of Environment for allowing untreated waste water to flow into the Mekong and Bassac rivers in unscripted remarks on Monday. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/phnom-penhs-sewers-criticised
New Sihanoukville trash collector admits flaws
The owner of a garbage collection company that recently took over trash pick-up in Sihanoukville admitted shortcomings in collection efforts yesterday, while pledging to improve services, following a petition by residents calling for the company’s contract to be rescinded. ...
Soth Koemsoeun
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-sihanoukville-trash-collector-admits-flaws
Trash collection way up
Cambodia’s solid waste collection has increased more than 40 percent over the last five years, according to an official and the Ministry of Environment’s annual report released on Monday. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/trash-collection-way
Sihanoukville slashes trash collection cost
Sihanoukville residents are benefiting from cheaper rubbish collections after Preah Sihanouk province changed the price of waste disposal services amid complaints it was too expensive. ...
Sen David
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5094366/sihanoukville-slashes-trash-collection-cost/
Clean water shortage at Sesan
Even as floodwaters pour into their villages and encroach upon their resettlement sites, villagers displaced by the controversial Lower Sesan II Dam in Stung Treng province say they are now facing shortages of potable water. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/clean-water-shortage-sesan