Ministries and other national bodies
Ministry of Environment
Gov’t gets tough on environment
Cambodian environmental leaders came together yesterday to discuss the country’s contributions to the upcoming Paris Climate Conference in December. ...
Va Sonyka
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/15818/gov---t-gets-tough-on-environment/
Cambodia turns to Malaysia for renewable energy boost
Cambodia and Malaysia have reached an agreement to collaborate on renewable energy and green technology, officials confirmed yesterday. ...
James Reddick
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/15751/cambodia-turns-to-malaysia-for-renewable-energy-boost/
Gov’t and NGOs join to settle land dispute
Environment Minister Say Sam Al and a group of NGOs on Monday agreed to cooperate to resolve a years long dispute between hundreds of families in Koh Kong province and a Chinese company they accuse of stealing their land. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-and-ngos-join-to-settle-land-dispute-92392/
Ministry of environment collects inputs for a draft on environmental code
The Ministry of Environment today held a workshop to collect inputs from all stakeholders for drafting the environmental code for orienting Cambodia in walking in the right way, and reflecting the people’ need. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/ministry-of-environment-collects-inputs-for-a-draft-on-environmental-code-8864
Minister helps open controversial tycoon’s new rubber farm
Environment Minister Say Sam Al was in Preah Vihear province on Sunday to help inaugurate Try Pheap’s newest project, a $52-million rubber plantation and additional facilities that the timber magnate has cleared thousands of hectares of protected forest to build. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/minister-helps-open-controversial-tycoons-new-rubber-farm-88896/
Gov’t mulls green incentives
The Ministry of Environment said it is working to make eco-friendly and green technologies tax-free, in order to reduce the cost barriers associated with importing and implementing these technologies, such as the use of solar panels. Speaking at EuroCham’s Green Business Forum in Phnom Penh, Environment ...
Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/govt-mulls-green-incentives
Gov’t to raise taxes to clean up litter in cities
Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Wednesday announced the creation of a recurring annual $5-million fund to help Phnom Penh and every provincial capital clean up their trash-strewn streets, especially outside homes and restaurants. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-to-raise-taxes-to-clean-up-
Meeting between Koh Kong families, development firm fruitless
Representatives for some 200 families in a yearslong land dispute with the Union Development Group (UDG) in Koh Kong province met for the first time with both company and government officials Tuesday but left with little to show. ...
Hul Reaksmey
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/meeting-between-koh-kong-families-development-firm-fruitless-81149/
New Sesan, new study: NGO
Rights advocates have called for construction of the Lower Sesan II hydropower dam in Cambodia’s Stung Treng province to be halted until new environmental and social impact assessments can be carried following changes allegedly made to the project’s plans. ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/new-sesan-new-study-ngo
Cambodia orders temporary halt to sand dredging
Cambodia has ordered a temporary halt to all sand dredging operations in the country’s rivers and lakes in order to study the environment and social impact of a practice that has caused deadly river bank collapse incidents. ...
Samean Yun
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/cambodia-dredging-03252015170821.html
Minister says minorities should rely less on forests
Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Friday pledged to protect the culture of Cambodia’s indigenous minorities, before going on to say that those groups need to learn to survive without relying on the forests they have depended on for centuries. ...
Matt Blomberg
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/minister-says-minorities-should-rely-less-on-forests-80498/
Environment officials to monitor conditions
The Ministry of Environment is set to join the Ministry of Labour in the monitoring of garment factory workplaces, after creating a working group that will probe the environmental safety of all plants in Cambodia. At a press conference at the ministry yesterday, Minister of Environment ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/environment-officials-monitor-conditions
Plantations lose land for encroaching on farms
Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Monday said that more than 9,000 hectares granted to companies as economic land concessions (ELCs) were recently taken back from the owners because local villagers had been farming the land first, and announced that 14 companies had been put ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/plantations-lose-land-for-encroaching-on-farms-79364/
Government: over 14,000 hectares of land cut off to hand over to people in Koh Kong, Preah Vihear provinces
Environment Minister, Say Sam Al, said on Monday that the Royal Government of Cambodia has cut off over 14,000 hectares of land and handed over to citizens, and military forces. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://bit.ly/1AZj6oE
Fund intended to improve country’s urban sanitation
The government will set up a $5 million fund to allow Cambodia’s 26 provinces and municipalities to take responsibility for waste management in their cities, it was announced recently. With a focus on garbage management, the decentralisation initiative, revealed at a two-day workshop in Phnom Penh ...
Shaun Turton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/fund-intended-improve-countrys-urban-sanitation
Soldiers train rangers to fight illegal logging
A group of 56 rangers from the Ministry of Environment last week completed a one-month training course in Phnom Penh run by the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) to help save Cambodia’s protected areas from illegal loggers, a first for the country’s rangers. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/soldiers-train-rangers-to-fight-illegal-logging-78016/
Council of ministers calls for review of contract with Cintri
The government’s faith in Phnom Penh’s embattled trash-collection company appears to have finally been lost after the Council of Ministers announced in a letter on Tuesday that a shake-up was on the way as it considers rescinding Cintri’s exclusive right to manage the city’s garbage ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.opendevelopmentcambodia.net/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=news
Illegal wood found near military police base
Environment Ministry officials on Thursday found a cache of more than 400 pieces of illegally logged first-grade wood in Ratanakkiri province’s Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary, which the ministry oversees, and suspect officers from a nearby military police base of being involved. Thin Ngoal, the sanctuary’s deputy director, ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/illegal-wood-found-near-military-police-base-77008/
Cambodia gov't seizes back economic land concession licenses from 23 companies last year
Cambodian Environment Minister Say Samal said Tuesday that the government had cancelled licenses of economic land concessions (ELCs) for 23 companies last year after the firms have failed to develop the land for years. ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/150106/cambodia-govt-seizes-back-economic-land-concession-licenses-
Companies stripped of ELCs
The government has seized more than 50,000 hectares of economic land concessions from a number of powerful companies across the Kingdom, putting the areas under the control of the Ministry of Environment, according to sub-decrees signed last week. One decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen ...
May Titthara
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/companies-stripped-elcs
Four Ministers to answer orally to NA's commission members over performance
Four Ministers have been summoned to answer orally to members of the National Assembly’s third and seventh commissions this month over their position fulfillment. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/four-ministers-to-answer-orally-to-nas-commission-members-over-performance-7668
CNRP lawmaker to visit site of proposed dam
Opposition CNRP lawmaker Pol Ham on Monday said he will visit the site of a proposed hydropower dam in Koh Kong province on Monday with colleagues from his parliamentary commission before they quiz government officials about the controversial project later this month. If built, the 108-megawatt ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cnrp-lawmaker-to-visit-site-of-proposed-dam-72038/
Protected wetlands urged
A new wetland protected area may be implemented in Battambang province following talks between scientists, Asian governments and conservation groups held in Siem Reap this week. The message seems to have been heard, at least by the Ministry of Environment, which yesterday said it would ...
Taing Vida
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/protected-wetlands-urged
Cambodia plans to open up bidding on 19 petroleum concessions
Cambodia plans to open bids for concessions on 19 onshore oil and gas exploration blocks to promote investment in the sector, a senior official at the country’s Ministry of Mines and Energy said on Wednesday. The Southeast Asian country is also keen to talk with international ...
Khettiya Jittapong
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL4N0SV4F120141105