Environment and natural resources
Water resources
Officials unable to explain mystery ships
Officials in Preah Sihanouk province on Thursday gave a series of conflicting explanations as to what a team of cargo ships and accompanying barges are doing in the waters between Koh Rong and the mainland. ...
Sek Odom and Matt Blomberg
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/officials-unable-to-explain-mystery-ships-99537/
Illegal fishing destroying Kep’s ocean ecology
A dozen diesel-powered boats crawl across Kep Bay, creating a rumble so low that it shakes the pier. They drag weighted, electrified nets across the inshore shallows, scooping up sea life indiscriminately and destroying vital breeding grounds in the process. And they trawl so close ...
Matt Blomberg and Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/illegal-fishing-destroying-keps-ocean-ecology-98170/
ADB approves loan to improve irrigation systems
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $60 million loan to modernize and rehabilitate irrigation systems in Kompong Thom and Battambang provinces. ...
Meghan Tribe
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/adb-approves-loan-to-improve-irrigation-systems-95983/
Group proposes signing UN water pact
Environmental groups yesterday urged the government to seek greater legal clarity among the Mekong River countries about how they should share its resources. ...
Pav Suy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/16099/group-proposes-signing-un-water-pact/
Female passenger dies while boarding cruise ship
A female passenger was killed Wednesday after an accident that occurred as she attempted to board the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship while it was moored off the coast of Sihanoukville, according to a statement from the cruise line. ...
Chris Mueller
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/female-passenger-dies-while-boarding-cruise-ship-in-sville-81306/
Drought highlights Int'l Water Day
As officials and development agencies marked International Water Day yesterday, thousands of families in Kampong Cham province went without a drop – some reportedly for the sixth day in a row. The local authorities and rights workers made desperate pleas for aid as reports emerged that ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/drought-highlights-intl-water-day
Anco blamed for flooding
Villagers in Banteay Meanchey province’s Malai district have complained that a politically connected firm owned by one of the country’s most influential businessmen has flooded their homes. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/anco-blamed-flooding
Xayaburi dam nearly half done
Construction of the Xayaburi dam on the Mekong River in Laos is almost half finished, the developer behind it has said. ...
Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/xayaburi-dam-nearly-half-done
Calls flow for dam to be canned
Ahead of a national consultation meeting about Laos’s Don Sahong hydropower dam later this week, communities that will be affected by the project have made their opinion clear: suspend the dam. ...
Phak Seangly and Laignee Barron
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/calls-flow-dam-be-canned
Consult quickly: Door closing on Laos dam input period
Very quietly, with no official public announcement, the intergovernmental assessment process for Laos’s contentious Don Sahong dam is almost over before anyone knew it began. ...
Laignee Barron
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/consult-quickly-door-closing-laos-dam-input-period
Floods swamp capital
A torrential downpour that lasted over three hours yesterday morning has left many in the capital struggling with flooded houses, businesses and travel conditions, sparking outcry that authorities have not done enough to manage the rain’s effects. Flooding took place in virtually every district in ...
Taing Vida
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/floods-swamp-capital
OCIC razes last shacks, families move on
The last of 16 shacks that once clung to the edge of a mammoth development project in Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changva district were demolished by the Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation (OCIC) on Monday. Seven families in Doeum Kor 2 village—where marshlands are quickly being pumped full ...
Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ocic-razes-last-shacks-families-move-on-68073/
In Stung Treng, forests fall before they’re washed away
On the Sesan and Srepok rivers in the northeast, boats of all shapes and sizes lug timber back and forth between the banks. Men wait on craggy land alongside the water with jerry-rigged winches and homemade vehicles to drag precious cargo up steep inclines. Fallen ...
Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/in-stung-treng-province-communities-fell-their-forests-before-they-are-washed-away-67369/
Dam ‘redesign’ a mystery
Amid a lawsuit and a chorus of dissent, developers of the first lower Mekong mainstream hydropower project, the massive Xayaburi dam, have quietly submitted a long-anticipated, multimillion-dollar redesign plan, the Post has learned. What exactly has been changed about the 1,260-megawatt dam, which environmentalists contend will ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dam-%E2%80%98redesign%E2%80%99-mystery
Dolphin found dead
The body of a 100-kilogram Irrawaddy dolphin from Cambodia was found dead in Vietnamese territory and repatriated to its home waters yesterday, officials said. Im Phat, deputy chief of the Fishery Administration in Takeo province’s Angkor Borei district, said two endangered freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins – fewer ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dolphin-found-dead-0
Ministry forecasts Cambodia to see rainfalls from 25-28 August
Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology foretasted Saturday that Cambodia will see rainfalls from 25-28 August due to low pressure weather across Mekong River basin, Thailand and Laos. A statement issued by Water Resource Minister Lim Kean Hour said Phnom Penh capital, and Kandal, Kampong Speu, ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=M2RhODgyOTQyYjJ
Flood death toll rises to 35
Floods caused by heavy rains and increase of water level in Mekong river have claimed 35 lives, Nhim Vanda, first vice chairman of National Committee for Disaster Management. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=NzRlOWM4YmJiZGR
Laos halts construction project of controversial Don Sahong hydropower dam: envoy
Laos has suspended the construction project of controversial 260-megawatt Don Sahong hydropower dam on the lower Mekong River following requests from other countries, newly-designated Laos ambassador to Cambodia Prasith Sayasith said Tuesday. ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/140819/laos-halts-construction-project-controversial-don-sahong-hyd
6th Chinese-built hydropower dam in Cambodia starts operation
The sixth Chinese-built hydropower plant, located in the Koh Kong province of southwestern Cambodia, has begun producing electricity after more than four years of construction, the China National Heavy Machinery Corporation (CHMC) said in a statement on Thursday. CHMC started to develop the 246-megawatt Tatay River Hydropower Plant in 2010. The dam comprises three generators, each capable of producing 82 megawatts, the statement said. ...
People's Daily Online News Staff
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/n/2014/0814/c90777-8769756.html
Flooding’s deadly toll rises
The death toll from lethal floods has climbed to 27, with more than 10,000 families across 12 provinces evacuated from their homes to escape rising floodwaters, according to a report from the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM). The report, released yesterday, also shows that almost ...
Pech Sotheary and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/flooding%E2%80%99s-deadly-toll-rises
Infrastructure in place for GMS economic corridors: ADB
Most of the infrastructure required for enhanced connectivity in the Greater Mekong Subregion has been put in place, particularly the transport links that form the base of the envisaged economic corridors, Bindu Lohani, vice president of the Asian Development Bank, said yesterday. He made the remark ...
The Nation News Staff
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Infrastructure-in-place-for-GMS-economic-corridors-30240591.html
Cease and desist: Firm ordered to stop filling Kandal lake
The Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology has ordered provincial authorities to stop Vattanac Properties, a land developer, from filling in a lake in Kandal’s Kien Svay district because it would affect water supplies to farms of nearby residents. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cease-and-desist-firm-ordered-stop-filling-kandal-lake
Flood warnings issued for Kratie, Kampong Cham, Stung Treng
The Mekong River Commission issued flood warnings on Wednesday for Kratie, Kampong Cham and Stung Treng as well as the southern Lao city of Pakse. After surpassing alarm levels in recent days, the Mekong is expected to reach the flood stage in Kratie on Saturday, according ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=YjEyM2Q4YWRkM2F
Embassy asked to intervene
Boeung Kak residents delivered a petition to the Singaporean Embassy yesterday, calling on it to pressure Singapore-listed HLH Group to halt dealings with a controversial development project at the site until a land row is settled. HLH Group entered a $14.9 million purchase deal in June ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/embassy-asked-intervene