Environment and natural resources
Water resources
Laos seeks to soothe neighbors over Mekong dam
Laos is taking steps to convince neighboring countries of the merits of the planned Don Sahong hydropower project over Mekong River. Lao government officials organized a site visit on Sunday and Monday so that interested parties could see the site first-hand and get a sense of ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-11/10/c_132876218.htm
Despite Ban, $1.5M of Cambodian Sand Turns Up in India
A huge haul of river sand dredged in Cambodia has been quarantined at the southern Indian port city of Cochin since its arrival in April despite a ban on sand exports instituted by Prime Minister Hun Sen in 2009. India’s Deccan Chronicle newspaper reported on Tuesday ...
Alex Willemyns and Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/despite-ban-1-5m-of-cambodian-sand-turns-up-in-india-46753/
NGOs threaten to sue over Don Sahong dam
Environmentalists and NGOs are threatening to sue developers of a controversial hydropower dam, claiming the project would cause irreversible damage to the Mekong River. The Don Sahong dam, a 260-megawatt project proposed on a site less than two kilometres north of the Cambodian-Lao border, is expected ...
Sen David and Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ngos-threaten-sue-over-don-sahong-dam
Boeung Kak villagers closer to land titles
It’s taken years of waiting – and protesting – but families in the capital’s Boeung Kak community yesterday saw City Hall officials measure land in their villages. Representatives of the city were deployed yesterday to villages 24, 22 and 6 to demarcate land as a step ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/boeung-kak-villagers-closer-land-titles-linkfix
Official DisputesWhen Dam Clearing Ceased
A Stung Treng province district official on Sunday contradicted claims that logging in the area designated for the Sesan 2 dam had ceased a month ago, saying that it had only stopped last week after direct orders from the government to do so. On Thursday, Ministry ...
Chhorn Chansy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/official-disputeswhen-dam-clearing-ceased-46002/
Government Suspends Logging in Stung Treng Dam Concession
The government has ordered Ang & Associates Lawyer Co. Ltd., a company headed by well-known businessman Kith Meng, to cease logging in an area of Stung Treng province where a hydropower dam will be built. Sesan district governor Yeang Srey Sary said Thursday that a delegation ...
Kuch Naren and Dene-Hern Chen
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-suspends-logging-in-stung-treng-dam-concession-45878/
Carlsberg Unworried by Call for Beer Boycott
Danish beer giant Carlsberg, a partner in Cambodia’s largest brewery, Cambrew, said it is not concerned by a call to boycott its popular Angkor Beer brand over a partner company’s investment in a Laos dam. Ben Morton, vice president of Carlsberg’s international media relations and issues ...
Dene-Hern Chen
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/carlsberg-unworried-by-call-for-beer-boycott-45794/
Calls for Angkor Beer Boycott Over Laos Dam Investment
Environmental groups and a local community leader in Stung Treng province have called for a nationwide boycott of the popular Angkor Beer brand to protest the beverage company’s links to a controversial hydropower dam to be built in Laos. Laos announced earlier this month that it ...
Dene-Hern Chen and Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/calls-for-angkor-beer-boycott-over-laos-dam-investment-45646/
Cambodia flood death toll climbs to 168
The Mekong River and flash floods have claimed at least 168 lives in Cambodia and cost the country about 500 million U.S. dollars due to the damages to rice paddy and roads, Keo Vy, spokesman for the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM), said Tuesday. ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-10/22/c_132819335.htm
Dam easing dooms homes
It was late at night when a torrent of water burst through the Kamping Pouy reservoir on October 8 and surged into more than 50 houses effectively sacrificed to stop a potentially catastrophic breach in the dam in Battambang province. With cracks appearing in a dam ...
Amelia Woodside and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dam-easing-dooms-homes
Angkor Beer Chief Behind Controversial Laos Border Dam
As the director of one of Cambodia’s largest breweries, Malaysian businessman Goh Nan Kioh has made millions selling Angkor Beer to Cambodians. But now his latest business venture, a controversial mainstream Mekong dam in Laos, is drawing the ire of environmentalists who believe that it will ...
Dene-Hern Chen
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/angkor-beer-chief-behind-controversial-laos-border-dam-45312/
Specter of Typhoon Approaching Raises Fears of More Floods
As monthlong flooding that has so far left 122 dead slowly subsides, officials and relief agencies were on Sunday concerned that a powerful typhoon approaching Vietnam may bring more heavy rain and the risk of more floods to provinces where tens of thousands of families ...
Simon Henderson and Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/specter-of-typhoon-approaching-raises-fears-of-more-floods-45003/
Cambodia’s flooding brings specter of disease
Flooding is a perennial pain in Cambodia, the low-lying, deeply impoverished nation squeezed between Thailand and Vietnam. About this time each year, rivers swell, lakes expand and villages sink beneath soupy brown waters. But this year’s flooding woes are proving particularly miserable. More than 100 are dead, ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/cambodia/131011/cambodia-floods-again-disease-dengue
New Lao dam does not breach Mekong agreement: official
Developing the Don Sahong dam on the Hou Sahong channel of the Mekong River in Champassak province does not breach the 1995 Mekong Agreement, a senior government official has told local media. Deputy Minister of Energy and Mines, Mr Viraphonh Viravong, made the comment on Thursday, ...
Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=ZWRmZDI3MWU5ODE
Officials Criticize Laos Over Don Sahong Dam
A day after the Cambodia National Mekong Committee (CNMC) received impact assessment documents from Laos for their controversial Don Sahong dam, Cambodian and Vietnamese officials criticized Laos’ lack of transparency on the mainstream Mekong dam. Located less than 1 km from the Lao-Cambodian border, the 240-MW ...
Kuch Naren and Dene-Hern Chen
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/officials-criticize-laos-over-don-sahong-dam-44888/
Officials Breach Dam to Stop It From Bursting
Hundreds of families in Battambang province have been evacuated as authorities ordered a section of a dam to be cut away to release pressure on a reservoir that was threatening to burst and engulf the communities beneath it, as heavy rain continues to cause havoc ...
Ben Sokhean and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/officials-breach-dam-to-stop-it-from-bursting-44790/
Environmentalists Say Dam Project Could Be Disastrous
While fears have been raised over the imminent construction of the Don Sahong dam in Laos, environmentalists on Monday said Cambodia should not forget that it has a project of its own that would be equally as disastrous to the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands ...
Denise Hruby and Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/environmentalists-say-dam-project-could-be-disastrous-44573/
High Floodwaters Spread to Siem Reap, Battambang and Pailin
Flooding spread over the weekend as storms hit the country meaning Siem Reap, Battambang and Pailin have all been added to the list of provinces affected by high waters. In Siem Reap province, Nuon Krisna, director of the provincial department of water resources and meteorology, said ...
Ben Sokhean and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/high-floodwaters-spread-to-siem-reap-battambang-and-pailin-44466/
WWF calls for emergency MRC meeting over Laos' decision to build 2nd dam
The World Wildlife Fund, one of the biggest conservation groups, has called for an emergency meeting with the Mekong River Commission (MRC) in the wake of Laos’ decision to proceed with a second dam on the river. There are fears that this move will seriously undermine ...
The Nation News Staff
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/WWF-calls-for-emergency-MRC-meeting-over-Laos-deci-30216410.html
Controversial Dam Approved on Cambodia-Laos Border
Laos has notified the Mekong River Commission (MRC) that it will go ahead with the construction of the Don Sahong Dam, which environmentalists say could threaten the ecosystem of the Lower Mainstream Mekong and have a severe impact on the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands ...
Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/controversial-dam-approved-on-cambodia-laos-border-44401/
Boats seized in dredging crackdown
More than 100 sand-pumping systems and 40 boats have been impounded by the Kandal provincial Department of Water Resources and Meteorology in order to prevent riverbank collapse as water levels continue to rise. Chun Penglong, the provincial department director, told the Post yesterday that navy police and the ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/boats-seized-dredging-crackdown
Floods could surpass ’96 levels
The death toll from recent flooding continued to rise yesterday, with meteorology officials voicing concerns that floods in some parts of the country could rival the catastrophic ones of 1996, which claimed almost 170 lives and affected more than a million Cambodians nationwide. At least 25 ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/floods-could-surpass-%E2%80%9996-levels
R’kiri floods trap thousands
The number of Ratanakkiri residents trapped in their homes by floodwater that continues to rise amid relentless rain is now estimated by provincial authorities to be at least 4,000. Heavy rain has put five Lumphat district communes – Lbaing I, Chey Uddom, Batang, Seda and Kaleng ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/r%E2%80%99kiri-floods-trap-thousands
Blending may fuel energy sector
A container storage facility off the coast of Preah Sihanouk province that allows Cambodia to blend oil before export could hold the key to sustainable growth in the country’s nascent energy sector, according to a Danish oil and gas expert. With Chevron positioned to lead offshore ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/blending-may-fuel-energy-sector