Electricity production
Renewable energy production
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
Monks enter forest fray
Months ago, Chinese engineers were posting markers for a hydropower dam opposed by villagers in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley. This week, in marked contrast, monks draped trees in iconic saffron sashes as they blessed the very forest the dam would destroy. The saffron robes ...
Daniel Quinlan and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/monks-enter-forest-fray
Lao consultants give dam the thumbs up
The controversial Don Sahong hydropower dam, which Laos says it will soon build just a kilometre from the Cambodian border, will not have significant effects on the Mekong River, according to an environmental impact assessment paid for by the dam’s builder. Obtained yesterday, the report – ...
Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/lao-consultants-give-dam-thumbs
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/
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/
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/
Koh Kong’s Rainbow Lodge Plans on Paying It Forward
KOH KONG – The dullness of a rainy day accentuates the lush shades of green rainforest of the Cardamom Mountains in Koh Kong province. Float down the Tatai River and you see bobbing turquoise, red and yellow canoes tied up along the banks—in their vivid ...
Lindsey Peterson and Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/koh-kongs-rainbow-lodge-plans-on-paying-it-forward-44775/
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/
Banteay Meanchey Dam at Risk of Breaking, Inundating Villages
Hundreds of police and soldiers have been working around the clock since Wednesday to prevent a major dam built during the Khmer Rouge period in Banteay Meanchey province from breaking and flooding as many as eight surrounding villages, officials said Thursday. Heavy rains, compounded by floodwaters ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/banteay-meanchey-dam-at-risk-of-breaking-inundating-villages-44409/
Cambodia Verifies the World’s First VCS Triple Gold CCB Avoided Deforestation Project
SAN FRANCISCO — The Oddar Meanchey REDD+ (Reduced Emissions for Deforestation and Degradation) project in Cambodia is the first in the world to complete verification of emission reductions under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) with a triple gold Climate, Community and Biodiversity (CCB) accreditation for emission ...
The Herald Staff
http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/09/24/5239878/cambodia-verifies-the-worlds-first.html
Tuk-tuks to be solar-powered
Australian green energy company Star 8 has designed a solar-powered tuk-tuk and is in the process of building a factory in Cambodia to make the vehicles, according to a report in Australian newspaper The Age. The vehicles’ makers said the tuk-tuks will cost between A$2,000 (US$1,865) ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/tuk-tuks-be-solar-powered
Rice plots blocked at dam site
In a first step toward clearing villagers from land intended for a planned Koh Kong provincial hydroelectric dam, a Chinese development firm has blocked a road leading to plots where villagers have continued to harvest rice. Officials from Tianjin Union Development Group, which was awarded a ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rice-plots-blocked-dam-site
Forest Cleared for Stung Treng Dam Construction
Logging has officially begun in Stung Treng province in preparation for the construction of a massive hydropower dam, but local authorities and villagers said Wednesday that the clearing of forest is going unchecked outside the official dam concession area. The Lower Sesan 2 dam was approved ...
Kuch Naren and Dene-Hern Chen
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/forest-cleared-for-stung-treng-dam-construction-41693/
Planned Mekong dams need environmental assessment
The Cambodian government’s plan to build 20 dams along the Mekong River, with a view to boosting energy security, could harm food security and biodiversity in the region, as well as ignite a regional conflict over sharing of the river’s water, a conference has heard. ...
SciDev.Net News Staff
http://www.scidev.net/asia-pacific/water/news/planned-mekong-dams-need-environmental-assessment.html
Singaporean Startup to Install Streetlamps in Rural Villages
A Singaporean startup is planning to install streetlamps in three villages in Kompong Chhnang province later this year in an effort to enhance safety for people making their way home at night. Fosera Lighting is raising money through an online campaign to construct 75 solar-powered streetlights ...
Bulldozers will not move us, families insist
More than 100 families living in Koh Kong’s Kiri Sakor and Botum Sakor districts are on the clock, with an official government decree demanding they vacate their land in less than two months or face the bulldozers of the Chinese firm slated to build a ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/bulldozers-will-not-move-us-families-insist