Environment and natural resources

HIDDEN in the labyrinth of Stung Meanchey province’s factories, the Sustainable Green Fuel Enterprise (SGFE) found a cleaner way to produce charcoal: from coconut shells and industry leftovers. It is still one of the principal sources of energy for cooking in urban areas. Chief Executive Carlo ...

Less than five months from the national elections, Prime Minister Huns Sen yesterday warned the public that his ruling CPP party would stop making charitable donations towards infrastructure and national development if the party is not re-elected. Speaking at the inauguration of a Chinese-funded expansion of ...

The government announced new plans for developing both transportation and rural sanitation at the annual meeting of the Ministry of Rural Development at the Chaktomuk Conference Hall in Phnom Penh yesterday. According to officials at the event, the ministry will be completing by year’s end a ...

One hundred and thirteen Jarai families from Ratanakkiri’s Bakeo district are sending a letter of protest to the provincial fishery administration today, after a Vietnamese rubber company  started filling in a lake that they had promised last month to preserve for villagers. Rochom Ven, chief of ...

Thailand and Vietnam have called for strict controls to be placed on the international trade of rosewood in an attempt to prevent the luxury wood species from be­ing logged to extinction. Cambodia currently exports thousands of cubic meters of the wood to China each year, and ...

Cambodia on Friday adopted the national policy and strategic plan for green growth 2013-2030, aiming at developing the economy with consideration for environmental and natural resources sustainability. It said the country has already adopted several legal instruments for the green growth implementation. Those included ...

More than 500 villagers from Stung Treng and Ratanakiri provinces held a traditional sacrificial ceremony yesterday, calling on a local spirit to help in postponing the construction of a 400-megawatt hydropower dam in Stung Treng’s Sesan district. Siek Megong, Srekor commune chief, said the villages ...

Property experts said the land prices in Kampot province have been “stable” in early 2013 despite trading more actively than last year. Nuon Rithy, managing director at the Bonna Realty Group, said the trading of land in Kampot province is quiet and nothing changes much because ...

Cambodia on Wednesday launched a “one tourist, one tree” campaign, aiming to promote green tourism and environment protection, Tourism Minister Thong Khon said. “We have already prepared tourism gardens in 11 provinces including cultural Siem Reap province, coastal Preah Sihanouk province and eco-tourism side in Kratie ...

The Cambodian government has commenced operations at the 18MW Kirirom III hydro power plant in the southwestern part of the country. The facility will produce 78 million KWh of electricity a year and help the country reduce its power shortage crisis and dependence on oil-fueled electricity. ...

Deforestation and Cambodia’s strong economic growth have resulted in an increase in the price of charcoal, an energy source the poor are dependent on, charcoal vendors say. The price of charcoal in Phnom Penh had increased at least 200 riel ($0.05) a kilogram compared to 2012, charcoal ...

Amid reports that a second Cambodian has been killed this year by Thai armed forces while illegally logging in Thai border territory, officials had little detail yesterday on a government directive that is aimed at ending the international demand for rosewood from Cambodia. Prime Minister Hun ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday inaugurated the third in a string of six Chinese-funded hydropower dam projects, offering lavish praise for the superpower as he officially opened the $47 million Kirirom 3 dam in Koh Kong. “I am really pleased for the new ...

Activists are welcoming Prime Minister Hun Sen’s public vow to prevent logging and rosewood trafficking, but they also say it’s too little too late to have any serious impact on protecting Cambodia’s already decimated forests. In a speech on Friday at the Ministry of Interior, Hun ...

Cambodia’s focus on hydropower will reduce its independence on oil and ensure nationwide access to electricity at a stable price, Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a speech Saturday during the inauguration of a $47.1 million hydropower dam in Koh Kong province. However environmental groups ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yeserday lauded his government’s strong ties with China but said Cambodia does not give Chinese any preferential treatment. Mr. Hun Sen was speaking at the inauguration of the $47.1 million Kirirom III hydropower dam in Koh Kong province’s Sre Ambel District- constructed ...

Some 300 villagers from the Andong Trabaek community in Svay Rieng province’s Romeas Hek district will accompany two representatives who have been summonsed to the provincial court Tuesday to clarify allegations of illegal logging that villagers say were fabricated by Forestry Administration officials in order ...

A CPP lawmaker said yesterday the government has signed 13 payment guarantees to companies constructing coal-fired power plants and hydropower dams in the country, a move that an Asian Development Bank (ADB) official reiterated was risky for the country’s fiscal future. CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said ...

After a 60- minute debate, the Senate on Friday voted in favour of a payment guarantee for the private companies constructing the controversial Lower Sesan 2 dam in Stung Treng province. At the Senate session, 43 out of 48 senators voted to approve the deal which ...

Five men allegedly caught with 10 cubic meters of illegal rosewood worth more than $1 million on Wednesday were being questioned in Stung Treng provincial court yesterday, officials said. Chroeung Khmao, the provincial prosecutor, said the men – four Chinese citizens and one Cambodian – were ...

The government launched Thursday a $200 million project to divert water from the Mekong River to irrigate 300,000 hectares of rice fields in Prey Veng, Svay Rieng and Kampong Cham provinces. Under the first phase, estimated to cost $100 million, canals will be restored between ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday that all Cambodian villages would have electricity by 2020 while 70 percent of households would have power by 2030. Hun Sen said average per capita consumption of electricity rose at an annual rate of seven percent over the past ...

The government’s guaranteed bailout of major infrastructure projects, such as the future 400-megawatt hydropower dam in Stung Treng province, requires a thorough assessment of forecasted risks – a capacity which the government currently does not possess, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) official said yesterday. Speaking on ...

A national energy efficiency policy is currently in development, officials told the Post last week. Experts at the Ministry of Industry, Mines, and Energy (MIME) and the multi-donor fund EU Energy Initiative Partnership Dialogue Facility (EUEI PDF) are in discussions about details of the policy, ...