Environment and natural resources

This year’s dry spell could be an opportunity rather than a disaster for farmers, Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC) officials said yesterday. Although drought has destroyed several thousand hectares of crops in the past two months, Cambodia’s largest agricultural NGO is encouraging farmers to ...

A district governor and two fisheries officials are among 10 people who will be questioned at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court next week over the destruction of flooded forest to make way for dry-season rice fields in Kampong Thom province, an official said yesterday. On July 27, ...

The Sahrika reports that around 50 villagers in Kandal province protested yesterday in an attempt to stop the sand dredging operation on the Mekong River. “The activity of sand dredging has severely affected our villagers’ lands and houses”, said village representative Tuy Phy. Kandal province residents believe ...

Cambodians for Resource Revenue Transparency (CRRT) wrote a letter to Ms. Elizabeth M. Murphy, Secretary of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on February 7, 2012 to back up PWYP’s recommendations and to encourage the Commission to define the “Project” in relation to each lease, license ...

In line with Royal Government policy determining tourism as the Green Gold, 2011 is the year that we commenced mainstreaming the green tourism concept to all stakeholders. Cambodia started some new initiative to inspire green tourism in the country. “The Clean and Green Concept is basically ...

Cambodia expects to gain money from carbon credit next year and it will take their money to develop forest community to support sustainable development, officials said this week. An environmental officials said: Cambodia will likely get money from carbon credit through selling carbon credit to foreign ...

The Council of Ministers on Friday approved a draft report on political rights in Cambodia, which made outline efforts being made by the government to reduce poverty and secure land titles for millions across the country, a measure that Cambodia must complete as a signatory ...

The Cambodian government on Friday said it will limit fishing in a zone in the Mekong River to protect critically endangered freshwater dolphins The Irrawaddy dolphin conservation area will cover a 180-kilometre-long (110 miles) stretch of river from eastern Kratie province to the border with Laos, ...

Cambodian cashew nut traders believe the market price for cashew nuts will increase, as demand from Vietnamese markets increases along with international demand. Vietnam’s domestic enterprise imported nearly 157,000 tonnes of raw cashew nuts in the first seven months of the year, mostly from Cambodia, ...

Thirteen percent of more than 2,500 freshwater species of fish, crabs and plants profiled across the region are under threat of extinction, a report released on Wednesday says. According to an International Union for Conservation of Nature study of freshwater biodiversity in the “Indo-Burma” region, which includes Cambodia, ...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has adopted rules that would make it a legal requirement for listed companies operating in the extractive industries and doing business in Cambodia to disclose all major payments they make to the government. The rules, which were adopted in ...

Police yesterday said they were seeking more information about a massive haul of heroin-allegedly transited through Cambodia-that was seized from a boat off the coast of Taiwan this week. The Taiwanese Justice Ministry’s Investigation Bureau says it found 70 kg of heroin hidden in a fishing ...

BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest investment firm, has purchased a multi-million dollar stake in a mining firm with a gold exploration licenses in Cambodia. Stephen Promnitz, CEO of Indochine Mining, which is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and holds a gold exploration license in Kratie ...

Villagers who claim their patrols last week uncovered criminal activity in Prey Lang forest presented the government yesterday with a list of 15 people they say are illegally logging in the area. Reoun Sopheap, a representative of about 100 villagers from Kampong Thom province’s Sandan district, ...

Cambodian farmers plant rice in a paddy field in Kampong Speu province August 21, 2012. A drought has hit Cambodia during its rainy season destroying more than 100,000 hectares of crops across the country, a government spokesman told Reuters on Tuesday. According to National Committee ...

Despite touting its Cambodian venture on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FSE), a British registered mining firm’s plan to extract gold in Ratanakkiri province stalled and the firm may face legal action over a failed deal to obtain an exploration license. Astra Resources Plc. has also gone ...

A lack of rain across the country is affecting more than 145,000 hectares of rice paddy and  parts of the nation’s crop have already been completely destroyed, according to data released yesterday by the Ministry of Agriculture. Hem Sophal, director of the statistics department at the ...

Honey collectors from four provinces in Cambodia signed an agreement with the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC) in order to bring more honey to the capital. CEDAC has encouraged farmers from four provinces – Preah Vihear, Kratie, Koh Kong and Mondulkiri – ...

Forestry Administration officers said yesterday they were still struggling to remove a large cache of illegally harvested wood they seized along the Stung Chinit River in Kampong Thom province a week ago. Heng Kamich, head of the Forestry Administration in Santuk district, said the officers seized ...

Rice exports this year had been flat compared to last year because of the many challenges growers were facing, insiders said this week. The data shows exports were no better than last year for the same period, as exports for the first eight months of ...

Farmers in provinces across the Kingdom are feeling the effects of drought after a month of dry weather in which an estimated 10,000 hectares of rice seedlings were destroyed and 135,000 hectares left at risk, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. A report from ...

A year ago, getting to Sihanoukville required perseverance and a certain degree of bravery. There had been no flights to Cambodia’s premier beach resort for years — at least no scheduled services — and cruise ships docking here were few and far between Following years spent ...

Authorities in Kampong Thom province have made good on their promise to examine evidence of illegal logging unearthed by community investigators in the greater Prey Lang area, summoning seven representatives yesterday to present their findings. The Prey Lang Community Network representatives were summoned to Sandan district ...

The Cambodian government has committed to the construction of five dams along the Mekong River in order to meet a huge demand for electricity, but environmental groups warn that severe repercussions loom for this strategy. “While each project proposed in Cambodia comes with a different set ...