Environment and natural resources
Water resources
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
Croc release at dam site planned
A conservation group may release 20 baby Siamese crocodiles into the Areng Valley amid an ongoing stand-off between villagers and a Chinese firm over the construction of a controversial hydropower dam in Koh Kong province. Tuy Serey Vathana, country directory at Fauna and Flora International, said ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/croc-release-dam-site-planned
Assessing the welfare value of Cambodia's fisheries
Fish and rice are staple foods for all Cambodians. Historical records show that Cambodia’s fisheries have been of major importance for centuries. Fish is a major source of nutritious food in the daily diet, a primary source of employment and income and has strong cultural ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/opinion/detail/3?token=OWQyMTFiNzI4OWI5ZGRmZjI2NDY4NzBmNzM4OGY4
Flood warnings for Mekong
Heavy rains may cause dangerous flooding along the upper parts of the Mekong River in Cambodia in the coming days, a senior official at the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology warned yesterday. Mao Hak, deputy director of technical works at the Department of Hydrology and ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/flood-warnings-mekong
Cambodia’s hydroelectric question: China power and the environment
Discussion about hydroelectric power plants in Cambodia tends to focus on two aspects, both negative. One is an overdependence on Chinese investment, and the other is a relatively disproportionate focus on the environmental impacts of hydroelectric power. Chinese Influence Most hydroelectric power plants in Cambodia are associated ...
Sim Vireak
http://thediplomat.com/2014/07/cambodias-hydroelectric-question-china-power-and-the-environment/
Hundreds threatened by erosion of Mekong banks
Erosion along the banks of the Mekong River in Kompong Cham province’s Srei Santhor district has caused 16 families to move their homes and is threatening hundreds more, officials warned Sunday. Koh Andet commune chief Yan Yet said at least 16 homes have been dismantled since ...
Ouch Sony
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hundreds-threatened-by-erosion-of-mekong-banks-65069/
Planned dams threaten Cambodia’s food security
The planned construction of 88 hydroelectric dams in the lower Mekong basin by 2030 will cause food security challenges in Cambodia, experts say. “Cambodia is going to pay the highest price for dam development basin-wide, to the point of affecting the food security of its 80 ...
Gant Daily News Staff
http://gantdaily.com/2014/07/28/planned-dams-threaten-cambodias-food-security/
Homes move due to floods
Coastal erosion became serious enough in Kampong Cham province for authorities to dismantle and move 13 houses along the Mekong. Officials are planning to do the same for about 100 others to prevent them from falling into the river due to rising water levels over the ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/homes-move-due-floods
Mekong floodwaters already above late July levels of 2011
Mekong floodwaters have risen sharply this week and have already surpassed the levels seen at this time of the year during the devastating floods of 2011. In Phum Thom commune in Kien Svay district in Kandal province, local residents observed floodwaters rising about two meters between ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=M2ViMTlkMmFjZTg
Wealthy residents protest lake reclamation
About 30 residents of a planned community on the eastern outskirts of Phnom Penh gathered around the picturesque lake that forms the center of their neighborhood Monday to prevent its developer, a former opposition lawmaker, from reclaiming the land to construct condos. The residents, many of ...
Khuon Narim and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/wealthy-residents-protest-lake-reclamation-63474/
Protest continues as company fills in lake, threatens livelihoods
More than 300 villagers who live around Boeng Samraong lake in Phnom Penh’s Prek Pnov district protested for a third day straight Sunday against a private company they say has been filling the lake with sand, threatening the livelihoods of local rice farmers and fishermen. The ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/protest-continues-as-company-fills-in-lake-threatens-livelihoods-63310/
Officials ‘take cut’ of dam compensation
Officials involved in negotiating compensation offers between the developers of the Lower Sesan II dam and affected villagers have kept a portion of the money paid out to 12 families for themselves, according to an official. Duong Pov, Stung Treng provincial administration director, claimed that a ...
Phak Seangly and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/officials-%E2%80%98take-cut%E2%80%99-dam-compensation
Delay Sesan dam: villagers
Villagers who will be displaced if the controversial Lower Sesan II dam is built called on the developers yesterday to postpone construction for five years, allowing time for a comprehensive resettlement scheme to be devised. But a government official dismissed their request as “beyond the pale”, ...
Phak Seangly and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/delay-sesan-dam-villagers
Hun Sen urges fishermen to stop fishing illegally
Prime Minister Hun Sen marked National Fish Day on Tuesday in Kompong Chhnang province by urging fishermen to refrain from illegal fishing and report lawbreakers. The government bans fishing in the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers during the breeding season to allow fish stocks to ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-urges-fishermen-to-stop-fishing-illegally-62944/
As lake disappears, a development dilemma
Looking out from his house, held up by three-meter stilts on a peninsula that juts into Boeng Tompun lake, Chan Sokhom can see the sand inching closer to him every day. Within a few years, the sand will likely reach his doorstep. By then, Mr. Sokhom ...
Cameron Rhoads and Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/as-lake-disappears-a-development-dilemma-62718/