Environment and natural resources
Water resources
Kampot land prices stable
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 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022861646/Real-Estate/kampot-land-prices-stable.html
Cambodia Launches "One Tourist, One Tree" Campaign To Promote Green Tourism
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 ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/travel/2013-02/27/c_132196175.htm
Operations commence at 18MW Kirirom III hydro power plant in Cambodia
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. ...
PM Hun Sen ushers in new dam
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 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022561590/National/pm-hun-sen-ushers-in-new-dam.html
Hun Sen says Hydropower Is the Key to Stable Electricity Prices
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 ...
Hun Sen Says Chinese Companies Not Favored, Just Served
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 ...
Cambodia launches $200 mln irrigation project in eastern provinces
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 ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=MzIxZTMyNDAzMjV
Hun Sen says all villages to have electricity by 2020
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 ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=ZjIwMmU0N2I1NTF
Corporate: China powers its way through Cambodia
In the hilly wilderness across southwestern Cambodia, the foundations of the country’s strengthening bonds with China are taking root. It is there that large dams supported by Chinese money are being built to literally bring the impoverished Southeast Asian nation out of darkness. The largest of ...
http://www.hydroworld.com/news/2013/02/18/corporate-china-powers-its-way-through-cambodia.html
Questions follow on heels of hydropower dam Sesan 2 vote
Villagers near the Sesan River in Stung Treng province are a step closer to being forced to make way for a hydropower dam following a National Assembly vote on Friday, but they are no closer to learning the details of such a move, a community ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013021861415/National/questions-follow-on-heels-of-sesan-2-vote.html
Sesan Dam Law Approved
Cambodia’s parliament on Friday approved a law providing financial guarantees for the developers of a planned hydropower dam on a Mekong River tributary, despite opposition from civil society groups seeking to delay the project. Villagers campaigning against the Lower Sesan 2 dam in northeastern Cambodia’s Stung ...
Land Is Life, and It’s Slipping Away
Nean Narin, a humble man and father of three children, says his family is going hungry. Narin lives in the village of Boeung Kak, situated on the edge of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh. For years, he and other villagers relied on the Boeung Kak Lake ...
Villagers Petition Against Dam
Ethnic minority villagers expecting to be displaced by a proposed Chinese-built hydroelectric dam in northeastern Cambodia are asking the country’s parliament not to approve a law providing financial guarantees for the project. Villagers living along three rivers that will be affected by the dam spoke ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/villagers-02142013163955.html
Civil society seeks to delay new dam on Sesan River
Civil society groups urged the National Assembly Thursday to delay the adoption of a bill on the construction of a $780 million dam on the Sesan River in northeast Cambodia. Chhit Sam Ath, executive director of NGO Forum, told a news conference that estimates of ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=OTNhN2RjN2M1ZTA
Ecotourism in Cambodia up 9.7 per cent
Ecotourism sites in the northeast of Cambodia last year saw visitor growth of 9.7 per cent – a total of 53,374 tourists – compared with 2011, an official said yesterday during the first Workshop on Northeast Ecotourism Development, organised by the Ministry of Tourism. Tith Chantha, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013021461366/Business/ecotourism-in-cambodia-up-9-7-per-cent.html
Angkor Wat sees tourism spike over Lunar New Year
The number of domestic and foreign tourists visiting Siem Reap’s ancient Angkor Wat temple and the Kingdom’s coastal areas increased sharply during this year’s three-day Lunar New Year. Data from the Siem Reap provincial tourism department show that 52,909 tourists visited Siem Reap during Lunar ...
Energy Minister Defends Lower Sesan 2 Project
Energy Minister Suy Sem yesterday defended a draft law on the financing of a massive dam project in Stung Treng province which is slated for debate at the National Assembly on Friday. Environmental groups have called debate of the law premature, as no consultation with local ...
Lawmakers to Discuss Sesan 2 Dam Draft Law
The National Assembly has announced that it will discuss a draft law on the financing of a controversial dam project in Stung Treng province on February 15, a move environmental groups called premature. Meach Mean, coordinator for 3S Rivers Protection Network – which has been ...
Land Investors Should "Play Fair"
Companies that invest in land and resources in emerging economies risk financial and public relations disasters if local inhabitants feel they are getting ripped off, consultants warned in a report last week. The report was released by a group known as the Munden Project The ...
Philippines seeks closer ties with Cambodia
Philippines Vice President Jejomar Binay says Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen supports the signing of agreements between Manila and Phnom Penh in rice trading and in fighting transnational crime. Cambodian officials have also expressed interest in launching direct flights between Manila and Phnom Penh. ...
Concern Over Chinese Investment
Cambodia’s largest opposition party has expressed concern that China’s investment in the country is heavily skewed towards exploiting natural resources, wreaking havoc on the environment. China is Cambodia’s largest investor by a wide margin, having poured U.S. $9.7 billion into the country over the past 18 ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/china-02072013175545.html
Investment Or Imperialism? Tracking China's Big Ambitions In Cambodia
A few years ago this scene would have played out in China. More specifically, it would have played out in a Chinese coastal region to which millions of rural folks had arrived looking for work. A huge hangar, piles of fabrics of all colors at both ...
France Ready for Talks on Gas Power Plant
Utilities giant Electricite de France (EdF) is preparing to enter negotiations with Cambodia over the construction of a power plant to use up natural gas locked up in disputed waters off the country’s coast, France’s ambassador-in-waiting to Cambodia said on Tuesday. Serge Mostura, who is still ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/france-ready-for-talks-on-gas-power-plant-9596/
Russian Firm Steps Up Dam Deal
Laos has stepped up plans for three hydropower dams on Mekong River tributaries, updating an eight-year-old deal with a Russian investor to build the projects for U.S. $1.5 billion. Lao authorities signed a project development agreement with Russia’s Regional Oil for the Sekong 4, Sekong 5, ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/hydropower-02062013151208.html