Ministries and other national bodies
Ministry of Environment
Companies stripped of ELCs
The government has seized more than 50,000 hectares of economic land concessions from a number of powerful companies across the Kingdom, putting the areas under the control of the Ministry of Environment, according to sub-decrees signed last week. One decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen ...
May Titthara
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/companies-stripped-elcs
Four Ministers to answer orally to NA's commission members over performance
Four Ministers have been summoned to answer orally to members of the National Assembly’s third and seventh commissions this month over their position fulfillment. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/four-ministers-to-answer-orally-to-nas-commission-members-over-performance-7668
CNRP lawmaker to visit site of proposed dam
Opposition CNRP lawmaker Pol Ham on Monday said he will visit the site of a proposed hydropower dam in Koh Kong province on Monday with colleagues from his parliamentary commission before they quiz government officials about the controversial project later this month. If built, the 108-megawatt ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cnrp-lawmaker-to-visit-site-of-proposed-dam-72038/
Protected wetlands urged
A new wetland protected area may be implemented in Battambang province following talks between scientists, Asian governments and conservation groups held in Siem Reap this week. The message seems to have been heard, at least by the Ministry of Environment, which yesterday said it would ...
Taing Vida
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/protected-wetlands-urged
Cambodia plans to open up bidding on 19 petroleum concessions
Cambodia plans to open bids for concessions on 19 onshore oil and gas exploration blocks to promote investment in the sector, a senior official at the country’s Ministry of Mines and Energy said on Wednesday. The Southeast Asian country is also keen to talk with international ...
Khettiya Jittapong
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL4N0SV4F120141105
Mirach receives government approval for Cambodia Block D's EIA report
Mirach Energy Ltd. announced Monday that its associate company, CPHL (Cambodia) Company Limited (the Company), has received the approval from the Ministry of Environment in Cambodia for the Initial Environmental Social Impact Assessment Report (IESIA) report for drilling in offshore Cambodia (Block D). ...
Rigzone News Staff
http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/135730/Mirach_Receives_Government_Approval_for_Cambodia_Block_Ds_EIA_Report
Company keeps farming on revoked plantation
One of 11 firms that had their economic land concessions revoked by the Ministry of Environment on Friday has continued to work its former land in Banteay Meanchey province, according to local residents. ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/company-keeps-farming-on-revoked-plantation-70546/
Illegal logging ravaging the last forests, activists say
Forestry activists say at least 55,000 tons of luxury wood were sent from Cambodia to China this year alone. Activists from communities that live near or among some of Cambodia’s last forests told reporters Wednesday that illegal logging is ravaging their homelands, part of a “systematic” ...
Kong Sothanarith
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/illeal-logging-ravaging-the-last-forests-activist-say/2492309.html
Land concessions cancelled
The government has seized back more than 12,000 hectares of land previously awarded to seven companies as economic land concessions (ELCs), according to a letter from the Council of Ministers. It explains that licences awarded from 2006 to 2011 for eight ELCs in the provinces ...
Phak Seangly
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/land-concessions-cancelled
Government nullifies land licenses of three companies
Cambodian government has revoked licenses of economic land concessions of three companies in Koh Kong, Preah Sihanouk and Kampong Speu provinces, according to sub-decree. The sub-decree dated October 7 said 1,635 hectares of economic land concessions have been taken back from Vimean Seila LTD, Vatanak Co., ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/government-nullifies-land-licenses-of-three-companies-7495
Soldiers took our cameras, allege NGOs
Activists from two local rights groups yesterday accused soldiers in Ratanakkiri province’s Lumphat district of seizing their cameras and stopping them from investigating a land dispute. ...
Phak Seangly
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/soldiers-took-our-cameras-allege-ngos
Villagers in the dark over dam relocation
Communities living close to the Lower Sesan II dam site in Stung Treng province have called on the government to publicly disclose what compensation they will receive. Logging continues as the area is cleared ahead of construction, but those who will be forced to leave their ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weekend/villagers-dark-over-dam-relocation
Despite ELC ban, minister talks of new land deals
Two-and-a-half years after Prime Minister Hun Sen imposed a freeze on the granting of economic land concessions (ELCs), Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Monday appeared to leave the door open to the government giving more companies access to the often-controversial land holdings. At a press ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/despite-elc-ban-minister-talks-of-new-land-deals-68632/
Cambodia revokes land licenses from 8 companies
Cambodian Environment Minister Say Samal said Monday that the government has canceled licenses of economic land concessions (ELCs) for eight companies after they have not undertaken development on the lands for years. ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/140929/cambodia-revokes-land-licenses-8-companies
Gov’t releases data on timber baron’s deal
Tycoon Try Pheap has collected an estimated 1,500 cubic metres of timber from Forestry Administration offices since the government in July issued his companies permission to confiscate “waste wood” from their offices and from the Ministry of Environment, according to preliminary government figures obtained by ...
Daniel Pye
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/gov%E2%80%99t-releases-data-timber-baron%E2%80%99s-deal
Logging deals cancelled
Six economic land concessionaires in Preah Vihear and Oddar Meanchey provinces have had their contracts to supply the government with wood to build housing for soldiers and their families cancelled. In 2011, after the conflict with Thailand over the Preah Vihear temple, the government encouraged the ...
May Titthara
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/logging-deals-cancelled
Caught up in the middle
Sheltering under a blue tarpaulin amid dense woodland in Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains, Nhean* sits and waits for night to fall after a long day scouring the protected forest for luxury timber. He says he works for a broker who is a supplier to one of Cambodia’s ...
May Titthara
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/caught-middle
Ministries switch up new office
The Ministry of Interior has asked the government to grant what would have been the new location of the Ministry of Environment in Meanchey district’s Niroth commune to the newly created General Departments of Identification and Immigration instead, according to an official spokesman. ...
May Titthara
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/ministries-switch-new-office
Koh Kong gov to bring petition to Say Sam Al
Koh Kong Governor Bun Leart has promised villagers evicted from their land by Chinese-owned Union Development Group that he will give their petition to Minister of Environment Say Sam Al today. ...
Sen David
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/koh-kong-gov-bring-petition-say-sam-al
Economic growth has come at high cost, experts warn
Experts say that Cambodia’s economic growth remains fragile and unsustainable, bringing environmental degradation, social inequality and, at times, unrest to the country. Cambodia has maintained a high economic growth rate in recent years, up to 8 percent, “but that high growth comes with high costs,” said ...
Khoun Theara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/economic-growth-has-come-at-high-cost-experts-warn/2427241.html
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
Tougher ELC oversight pledged
In what is the government’s latest pledge to hold tycoons and foreign investors to account for their business practices, the Ministry of Environment will begin assessing existing and proposed economic land concessions (ELCs), cancelling or rejecting those that have negative social or environment impacts, a ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tougher-elc-oversight-pledged
Minister meets NGOs over ongoing UDG dispute
Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Thursday met with U.N. and NGO representatives to discuss the ongoing dispute between the powerful Chinese-owned Union Development Group (UDG) and villagers in Koh Kong province who say they were kicked off their land and had their shelters torched. In ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/minister-meets-ngos-over-ongoing-udg-dispute-64952/
Minister lauds controversial sugar industry
Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Wednesday lauded the country’s controversial sugar industry and the jobs it has created, saying that companies operating in the sector need to be defended against the widespread criticism they have been receiving. Rights groups and the opposition CNRP have undertaken ...
Khuon Narim and Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/minister-lauds-controversial-sugar-industry-64810/