Environment and natural resources

Government officials yesterday pointed to developing countries as the main culprits behind climate change and claimed such nations should provide the majority of finan-cing for protecting the Kingdom from the issue. “We are a victim of the problems of the rich,” Environment Minister Mok Mareth said ...

Recent flooding has extended the dengue fever season this year, the National Dengue Control Program said on Tuesday. Officials added that more than 12,000 people, primarily children, had been hospitalised so far this year with the mosquito-borne infection. Dr Ngan Chantha, head of the NDCP, said “12,392 ...

A carbon credit project is in the works for the Seima biodiversity areas in Kartie and Mondulkiri provinces. During a meeting between Chan Sarun, Minister of Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries and Colin Poole, Director of Asia Programs for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WLCS) on Sept ...

According to the Copenhagen Accord hosted in Denmark, developed countries had to provide US$ 30 billion for 2009-2012 to kick start emissions reduction measures for the less-developed countries and promised to offer US$ 100 billion for long term finance a year by 2020. “Cambodia needs approximately ...

As floodwaters across the country remain high after almost two weeks of flooding, tens of thousands of families are still waiting in unsanitary comnditions for emergency supplies such as food and water. But while help trickles down to affected communities, aid groups have begun to question ...

Phnom Penh–Cambodia’s rice exports to foreign countries this year will fall short from the amount that was expected earlier, due to the flooding, said President of the Federation of Cambodian Rice Millers Association Phou Puy on Tuesday. The flooding has hit the country since August, will ...

A group from the Japanese Fish Rearing Association led by Kazuki Nishimura met with Chan Sarun, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. During the meeting Kazuki Nishimura told the minister that the Japanese Fish Rearing Association wished to introduce Japanese fresh water fish (Nishiki Koi) ...

China’s Sinohydro Group Ltd earned US$2.12 billion in an initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the company announced yesterday. The move came just two months before Sinohydro launches the Kamchay Hydroelectric Dam in Cambodia’s Kampot province. The company expects the IPO to help fund ...

Bad weather scared tourists from Cambodian beaches and other popular travel destinations during a three-day national holiday, provincial tourism officials said yesterday. Preah Sihanouk province saw a 30 to 35 percent drop in tourist numbers during the Pchum Ben holiday, which ended Wednesday, Seng Kha, deputy ...

As the Tourism Ministry prepares to host the World Ecotourism Conference in Sihanoukville on Monday, ecotourism operators in three provinces said they were worried that the government’s development practices would undermine the very concept the conference is promoting. According to Tith Chanda, director general of the ...

Three percent of the country’s rice crops have been destroyed by flooding in provinces along the Mekong River and around the Tonle Sap lake, and another seven percent is at risk of being lost, the minister of agriculture said yesterday. New government estimates also show that ...

As severe flooding continues to plague provinces along the Mekong River and around the Tonle Sap lake, new figures released by aid groups and officials yesterday showed that the scale of the disaster is far bigger than initially expected and could be worse than Typhoon ...

Flooding has affected 90,303 families and flooded 83,007 houses nationwide, while 13,402 families have been evacuated so far from inundated areas, Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith said Monday. Citing data from the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM), Mr Kanharith also said in a posting to ...

An emergency cabinet meeting has been called for today to discuss disaster response and prevention in the face of severe flooding that has hit many parts of the country. More than 132,000 hectares of rice paddy field have been inundated with water since flooding began earlier ...

Environmental groups that gathered at the Himawari Hotel in Phnom Penh on Friday said that tens of thousands of rural Cambodians could benefit from the development of the country’s resin industry. At a conference held by the Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Program for South and Southeast ...

Continuing flooding along the Mekong River and around the Tonle Sap lake is taking a severe toll on local communities, government officials said Friday, as they released preliminary figures showing that 62 people had been killed in the floods, 5,000 families had been displaced, and ...

Five hundred hectares of Mondolkiri land inside a protected wildlife sanctuary have been granted to a rubber company, sparking concerns among indigenous minorities who rely on the forest. According to a sub-decree dated August 31 and signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen, the government approved an ...

The company constructing a dam in Koh Kong province, where seven workers were swept away in floodwaters earlier this month, has paid US$1,000 to the families of each of the men for funeral expenses, but is denying responsibility for the incident, an official said yesterday. Sok ...

Amid forecasts that provinces around the Mekong River could see further flooding, government officials, donors and NGO workers met yesterday to discuss the risks posed by natural disasters and climate change. Rafael Dochao Moreno, charge d’affaires of the European Union Delegation, warned that Cambodia is already ...

Surveys conducted by the World Wildlife Foundation have revealed that the world’s largest population of banteng, an endangered species of cattle that once thrived in the Kingdom, remains at risk due to economic land concessions and poaching inside protected areas The number of banteng in Cambodia ...

A draft sub-decree sent to the Council of Ministers last week aims to strengthen the protection of the critically endangered Mekong dolphin population by designating key protection zones in the 180km stretch of Mekong River where the dolphins live. Touch Seang Tana, chairman of the Commission ...

Singapore’s decades-long effort to reclaim land from the ocean has expanded the nation’s coastline and fueled its building boom. But it has also depleted its supply of sand.  In recent years, the massive sand shortage has been worsened by export bans by neighboring countries, driving ...

Three families have lodged complaints against China National Heavy Machinery Co after a storm at the company’s hydropower dam project in Koh Kong province on September 10 swept away a group of workers, leaving two dead and five missing, rights group Adhoc said yesterday. Neang Boratino, ...

A villager living at Boeung Kak lake claimed yesterday that staff from Shukaku Inc, owned by ruling party senator Lao Meng Khin, threatened to demolish her home if she rejected an alleged US$80,000 offer to purchase the property Lao Vann, deputy director-general of Shukaku Inc, yesterday ...