News

Srekor village has stood on the banks of the Se San River in northeastern Cambodia for generations. In a few years it will be gone, submerged along with more than 300 square kilometres of surrounding farmland and forest. For 37-year-old rice farmer Pa Tou, the ...

As work begins on Cambodia’s biggest dam, those advocating against its construction have warned that the region’s rush for hydropower will have a disastrous effect on millions of people who rely on the Mekong River to survive. Last month, workers began preparing an area in northeastern ...

Despite steady economic growth in recent years, Cambodia remains one of the least-developed countries in the Asia-Pacific region and faces the challenge of diversifying its economy and moving up the production value chain, the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) ...

The World Bank is under pressure to review some of its policies around the world to ensure that in countries like Cambodia it is not funding the wrong projects. In a discussion at George Washington University this week, panelists said the World Bank is needed for ...

Climate change will have a significant effect on major industrial and food crops in the Lower Mekong basin countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, says a new study. The study, conducted by the Mekong Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change Project for the U.S. Agency ...

The Ministry of Commerce and bank officials announced yesterday that they will hold a meeting next month aimed at better facilitating rice millers’ access to credit. The move is part of the Asian Development Bank’s Climate Resilient Rice Commercialization Sector Development program to address food security ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Vietnam urged Laos to halt construction of a $3.5 billion hydropower dam pending further study, environmental activists said on Friday after a meeting of the Mekong River Commission. The activists said Cambodia, also downriver from the Xayaburi dam, accused Laos during heated discussions on Wednesday and ...

Regional conservationists criticised the Mekong River Commission (MRC) yesterday for leaving the controversial Xayaburi Dam off its agenda at this week’s annual ministerial meeting in Luang Prabang, Laos. Laotian authorities said they would confirm their decision to go ahead with the hydropower project in the mainstream ...

The planned construction of hydropowered dams on the Mekong River in South-East Asia could jeopardise livelihoods, water access and food security for 60 million people, across Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, according to a study. The study reports that dams will block fish migration routes and ...

Further comprehensive economic co-operation and expansion among ASEAN’s member states, East Asia and its development partners was imperative for managing risks and impacts from the fragile global economy, Prime Minister and ASEAN chairman Hun Sen said during the ASEAN Global Dialogue yesterday. The dialogue brought together ...

The cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal allowing the Commerce Ministry to form a rice trade partnership with Asean’s four other rice-producing countries, namely Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, to stabilise rice prices in the global market and to promote food security in the region. The ...

Cambodia has decided to go ahead with the construction of a dam on a Mekong tributary, but conservation groups are concerned that not enough study has been done on the hydropower project’s environmental consequences. Construction on the 400 megawatt Lower Sesan 2 dam in northwestern Cambodia’s ...

The cabinet yesterday approved the Commerce Ministry’s plan to develop a rice trade partnership with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam to stabilise international rice prices According to a source at the Commerce Ministry, the rice trade zone project will begin with Cambodia and will involve rice ...

Activist groups are planning to hold two separate forums this week in Phnom Penh to call attention to human rights issues and other problems in Asean countries as a meeting of regional and world leaders begin in the city. The assembly will meet ahead of ...

As Asian and European leaders gather for high level meetings this month in Cambodia and Laos, the luxury living quarters and extensive security arrangements made for their arrivals have come at considerable human and environmental expense. Government authorities went on a building spree ahead of this ...

Fisheries Administration patrols increased on the Mekong River in Kratie and Stung Treng provinces to prevent fishermen from using dai fishing methods as the seasonal fish migration period begins. However, the Fisheries Action Coalition Team (FACT), an umbrella group of national and international organizations, said the ...

While the global economic crisis weakened the ability of Cambodian households to purchase food, the government’s focus on agricultural production and other policies have since helped alleviate food insecurity in the country, the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development said in a new report. Between June ...

The United States will sign up to provide 18.5 million U.S. dollars to Cambodia to support the country’s priorities in agriculture, food security, and climate change adaptation and mitigation, according to a media release from the U.S. Embassy here on Thursday. The agreement will be signed ...

The economic, social and environmental consequences of the construction of dams on the Mekong River could be devastating.. ANU research suggests that millions of people are in danger of going hungry if the dams proceed. Replacing fish as a protein source with alternative food would use ...

Fishermen bring their boats to shore, pack away their traps and hand over the day’s catch to their awaiting families on the banks of the Mekong River in Kratie province’s Chitra Borei district. “When my husband arrives home each day, we eat some of what he ...

While Cambodia has made remarkable gains economically over the past decade and more-the Kingdom’s poverty level fell from 47 percent in 1994 to 25 percent this year-there are still some stubborn areas of underperformance. One is the issue of food security. While in recent years, the country has largely been able to produce ...