ព័ត៌មាន
Flooding damage to eclipse Typhoon Ketsana
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 ...
Emergency cabinet meeting called over floods
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 ...
Flooding has killed 62, displaced thousands
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 ...
Luxury cruises take to the Tonle Sap, Mekong
Gliding through the water almost soundlessly, the MS AmaLotus docked for only its second time in Phnom Penh last week At 92 meters in length and capable of holding 124 passengers, the AmaLotus is the latest cruise ship to start transporting tourists between Siem Reap and ...
Officials meet to discuss risks from natural disasters
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 ...
New draft sub-decree aims to bolster dolphin protection
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 ...
Laos aims to build Mekong dam this year, testing neighbours
Laos wants to start construction this year on the $3.8 billion (Bt115 billion) Thai-financed Xayaburi hydropower plant on the Mekong River after changing the design of the dam to placate neighbouring countries opposed to the project. Laos completed a review of the dam recently to ease ...
Climate Change Affects on Livelihoods for Rural People
The Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Economy and Finance and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) collaborated to launch the 2011 Cambodia Human Development Report (CHDR) on August 30th which identifies climate change as a threat to human development gains and a source of increasing ...
Climate change to hit rural poor
Climate change posed a major threat to Cambodia because of its extreme poverty and predominantly rural population, development experts told a conference yesterday. “This is an agrarian economy that depends very much on weather. And we are among the poorest countries in the world,” Dr ...
1.3 Million Visitors Arrive in First Semester for 2011
About 1.3 million International visitors arrived in Cambodia in semester one in 2011 with an increase of 13.4 percent if comparing to the same period last year, Tourism Minister announced at a seminar this week. “It is expected that about 2.8 million tourists will pour ...
Japan Loans over $53 Million to Improve Agriculture and Education
Cambodia will receive a concessional loan package of $53.3 million US dollars from Japan to restore the irrigation canal system and another $700,000 dollars grant aid to enhance education materials for minerals resources and topology department of the Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC), the ...
WWF calls for action to save Mekong dolphins
Conservation group WWF on Wednesday called for urgent action to prevent the extinction of freshwater dolphins in the Mekong River, including the creation of special conservation zones. Entanglement in fishing nets, low calf survival rates and a steady degradation of the creature’s habitat are threatening ...
Premier Defends Sesan Dam, Says Critics Are Scaremongering
Prime Minister Hun Sen defended the government’s plan for Strung Treng province’s 400-megawatt Lower Sesan 2 dam project in a letter to an SRP lawmaker, and accused opposition parties, NGOs and the media of exaggerating the negative impacts of hydropower dams. In the six-page letter ...
Building water links to Vietnam
Authorities are planning upgrades to effectively double the capacity of boats travelling from Phnom Penh Autonomous Port to Vietnam, according to port Director General Hei Bavy. A 2009 agreement with Vietnam authorities allows ships travelling down the Mekong from Cambodia to offload at Cai Mep ...
(English) Mekong environment ministers talk on sustainable economic development
Cambodia on July 28th hosted the 3rd Greater Mekong Sub- Region Environment Ministers to look forward to sustainable economic development in the region and to talk about current projects to reduce harm for regions and also to minimize several environmental challenges affecting natural resources, forest and ...
(Khem Sovannara and Chhorng Long Heng, p 7)
http://thesoutheastasiaweekly.com/?p=1289
Damning revelations
An environmental group has accused the Lao government of “unilaterally” pushing forward with construction on the controversial US$3.8 billion Xayaburi dam on the Mekong River, despite serious concerns about the project and an incomplete regional decision-making process. In a statement released yesterday, conservation group International ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011080550883/National-news/damning-revelations.html
Power Grid Key to Development
According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) the regional and national power grids are key to development, though plans for their development have come under criticism by a number of NGOs who believe that power generation should be decentralized. The ADB’s Greater Mekong Subregion program ...
Mekong Dam Construction Halted, Laos Says
Construction of the 1,260 megawatt Xayaburi dam on the Mekong river has been suspended after a meeting between the USA, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. A report from the Mekong River Commission (MRC) has been leaked showing that construction was begun on the dam without ...
Clinton calls for pause on dams
Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, has called for a “pause” on construction of hydroelectric dams along the Mekong River. She is urging time and consideration for all who would be affected by the dams, with 11 planned for the Lower Mekong, nine of which ...
Mekong Dredging Blamed for Riverbank Collapse, Lost Land
Dredging in Kompong Cham province along the Mekong river is being cited as the cause for the collapse of the river bank and the force behind more than a dozen families having to leave their homes. An area of approximately 20 meters y 200 meters ...