Land
After effigy burning, governor raises prospect of arrests
After about 100 villagers on Sunday burned effigies of officials involved in a land dispute in Kompong Chhnang province that has dragged on for nearly a decade, the provincial governor said the protest was “contrary to the law” and gave authorities a reason to arrest ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-effigy-burning-governor-raises-prospect-of-arrests-90429/
Protest leader flees
After exposure in the press and a brush with military police, a protest leader has fled rural Kampot for Siem Reap province. ...
Ven Rathavong
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/13887/protest-leader-flees/
ELCs tied to destruction of forests in new report
Cambodis’s most crucial forests are disappearing at a rate of more than 2,000 kilometres a year, as agricultural firms continue to harvest timber by illegal means in protected areas and national parks, according to a study from Washington-based Forest Trends. ...
Ethan Harfenist
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/elcs-tied-destruction-forests-new-report
Alarm over 'timber grab' from Cambodia's protected forests
The analysis, from campaign group Forest Trends, says that large corporations are using legitimate development permits to illegally clear land.Around 2,000 sq km of forests are being lost every year, they say. ...
Matt McGrath
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33702814
Families fear eviction in dispute with Try Pheap
Twenty-three families in a village in Pursat province currently embroiled in a land dispute with a company owned by tycoon Try Pheap have claimed that authorities are putting pressure on locals in an attempt to quash the issue. ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/families-fear-eviction-dispute-try-pheap
Lifespan of ELCs slashed by gov’t
The government has declared leases on plantations will be limited to 50 years, slashing the length of some existing concessions in half, though neither ministry responsible for overseeing the move would confirm the legal basis for doing so.The decision was announced in a press release ...
Taing Vida
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/lifespan-elcs-slashed-govt
Boeng kak’s ‘mummy’ receives land title
The governor of Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district said Tuesday that land titles were handed to two more families from the Boeng Kak neighborhood, including that of 76-year-old land rights activist Nget Khun, known also as “Mummy.” ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/boeng-kaks-mummy-receives-land-title-89849/
New political environment should focus on land disputes, advocate says
Thun Saray, president of the rights group Adhoc, urged Cambodia’s leader to use their newfound political “culture of dialogue” to resolve the problem of chronic land disputes across the country. ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/new-political-environment-should-focus-on-land-disputes-advocate-says/2877037.html
New electronics manufacturer due at PPSEZ
Thai-listed electronics manufacturer, SVI Public Limited, will be next in line to join Cambodia’s emerging light-manufacturing industry. ...
Xueying Chen
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/new-electronics-manufacturer-due-ppsez
Lawmaker asks PM for probe of Try Pheap’s SEZ
CNRP lawmaker Un Sam An sent a letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday asking for an investigation of Try Pheap’s Special Economic Zone in Ratanakkiri province, saying that the timber magnate is misusing the site to export illegally logged trees to Vietnam. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lawmaker-asks-hun-sen-for-probe-of-try-pheaps-sez-89251/
Land disputes down in 2015 due to ELC freeze
Although the number of land disputes across the country decreased in the first six months of the year—largely due to a freeze on the granting of economic land concessions—little has been done to resolve existing disputes, according to a report released Wednesday by rights group ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/land-disputes-down-in-2015-due-to-elc-freeze-89260/
Cambodia takes regional lead with elite bomb dive squad
A quiet, unoccupied section of Victory Beach in Sihanoukville hosted a group of remarkable visitors this week as divers from the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) tested sophisticated new sonar and magnetic equipment donated by the US. ...
Jack Laurenson
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/13581/cambodia-takes-regional-lead-with-elite-bomb-dive-squad/
Farmer arrested for fighting police officers
Police in Kratie province on Sunday arrested a farmer—accused of trying to squat on a new social land concession for poor families—after he allegedly struck the officers when they arrived to tell him and his wife to leave. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/farmer-arrested-for-fighting-police-officers-89122/
Report slams push for rubber
Protected areas and other biodiversity hotspots across Southeast Asia are increasingly under threat from expanding rubber plantations, with Cambodia at risk of losing more ecologically important land than any of its neighbours, a recent study reports. ...
Charles Rollet
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/report-slams-push-rubber
Protesters decry ‘land grabbing’
About 300 protesters from Svay Rieng and Preah Sihanouk provinces marched to parliament yesterday to file petitions urging the local authorities to intervene to resolve ongoing land disputes in their homelands. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/protesters-decry-land-grabbing
Villagers petition Cambodian lawmakers for help with land dispute cases
About 200 villagers involved in land disputes in three provinces protested Monday outside Cambodia’s parliament building in Phnom Penh, demanding that lawmakers resolve their cases and threatening not to vote for those who turn down their requests. ...
Families split on offer from Vietnamese firm
Seventy families in Ratanakkiri province have agreed to accept a 100-hectare plot of land, bringing an end to their four-year dispute with a Vietnamese rubber company, but 156 other families refused to settle, officials said Thursday. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-split-on-offer-from-vietnamese-firm-88709/
In the rush to open more rubber plantations, nobody wins
Land conversions for rubber plantations in continental South-East Asia have expanded to areas where rubber is not historically grown, posing risks to both farmers’ livelihoods and environment conservation. The study defines continental South-East Asia as comprising Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. ...
SciDevNet News Staff
http://www.scidev.net/asia-pacific/environment/news/in-the-rush-to-open-more-rubber-plantations-nobody-wins.html
7NG staffer allegedly ‘took $1.5m’ in land scam
A former police officer yesterday faced trial over allegations he scammed more than $1.5 million from his friend and past employer by registering company land in his own name. ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/7ng-staffer-allegedly-took-15m-land-scam
Families file petition over land dispute with dry port company
Representatives for 77 families involved in a land dispute with a company that plans to build a dry port and industrial area in Kratie province petitioned the Interior Ministry and the National Assembly in Phnom Penh on Monday against a court order for them to ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-file-petition-over-land-dispute-with-dry-port-company-88166/
ELC plantation land: use it – or lose it
One decade ago, villagers celebrated when a 10,000 hectare Economic Land Concession here was awarded to a prominent Phnom Penh tycoon. ...
Ven Rathavong and Ros Chanveasna
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/13247/elc-plantation-land--use-it-----or-lose-it/
Tycoon under fire for casino project
A tycoon who is building a casino and a dam in Oddar Meanchy province has come under fire for displacing villagers – and possibly the military. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tycoon-under-fire-casino-project
Landmine casualties in Cambodia down 36 pct in 5 months of 2015
Cambodia has seen 57 landmine casualties in the first five months of 2015, down 36 percent compared with 89 casualties over the same period of last year, the latest report said Saturday. ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/article/6611927/2015/07/11/landmine-casualties-cambodia-down-36-pct-5-months-2015
Tycoon compensates 135 families at SEZ
A long-running land dispute between more than 130 families and the company managing the Koh Kong Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is nearing its end, with only seven families left to sign the compensation agreement, officials confirmed yesterday. ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tycoon-compensates-135-families-sez-0