Land
Villagers summoned to court over KDC clashes
Kompong Chhnang Provincial Court has summoned eight villagers locked in a land dispute with a powerful development company for questioning next week over allegations of aggravated violence and the destruction of property during a series of clashes with workers at the site last month. ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-summoned-to-court-over-kdc-clashes-65575/
Assessing the welfare value of Cambodia's fisheries
Fish and rice are staple foods for all Cambodians. Historical records show that Cambodia’s fisheries have been of major importance for centuries. Fish is a major source of nutritious food in the daily diet, a primary source of employment and income and has strong cultural ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/opinion/detail/3?token=OWQyMTFiNzI4OWI5ZGRmZjI2NDY4NzBmNzM4OGY4
Hun Sen’s student volunteer land-titling program under fire
More than a year after Prime Minister Hun Sen’s land-titling program was suspended in the lead-up to the 2013 national elections, it has still not begun again despite government claims that the program would resume following the poll. The unfinished work left by student volunteers, who ...
Ben Sokhean and Holly Robertson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sens-student-volunteer-land-titling-program-under-fire-65503/
Rights group slams Cambodian government over land dispute death
Try Chamroeun, a 19-year-old student, was planting soybeans on Sunday along with fellow villagers on a two-hectare (half-acre) plot in Preah Vihear province, when soldier Poeun Tash demanded that he stop, claiming the land belonged to his military boss, according to London-based environmental advocacy group ...
Joshua Lipes
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/death-07312014185132.html
Five families accept flats in Chroy Changva
Five families among a community of 40 that have been fighting a powerful developer for land they live on in Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changva district accepted compensation packages on Monday, the first cracks in a previously united community. ...
Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/five-families-accept-flats-in-chroy-changva-65420/
Cambodia sees 55 pct rise in landmine casualties in half year
Cambodia on Wednesday reported 101 landmine casualties in the first six months of 2014, an increase of 55 percent from 65 casualties over the same period last year. The report from the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority showed that from January to June this ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-07/30/c_133520217.htm
Cambodia’s hydroelectric question: China power and the environment
Discussion about hydroelectric power plants in Cambodia tends to focus on two aspects, both negative. One is an overdependence on Chinese investment, and the other is a relatively disproportionate focus on the environmental impacts of hydroelectric power. Chinese Influence Most hydroelectric power plants in Cambodia are associated ...
Sim Vireak
http://thediplomat.com/2014/07/cambodias-hydroelectric-question-china-power-and-the-environment/
Thai farmers again encroach on Cambodian land
Border police in Banteay Meanchey province were unable to stop 30 Thai farmers from plowing land inside Cambodia territory on Monday and had to wait for Thai officials to arrive and order the farmers back across the border, according to local officials. Prak Sarath, deputy commander ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/thai-farmers-again-encroach-on-cambodian-land-65267/
South Korean Embassy defends rubber firm, but villagers want its help
Villagers representing families in Kratie province petitioned the South Korean Embassy for help Tuesday in their dispute with a South Korean agribusiness firm, after hearing that the embassy had lodged a complaint against them. About 200 villagers from Kratie province’s Snuol district are staying at the ...
Aun Pheap and George Wright
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/south-korean-embassy-defends-rubber-firm-but-villagers-want-its-help-65263/
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
Forestry revenues falling short
Rights groups have called on the government to increase tax rates for logging companies amid the latest domestic revenue figures. According to the Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, timber exports produced $9.4 million in government tax revenue during the first half of the year, up ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/forestry-revenues-falling-short
Planned dams threaten Cambodia’s food security
The planned construction of 88 hydroelectric dams in the lower Mekong basin by 2030 will cause food security challenges in Cambodia, experts say. “Cambodia is going to pay the highest price for dam development basin-wide, to the point of affecting the food security of its 80 ...
Gant Daily News Staff
http://gantdaily.com/2014/07/28/planned-dams-threaten-cambodias-food-security/
‘A threat to Cambodia’s sacred forests’
In southwest Cambodia, at the foot of the Cardamom Mountains, is a single dirt road that meanders through the heart of the pristine Areng valley. Ten miles down this road, villagers have set up an encampment to stop a hydroelectric dam project that they fear ...
New York Times News Staff
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/opinion/a-threat-to-cambodias-sacred-forests.html
Companies squabble, villagers protest in Kandal
A company that villagers say owns land that was illegally grabbed from them in Kandal province asked more than 100 residents of Ponhea Leu commune to leave the firm out of their dispute and focus their ire on Phanimex, which is owned by powerful businesswoman ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/companies-squabble-villagers-protest-in-kandal-65067/
Villagers request intervention in land dispute
Villagers from Koh Kong province delivered petitions in Phnom Penh on Friday seeking international intervention in their land dispute with powerful businessman and CPP senator Ly Yong Phat, alleging that his Koh Kong Special Economic Zone (SEZ) was encroaching on their farmland. Five representatives of the ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-request-intervention-in-land-dispute-65038/
Boeng Kak’s best teach villagers protest 101
When two middle-aged novices emerged with signs protesting the development of disputed land near the tip of the Chroy Changva peninsula on Thursday, one of the country’s foremost anti-eviction activists was there to tell them they were doing it all wrong. Ms. Vanny, who was ...
Matt Blomberg and Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/boeng-kaks-best-teach-villagers-protest-101-64920/
241-Kg US war-era bomb found in Kandal province
Police and deminers in Kandal province on Wednesday removed from a riverbank a 241-kg Mark 82 bomb, of the kind the U.S. dropped on Cambodia in the heavy bombing that took place during its war against neighboring Vietnam. ...
Hay Pisey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/241-kg-us-war-era-bomb-found-in-kandal-province-64933/
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/
Protests continue for 4th day over land dispute
About 250 villagers protested against development firm Phanimex on Thursday as their commune chief faced questioning in Kandal provincial court over an ongoing land dispute. For the fourth consecutive day, villagers from Ponhea Leu commune rallied in front of the court, accusing Phanimex of grabbing 63 ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/protests-continue-for-4th-day-over-land-dispute-64938/
Two years after offer, US yet to clean up war-era chemicals
Government officials on Thursday said they are still waiting for the U.S. Embassy to make good on a 2012 offer to clean up several barrels of the riot control agent CS that were dropped on Cambodia during the U.S.’ war with Vietnam and which the ...
Zsombor Peter and Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/two-years-after-offer-us-yet-to-clean-up-war-era-chemicals-64930/
Homes move due to floods
Coastal erosion became serious enough in Kampong Cham province for authorities to dismantle and move 13 houses along the Mekong. Officials are planning to do the same for about 100 others to prevent them from falling into the river due to rising water levels over the ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/homes-move-due-floods
Villagers seek refuge in Phnom Penh pagoda again
About 160 villagers from Kratie province’s Snuol district embroiled in a land dispute with a plantation owner are the latest evictees to take residence in Phnom Penh’s Samakki Raingsey pagoda. A spokesman for City Hall, which has made repeated efforts in recent months to prevent the ...
Aun Pheap and George Wright
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-seek-refuge-in-phnom-penh-pagoda-again-64942/
Mekong floodwaters already above late July levels of 2011
Mekong floodwaters have risen sharply this week and have already surpassed the levels seen at this time of the year during the devastating floods of 2011. In Phum Thom commune in Kien Svay district in Kandal province, local residents observed floodwaters rising about two meters between ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=M2ViMTlkMmFjZTg
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/