News
Gov’t denies CCIM land concessions report
A government official has denied information recently released by the Cambodian Centre for Independent Media (CCIM) about the impact of investment in land concessions in several provinces.He considered the information to be dated and the problem already solved, but welcomed the investigation of complaints, if ...
Khorn Savi
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/govt-denies-ccim-land-concessions-report
No wood, but permit in protected area extended
The Agriculture Ministry renewed the license for timber extraction on a land concession in a protected area in September, despite previously concluding that the land within the concession had been completely cleared, according to a conservation group and documents obtained by reporters this month. ...
Aisha Down
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/no-wood-but-permit-in-protected-area-extended-123916/
Ministry to meet sugar companies over land dispute
The Land Ministry will meet with the three companies at the center of the decade-long land dispute in Koh Kong province this week in an attempt to finally resolve the villagers’ grievances. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/34488/ministry-to-meet-sugar-companies-over-land-dispute/
Wildlife sanctuaries issued first zoning plans
Almost nine years after Cambodia mandated the zoning of all protected areas to shield its most precious parts from development, the government finally zoned its first two sanctuaries last week, though some locals and conservationists doubt the effort will make much of a difference to ...
Aun Pheap and Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/wildlife-sanctuaries-issued-first-zoning-plans-123189/
Minister claims land disputes over: ‘we have solved them all’
Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Wednesday repeated his claims that forest crimes and land disputes sparked by sprawling commercial farms run by wealthy businessmen and foreign corporations had decreased or were mostly over, claims that rights groups dispute. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/minister-claims-land-disputes-over-we-have-solved-them-all-122977/
Chhin chides ministry on ELCs
Deputy Prime Minister Bin Chhin, the Kingdom’s top authority in charge of resolving land disputes, slammed the Ministry of Agriculture over “shameful” irregularities in granting economic land concessions at the Environment Ministry’s annual meeting yesterday.During yesterday’s meeting, Chhin accused the Ministry of Agriculture of granting ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/chhin-chides-ministry-elcs
Land disputes hurting women
The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) demanded the government intervene immediately after finding that 98.2 percent of women involved in land disputes with private companies were suffering from serious psychological after-effects and nearly half of the women participating in the survey said they had ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/30261/land-disputes-hurting-women/
How politics is killing Cambodia's forests
Cambodian forests, some of the most biologically diverse areas in the world, are vanishing fast as a result of the Vietnamese, Chinese and Cambodian political interests. Cambodia has one of the largest deforestation rates in the world. Forest Trends, an influential organization with a mission to conserve ...
Abu SMG Kibria
http://thediplomat.com/2016/09/how-politics-is-killing-cambodias-forests/
The deforestation continues
The high-pitched whine of chainsaws drowned out the sound of birds and bugs you usually hear during any trek through Prey Lang forest. What was once an area full of animals scurrying under the shade of gargantuan trees is now largely populated by stumps and ash. The ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28863/the-deforestation-continues/
ELCs don’t reduce poverty: paper
Economic land concessions (ELCs) are supposed to be transforming Cambodian agriculture into a heavyweight industry and raising the living standards of millions of rural Cambodians, according to government policy documents. ...
Jack Davies
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/elcs-dont-reduce-poverty-paper
Ministry announces ELC tax revenue
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said by the end of the first half of this year, it had collected about $600,000 in taxes from economic land concessions (ELCs) from 21 of the 223 private companies that received ELCs from the government, according to ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/27701/ministry-announces-elc-tax-revenue/
Report that new ELCs were granted to logging barons ‘false’
In an open letter to the Ministry of Environment, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) asked yesterday for confirmation of a January 19 report in the Cambodia Daily that said new economic land concessions (ELCs) had been given to two tycoons despite a ban ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/20653/report-that-new-elcs-were-granted-to-logging-barons----false---/
VN army concessions are ‘unconstitutional’
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy has levelled further criticism at the Vietnamese army’s alleged control of 40,000 hectares of economic land concessions (ELCs) in Ratanakkiri province, claiming that the grants are in violation of the Cambodian constitution. ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/vn-army-concessions-are-unconstitutional
Land disputes centre stage at capital forum
A broad spectrum of villager representatives, civil society organisations and government officials – large land-concession holders among them – met in the capital for the ninth year in a row yesterday to discuss the Kingdom’s seemingly intractable issue of land disputes. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/land-disputes-centre-stage-capital-forum
Agriculture ministry to end ELC assessment in October
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) will finalize its assessment over the companies which have been granted economic land concessions (ELCs), in October, as the ministry has announced to reduce the period of ELC investment to 50 years from 70-99 years, said a ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/agriculture-ministry-to-end-elc-assessment-in-october-9002
Agriculture ministry to end ELC assessment in October
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) will finalize its assessment over the companies which have been granted economic land concessions (ELCs), in October, as the ministry has announced to reduce the period of ELC investment to 50 years from 70-99 years, said a ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/agriculture-ministry-to-end-elc-assessment-in-october-9002
Agriculture ministry to end ELC assessment in October
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) will finalize its assessment over the companies which have been granted economic land concessions (ELCs), in October, as the ministry has announced to reduce the period of ELC investment to 50 years from 70-99 years, said a ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.akp.gov.kh/?p=69494
Prime Minister again warns to confiscate ELCs from private company
Prime Minister Hun Sen once again warned that the royal government will confiscate economic land concession (ELCs) from any private companies that do not implement in accordance to contracts signed with government. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/prime-minister-again-warns-to-confiscate-elcs-from-private-company-8952
Land concessions responsible for large-scale deforestation in Cambodia
Land concessions for large-scale agricultural plantations are stripping off Cambodia’s forest cover, according to a new report by Forest Trends, a U.S.-based environmental protection group. ...
Morgan Erickson-Davis
http://news.mongabay.com/2015/08/land-concessions-responsible-for-large-scale-deforestation-in-cambodia/
Logging up after poll, NGOs claim
At least a dozen companies including some of Cambodia’s most prominent developers have been illegally logging and transporting rosewood since the election without any action from authorities, a pair of local NGOs alleged. In a report released yesterday, the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community and the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/logging-after-poll-ngos-claim
Land activist to be released
Outspoken land activist Kuch Veng will regain his freedom in 15 days after the Pursat provincial court yesterday handed down a guilty verdict with a one-year sentence, then suspended nearly three quarters of that term. Veng has been in prison since May 19 on charges of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/land-activist-be-released
Trade Deal Threat Still On Table
The European union’s executive arm has responded to its parliamentarians’ concerns over rights abuses stemming from Cambodia’s economic land concessions, maintaining that, should the need arise, it “will be ready” to withdraw from its preferential trade agreements with the Kingdom. In a joint letter to concerned ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052065716/National/trade-deal-threat-still-on-table.html
Pheapimex Opponent Arrested
A well-known community representative who has long battled alleged land-grabbing by economic land concessionaire Pheapimex Group was arrested on fraud accusations and jailed in Pursat province’s Krakor district yesterday.Fellow community representative Lun Sivy, 42, said Kuch Veng, a member of the Cambodian Peace Network, was ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052065715/National/pheapimex-opponent-arrested.html
Report on Worldwide Land Grabbing Zeroes In on Cambodia
A new report on land grabbing around the world highlights Cambodia as a prime example of the ill effect of the growing global appetite for farmland by industrial scale operations. Released Wednesday in Stockholm by three Swedish NGOs, The Race for Land offers Cambodia as one ...