News

Business is booming on Koh Pich. Since development began in 2006—and about 300 families were pushed off what was then farmland—the island has slowly grown into the symbol of commercial modernity in Phnom Penh. The developer, Overseas Cam­bodia Investment Corp., is also extending the island by ...

Dam-building and gold mining in southern Laos are ruining water quality downstream on the Sekong River in Cambodia, where villagers are no longer able to drink or use the water, according to an environmental group. The activities undertaken by Lao and Vietnamese companies on the Sekong’s ...

The Fisheries Administration and the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on Friday officially launched a program to protect Cambodia’s coastline from over-fishing, erosion and other damage to coastal environments and livelihoods. Since the beginning of the year, the program has been training local officials ...

For Meach Mean, a veteran campaigner against hydropower dams in Cambodia’s northeast, this year has brought a double dose of bad news. First, he says, two Chinese hydropower companies have begun feasibility studies into a pair of dams planned for tributaries of the Mekong River ...

Advocacy groups, environmentalists and policy-makers have wrapped up five days of events surrounding Mekong River issues in Washington. “Mekong Days,” a series of talks, films and other forums that ended Tuesday, highlighted issues in the region, where some 60 million people live. The Mekong River, a major ...

Thousands of villagers who will lose their land to the construction of the Lower Sesan 2 dam in Stung Treng province later this year have not been told of the government’s plans for their resettlement and compensation, a new study released yesterday shows. Through interviews with ...

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 ...

Cambodia would significantly strain its land and water resources if a projected series of large-scale hydro-power dams are built along the Mekong, according to projections released this week. Fish remains the primary source of protein and researchers [from the Australia National University in Canberra and World Wildlife Fund] ...

Seven million young lobsters had been released into Cambodia’s rivers and Tonle Sap Lake this year in an effort to build the nation’s fish and shellfish stocks, officials said yesterday. Nao Thouk, general director of the Fisheries Administration at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said, about ...

A new long-term project aims to boost fish stocks in rice fields. That was not a typo. For years, rice farmers in Cambodia have swept up fish – as well as frogs, snails and other aquatic fauna – that make their way from streams, canals and ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday marked National Fish Day by urging the public to report anyone fishing inside the Tonle Sap conservation area he established earlier this year to help protect and revive the lake’s vital fish stocks. “People have to dare to stand up and ...

In an effort to increase fish stocks, the Ministry of Agriculture on Wednesday adopted a sub-decree to create four conservation areas in Kandal, Kompong Cham, Prey Veng and Takeo provinces where all fishing activities will be prohibited. Signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on April 6, ...

Tonle Sap fishermen and fisheries experts said yesterday that illegal fishing on the lake had increased substantially since Prime Minister Hun Sen cancelled commercial fishing lots in March and urged authorities to crack down on violators. The prime minister suspended commercial lots across the country last ...

Thailand will not object to the proposed Xayaburi hydropower dam in Laos, but Vientiane must shoulder responsibility for potential environmental damage caused by the US$3.8 billion project, the Bangkok Post reported yesterday. “Laos has the right to construct the dam as it is located inside Lao ...

While crediting his efforts to quash illegal fishing with a surge in this year’s fish stocks, Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday that he would extend the closure of 35 large Tonle Sap lake fishing lots until 2014. Speaking at a road paving project inauguration in ...

Villagers on Koh Kyong island in Preah Sihanouk province are preparing a complaint over more than 300 allegedly unlicensed fishermen who they say are illegally operating in local waters. Loung Bunny, chief of the Association for Natural Protection in Ochroy commune, said yesterday  that fishermen from ...

Ly Yong Phat and his company LYP Group have been ordered to cease all dredging operations on the Tatai river pending a review of the effects by the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology. LYP Group currently has a permit to dredge seven areas of ...