News

In July, conservationists in Cambodia sounded the alarm over a regulation that saw eight protected areas in Koh Kong province collectively lose territory twice the size of Phnom Penh, the country’s capital. Officials said the move, affecting nearly 127,000 hectares (314,000 acres) under Sub-decree No. ...

Now new research, as part of a project led by University of Southampton, has shown sand mining is causing river beds to lower, leading to riverbank instability and increasing the likelihood of dangerous river bank collapse, damaging infrastructure and housing and putting lives at risk. The ...

Sand-dredging was suspended in Siem Reap province’s Banteay Srei district on Monday after it was found that unlicensed operations had polluted creeks, leaving fish dead and impacting residents. Banteay Srei district governor Khim Finan told The Post on Tuesday that it had been found that ...

The Koh Kong provincial court on Tuesday heard the case of Spanish environmental activist Alejandro “Alex” Gonzalez-Davidson, who is accused of being an accomplice in “threatening to cause destruction, defacement or damage” and inciting others to do the same. Gonzalez-Davidson’s defence lawyer, Sam Chamroeun, said ...

A member of the Supreme Consultation Forum told The Post on Thursday that he had questioned the Ministry of Mines and Energy over its position regarding a proposed project to develop a sizeable stretch of the Mekong River. ...

The Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology said on Tuesday it is conducting an environmental impact study after it received a proposal from Try Pheap Engineering & Construction Co Ltd to dredge the Mekong River and use the sand to develop the river bank. ...

Try Pheap Engineering & Construction Co Ltd has requested permission from Prime Minister Hun Sen to pump and restore the banks of the Mekong river, according to a Council of Ministers’ letter. The restoration area in question stretches from the Kaam Samnor Cambodia-Vietnam border checkpoint ...

If you were disturbed by the damage done to Cambodian coastal fisheries by the industrial-scale dredging of sand for sale to Singapore, as shown in the new documentary short “The Lost World,” there’s good news: the practice has largely been shut down in Koh Kong, ...

Public forum was held on Thursday at the request of Minister of Education, Youth and Sport Hang Chuon Naron to address the ongoing sand dredging operation along the Mekong river.Earlier on August 22, Naron called on Prime Minister Hun Sen to provide a solution to ...

The illegal filling of a mangrove forest in Peam Krasaop Wildlife Sanctuary is being investigated, Koh Kong provincial authorities said yesterday, though officials say they still don’t know who is behind the crime. Sok Sothy, deputy provincial governor, said the sand dredging and filling in of ...

Stung Treng provincial authorities on Friday shut down an illegal sand dredging operation on the Sesan River and confiscated equipment after having warned the company to cease operations since December, officials said yesterday. ...

Following several warnings, officials in Prey Veng province’s Peamro district yesterday shuttered an illegal sand-dredging operation being run by a provincial police officer.Chum Chea, Prek Khsay Khor commune chief, said more than 10 officers on Wednesday halted the operation and confiscated machinery, with the operation ...

Twenty-two NGOs released a joint statement yesterday demanding the release of two activists detained by Koh Kong Provincial Court after recording a video of sand dredging. ...

Still more riverbank collapses have struck a community in Kandal province’s Sa’ang district where multiple houses have crumbled into the Tonle Bassac river a stone’s throw from where four companies are dredging the riverbed for sand. ...

A Koh Kong environmental official yesterday said a company with a sand-washing facility in an area where the Ministry of Mines and Energy last month banned sand dredging would be allowed to keep and operate its facility. ...

The Ministry of Mines and Energy has permanently banned sand exports from Koh Kong province – eight months after it imposed a temporary ban following controversy over large discrepancies found in sand export figures to Singapore. ...

Activists and a fisherman yesterday claimed that a company has started sand dredging within a wildlife sanctuary in Koh Kong, despite a standing ban on sand exports from companies operating in coastal areas. ...

Activists say a new sand-processing facility is under construction in Koh Kong’s Tatai Wildlife Sanctuary, in the vicinity of the area where two companies were granted permission to conduct environmental impact assessments (EIAs) for sand-dredging projects, documents show, despite a standing government ban on sand ...

About 30 villagers escorted two environmental activists from Kandal province’s Sa’ang district to the relative safety of Phnom Penh yesterday after the pair were allegedly harassed by local police for helping coordinate a protest against sand dredging in the area the day before. ...

Over 200 people held a protest yesterday morning in Kandal province’s Sa’ang district, demanding that provincial authorities halt sand-dredging operations on the Bassac River. ...

Mines Ministry officials yesterday announced a project to shore up sections of the Mekong river affected by erosion that threatens families in Kandal province’s Mok Kampol district.   ...

The Court of Appeal on Wednesday upheld a $25,000 fine for three environmental activists who fled the country after being convicted of threatening to destroy a sand dredging barge in Koh Kong province in 2015. They are now debating returning home, however, after the court ...

Kampong Cham authorities met with concerned villagers on Friday over a proposed sand-dredging project that some fear could lead to the collapse of their riverbank. More than 220 families living on the riverbank in Tamieng village thumbprinted a petition delivered to provincial authorities requesting that ...

More than 120 families in Phnom Penh’s Dangkao district sent a letter on Monday to the district governor asking for his help in addressing the flooding problem that has seen some of their homes collapse and has forced many to seek temporary accommodation elsewhere, villagers ...