News

More than 100 representatives from NGOs, local communities, the UN and the government gathered at Himawari Hotel in the capital on Monday to discuss and exchange ideas on climate change adaptation and funding at a sub-national level. ...

Billed as a Cambodian first, the invitation of 500 civil society and community representatives to a forum on environmental issues with Prime Minister Hun Sen proved largely a platform for the premier to hold forth on policy and politics, with many observers bemoaning the sidelining ...

The NGO Forum on Cambodia yesterday demanded government funding for higher education for indigenous students to mark World Indigenous Peoples’ Day.   ...

NGO Forum director Tek Vannara yesterday called on the Ministry of Land Management to speed up collective land titling for indigenous communities. ...

More than two-thirds of the 158 land disputes triggered by large-scale plantations over the past two decades have yet to be fully resolved, according to a new report by the NGO Forum on Cambodia.   ...

Dam Chan handed over the food in exchange for riel as she described hearing the loud bangs of dynamite in the distance. The 55-year-old has farmed and sold food in Preah Rumkel commune her entire life and is concerned about the future of her home ...

Officials and environmentalists have congratulated Vietnam and the United States on a recent climate changed agreement signed between the two former adversaries, saying the co-operation will have a positive impact on mitigating the effects of the phenomenon in the region. ...

A new plan to protect the environment started taking shape yesterday when the Environment Ministry held a workshop to discuss ideas on how to convert numerous laws into a single code to govern the county’s natural resources. It is expected the process will take two years ...

Vegetables, fruit and other food products imported from neighboring countries are undermining domestic agricultural production and steps need to be taken to assist the industry here, a forum was told yesterday. ...

The River Coalition of Cambodia, along with 13 other NGOs, released a letter yesterday requesting Prime Minister Hun Sen demand the Lao government to cancel the construction of their Don Sahong hydropower dam and also pause all hydropower projects along the Mekong River due to ...

Civil society groups are calling for Laos’ Don Sahong hydropower dam project to be discussed when Southeast Asian leaders meet with U.S. President Barack Obama next week. ...

Cambodia continues to lack an effective way to resolve land disputes, which remain a major destroyer of livelihoods for many families, according to a study released by the NGO Forum yesterday.The study examines 26 sample villages in Battambang, Kampong Speu, Pursat and Kampong Chhnang provinces, ...

A hand-painted sign nailed to a tree at the entrance of Sre Ko village along the southern banks of the Se San River in Stung Treng province greets visitors with a disturbing message – one made even more alarming by the seemingly tranquil environment and ...

Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong asked Laos’ deputy prime minister for further study of the Don Sahong hydropower dam before construction begins during a meeting with the envoy in Phnom Penh on Tuesday. ...

NGOs yesterday called on the government to make funds for combating the effects of climate change available to local governments, rather than concentrating them at the national level. ...

A group of NGOs on Monday told the World Bank to fix the land-rights problems surrounding its past projects in Cambodia before lifting a freeze on new lending to the country it imposed in 2011 to protest the mass eviction of Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak ...

A leaked copy of the contentious draft law on associations and NGOs is fuelling fears among its many critics that its purpose is to stifle criticism of the government by giving it broad powers to shut down both foreign and domestic associations and NGOs. ...

With the approval last week of a draft NGO law by Cambodia’s Council of Ministers, many pro-democracy and rights advocates say they should now have a chance to add their comments on the bill, before it goes to the National Assembly for debate. ...

A government official rejected calls from a pair of NGOs on Tuesday to do more for Phnom Penh’s slums amid what they described as an opaque land-titling system that has routinely failed poor communities. In a joint report, “The Exclusion of Urban Poor Communities From Systematic ...

A 60-year-old woman was injured and sent to hospital yesterday when police cracked down on anti-eviction protesters blocking a busy bridge in Koh Kong province, villagers said. More than 100 villagers locked in a dispute with the company that manages the Koh Kong Special Economic ...

A group of NGOs yesterday called for more detailed information on national budgets to be made public before their approval, maintaining that the public had a right to know about and comment on the expenditures that would ultimately affect their day-to-day lives. Tek Vannara, director of ...

Experts say that Cambodia’s economic growth remains fragile and unsustainable, bringing environmental degradation, social inequality and, at times, unrest to the country. Cambodia has maintained a high economic growth rate in recent years, up to 8 percent, “but that high growth comes with high costs,” said ...

Authorities in Mondolkiri province prevented hundreds of ethnic minority members from marching through Sen Monorom City to mark International Day of the World’s Indigenous People on Saturday, claiming it would confuse tourists. Marches elsewhere were allowed to go ahead. Doung Pen said Sunday that he was ...

The single-party National Assembly on Thursday approved the 2014 to 2018 National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP), which will cost an estimated $26.58 billion to implement. An extradition agreement between Cambodia and Vietnam was also passed. Approved earlier this month by the Council of Ministers, it is ...