Environment and natural resources
Cambodian MPs revisit Vietnam border pond issue
Cambodia National Rescue Party lawmakers Mao Monivann and Son Chhay visited a disputed area on the border between Ratanakkiri’s O’Yadav district and Vietnam on 30 November and urged the government to take action over several ponds allegedly dug by the Vietnamese in Cambodian territory. Keep reading ...
Judge knocks back villagers on Laos dam
A Central Administrative Court judge has given a preliminary opinion dismissing villagers’ demands to have a say in the Xayaburi hydropower dam project, on the grounds that it is not a state-owned project. The judge, whose name court officials declined to reveal, also said that a process ...
'Agencies broke no laws over Mekong dam'
A Supreme Administrative Court judge rapporteur has suggested it will rule in favour of five state agencies accused of violating laws in their handling of the Xayaburi Dam project in Laos. The judge opinion was the case against them be dismissed, as the five state agencies in ...
RUPP hosts climate meet ahead of COP21
Over 100 students and climate change activists packed into a lecture hall at the Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Center at Royal University of Phnom Penh on 29 November afternoon for a “public mobilisation” to raise awareness of Cambodia’s position at the UN Climate Talks in Paris (COP 21) ...
NLD urged to make environment a focus
After five years in which the government had concentrated on economic reforms, it was now time to protect the neglected environment, activists say. Speaking at a 25 November conference on environmental laws organised by the Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability, participants said the incoming government ...
Mekong yields first giant catfish of year
One of the largest and rarest freshwater fish in the world was netted by local fishermen near Phnom Penh earlier this month. A two-metre Mekong giant catfish, weighing an estimated 90 to 114 kilos, one of only a handful left of a species that faces extinction, ...
Vietnam businesses pushed to save energy
With many companies in Vietnam remaining energy inefficient, the demand for consultation on energy saving solutions is high. The Ho Chi Minh City Energy Conservation Centre, for instance, has been offering consultation to more than 200 companies a year. Keep reading ...
Laos counts the cost of climate change: record floods, drought and landslides
Villagers in Namai, central Laos, are unanimous in saying that the greatest threat facing Namai now is natural disaster – in the form of cyclones, storms, floods and drought. Over the past 10 years, say village leaders, they have seen record floods, droughts and landslides, ...
Thailand aims to cut emissions 25%
Thailand will clarify its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20-25% within 2030 at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP 21, in Paris next month. Prasert Sirinapaporn, director of Climate Change Management and the Coordination Division of the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental ...
Cambodia at high risk of natural disasters
A report released on 23 November by the United Nations and the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters shows that Cambodia’s population is among the world’s 10 most affected by natural disasters. Published on Monday, The Human Cost of Weather Related Disasters considers 20 years ...