Environment and natural resources

While one government ministry gave approval to a Chinese company to collect yellow vine in Koh Kong province, another ministry told the provincial governor on November 24 to halt the construction of processing facilities for the vine, according to letters obtained on November 24. The Ministry ...

Localisation of Sustainable Development Goals, effective development partnerships, food and nutrition security, green growth, climate change and disaster response preparedness are cross-sectoral topics of discussion between the government and development partners this year. Experts from the government and development partners’ representative agencies began discussion on ...

A study looking at economic land concessions in Ratanakkiri province has found that, contrary to the oft-repeated government narrative, they have brought almost no benefits to local communities. Speaking at a launch event for the study yesterday, one of the researchers behind it, Dr Neth ...

Just weeks ahead of the main fishing season on the Tonle Sap river, which supplies the majority of the fish used in the Kingdom’s traditional cooking sauce, prahok, government officials are predicting a better catch this season as water levels have recovered from last year’s ...

Just weeks after Laos announced its plans to begin constructing a third mainstream dam in the Lower Mekong River region, Prime Minister Hun Sen used a bilateral meeting with his Laotian counterpart to signal that the controversial Don Sahong dam will no longer receive opposition ...

A Union minister is trying to launch a new tripartite commission for management of the Salween/Thanlwin River with a stated aim of avoiding disputes concerning water resources. Minister for Transport and Communication U Thant Sin Maung said the Thanlwin River Commission should include representatives from ...

Despite the presence of a blanket ban by the Cambodian government on all trade in Siamese rosewood since 2013, exports of the precious timber to Vietnam increased in the third quarter of this year, according to Vietnamese customs data compiled by US-based NGO Forest Trends. ...

The sea waters off Ninh Thuan province are in danger of becoming polluted as big volumes of domestic garbage from thousands of local people are discharged into the sea every day. Large landfills have arisen in the coastal areas of Ca Na, Phuoc Diem and Phuoc ...

 Several factors are disrupting the terrain for investment in large hydropower dams, and governments should take note. The government of Laos officially submitted the Pak Beng Dam to the Mekong River Commission in mid-November and has begun preparatory work around the future dam site. While ...

The Ministry of Industry and Trade removed 471 hydropower plant projects from its power development plan after reviewing the plan in accordance with a National Assembly resolution passed in 2013. According to the ministry and the people’s committees of provinces nationwide, the projects are mostly small ...