News
Cambodian farmers can no longer rely on the Tonle Sap lake
“I’ve seen lower yields on my farm each year since maybe 2017 or 2018 – there just isn’t enough water,” says Yoeum Yoeut. Yoeut, 52, is a lifelong resident of the Baran district in Cambodia’s northwest Battambang province. Her livelihood has always depended on the natural flooding ...
Gerald Flynn, Phoung Vantha
Australia, UNDP provide $3M to Cambodia for Covid response
The Australian government on May 7 signed an agreement with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to contribute an additional A$4 million (US$3.15 million) to mitigate the impacts of Covid-19 on Cambodia’s economy and people, the UNDP said in a press release. The agreement took effect immediately, ...
Thou Vireak
Cambodia ready to exit LDC status
Cambodia is well-prepared to minimise economic risks when it graduates from its Least Developed Countries status, according to a senior official at the Ministry of Commerce on May 7. Four LDCs – Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh and Nepal – met at a virtual workshop last week to ...
Thou Vireak
COVID-19 As virus cases explode, why has the Mekong region success story ended?
Few outings to a nightclub can claim such dire consequences as the early-February gathering at N8, a windowless adult entertainment venue in an unsuspecting district of the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. Two women, unwitting carriers of the more-infectious B.1.1.7 variant of Covid-19, also known as the ...
Alastair McCready, Wanpen Pajai, and Govi Snell
A metropolis arose in medieval Cambodia – new research shows how many people lived in the Angkor Empire over time
How big were the world’s ancient cities? At its height, the world’s first city of Uruk may have had about 40,000 people about 5,000 years ago. In the medieval period, London may have had a population of about a quarter of a million people, growing to approximately 600,000 by ...
Sarah Klassen and Alison Kyra Carter
Moody’s says Cambodia, ‘Stands Out’ for flood risks
Moody’s Investors Service has said Thursday that Cambodia was among three countries in the Asia-Pacific region most exposed to flood risks arising from climate change. In a statement received from Frankfurt, Moody’s said climate risks such as rising sea levels, droughts, floods and wildfires were particularly ...
Sao Da – AKP
The poor state of press freedom is stunting social progress in Southeast Asia
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released their annual ranking of the global state of press freedom earlier this month and Countries in Southeast Asia did poorly—none of the 11 countries in the ASEAN bloc scored above RSF’s “difficult situation” designation. RSF ranks countries based on a questionnaire given to ...
Zachary Frye
Cambodian Unions and NGOs Call for Workers’ Safety to Combat COVID-19
Cambodian NGOs and trade unions called on Phnom Penh Wednesday to improve health and safety for workers in the country to combat its recent coronavirus outbreak, while the governments of neighboring Vietnam and Laos took precautions Wednesday to keep the virus from spreading within its ...
RFA’s Khmer, Lao and Vietnamese Services. Translated by Samean Yun, Max Avary and Chau Vu. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Group to launch virtual press freedom campaign
The Working Group for Press Freedom has co-organised a two-week campaign with the theme “Information as a Public Good” on social media to promote and highlight the importance of the freedom of the press and urge the public’s participation. In a press release, the working group ...
Voun Dara
People live in fear as Mekong riverbanks collapse
One recent mid-morning, Lev Pheng Ang, a 52-year-old mother who runs a grocery store on the bank of the Mekong River in Rakar Korng Muoy commune, Kandal province’s Muk Kampoul district, was running her business as usual when she heard a loud splash in the ...
Moeun Chhean Nariddh
