Kampot pepper yield down
May 20th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Agriculture & Agri-business, Business & Commercial Development, Climate Change, Corn, Domestic Investment, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, News Source
This year’s weather has proven too hot for the Kingdom’s famous Kampot pepper, as yields of the spice dropped for the first time since 2008.
Some 22 tonnes of pepper were harvested this year between January and May, short of the 27 tonnes predicted for this season, and a tonne lower than last year’s yield, said Nguon Lay, director of the Kampot Pepper Promotion Association (KPPA).
This is the first drop in output, he said, since pepper growers in the region formed the KPPA in October 2008, which today has a combined pepper farmland of 41 hectares and 102,500 trees. …
Rann Reuy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052065706/Business/kampot-pepper-yield-down.html
Koh Kong Water Shortage Leaves Families Dry
May 16th, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Climate Change, Disasters & Disaster Management, Environment & Natural Resources, Infrastructure, Lakes/Rivers, Social Concerns
Hundreds of families in Koh Kong province’s Khmara Phoumint City are suffering from a shortage of water, which is provided by a reservoir that dried up during the hot season, local officials said yesterday.
Smach Meanchey and Dang Tong communes typically receive water from the Cham Yeam reservoir in Mondol Seima district, said Pich Si Yun, provincial director of the department of industry mines and energy.
The water is channelled from the reservoir, located about 7 km from the city, to the two communes by LTP Group, a company owned by CCP Senator Ly Yong Phat, he said. …
Dang Tong commune chief Lim Dy said the problem was more serious than the provincial authorities reported. All the families in his commune-more than 2,000-have been affected by the shortage for the past two weeks, he said. …
Chhorn Chansy,
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/koh-kong-water-shortage-leaves-families-dry-24517/
Fishermen feeling the heat
April 11th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Agriculture & Agri-business, Climate Change, Environment & Natural Resources, Fishing, Lakes/Rivers, News Source
Rising water temperatures are affecting fisheries and marine life, said several representatives of Cambodia’s aquaculture industry, and the effect is decreasing seed production and lowering aquaculture farmers’ productivity.
Say Sorn, president of aquaculture seed production in Siem Reap province, told the Post yesterday that water temperature is an important factor for marine life sustainability. However, temperatures have been rising much higher than in previous years, and this is affecting fish farming in his province. …
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013041165024/Business/fishermen-feeling-the-heat.html
Mondolkiri, Kompong Thom Face Climate Threat
April 2nd, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Agriculture & Agri-business, Agro-Industry, Business & Commercial Development, Climate Change, Disasters & Disaster Management, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Farming, International Relations, Reports, Rice, Social Concerns
Mondolkiri and Kompong Thom provinces could suffer some of the most extreme effects of climate change in the Lower Mekong Basin region, such as a high incidence of flash floods and droughts by 2050, according to a new study.
Analyzing temperature and rainfall from 84 provinces in the Mekong region-which includes Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam- the study identifies Mondolkiri as a “primary priority hotspot” for vulnerability for climate change. …
“Reduced rice and cassava yields are a threat to food security and health, as well as placing more pressure on exploitation of [non-timber forest products] for food. Reduced cassava yields would also reduce livestock feed availability,” the study found.
Kompong Thom will experience an 18 percent increase in precipitation during the wet season, while the maximum temperatures will increase by 4 degrees. …
To counteract these effects the government and the affected communities should look into diversifying their crops, such as planting heat-tolerant or drought tolerant varieties, the study says.
Dene-Hern Chen,
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/mondolkiri-kompong-thom-face-climate-threat-17224/
Climate change to affect Mekong production
April 1st, 2013, UPI, Agriculture & Agri-business, Business & Commercial Development, Climate Change, Construction, Disasters & Disaster Management, Electricity, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Farming, Fishing, Hydroelectricity, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Lakes/Rivers, Reports, Social Concerns, Water
Climate change will have a significant effect on major industrial and food crops in the Lower Mekong basin countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, says a new study.
The study, conducted by the Mekong Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change Project for the U.S. Agency for International Development, marks the first step of the project’s aim to help communities in the four countries to develop local climate change adaptation assessments and action plans.
Considered one of the most fertile areas of Southeast Asia, the Mekong basin is known for its production of rice and maize. About 70 percent of the basin’s population of 60 million people earns a living as farmers and fishers. …
Aside from the looming danger of climate change, plans to build a series of mega-dams across the river to generate electricity also pose a threat to the Mekong countries, experts say. …
“By blocking the transport of sediment, the dams will contribute to even greater erosion in the fertile Mekong Delta, which is already threatened by increasing saltwater intrusion as a result of rising sea levels,” Aviva Imhof, [International Rivers] group’s campaigns director told Voice of America.
United Press International Staff
http://www.upiasia.com/Top-News/2013/04/01/Climate-change-to-affect-Mekong-production/UPI-54261364842799/
In Washington, ‘Mekong Days’ Puts River in Focus
March 29th, 2013, VOA, Agriculture & Agri-business, Business & Commercial Development, Climate Change, Construction, Electricity, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Fishing, Hydroelectricity, Infrastructure, International Relations, Lakes/Rivers, Social Concerns, Water
Advocacy groups, environmentalists and policy-makers have wrapped up five days of events surrounding Mekong River issues in Washington.
“Mekong Days,” a series of talks, films and other forums that ended Tuesday, highlighted issues in the region, where some 60 million people live.
The Mekong River, a major source of food for many in the region, is currently under increased pressure from hydropower dam projects and the potential impact of climate change. Environmental advocates say the dams could hurt fish stocks in the river, even as temperature and rainfall changes threaten agriculture and livestock. …
A recent study funded by USAID, “Mekong Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change,” found increasing threats to livestock, fisheries and other agriculture. …
At least 11 dams are currently planned for the lower Mekong, a major concern for fish populations that migrate up and down the river. China has built four dams upstream already, and Laos is in the process of building a dam in Xayaburi province, despite objections from Cambodian and Vietnam.
Sok Khemara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/in-washington-mekong-days-puts-river-in-focus/1630640.html
Grasslands present dilemma
March 26th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Agriculture & Agri-business, Business & Commercial Development, Climate Change, Disasters & Disaster Management, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Farming, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Lakes/Rivers, Reports, Rice, Social Concerns
A week after British researchers released a study warning that the nation’s grasslands would soon be lost if drastic action was not taken to protect them, some agricultural experts have called for moderation, noting that the intensive rice cultivation blamed for the grasslands’ destruction is critical to the nation’s developing commercial rice sector. …
Dr Volker Kleinhenz, an agricultural consultant who has researched rice cultivation in the Kingdom extensively, called the area around the Tonle Sap, “exceptional” because of the readily available source of water for irrigation.
“Double-cropping can double annual yields. Furthermore, the yields and quality of dry-season rice are usually better than that of wet-season rice, predisposing this crop for export,” he said. …
Since 2005, the year researchers say intensive rice cultivation became the leading cause of destruction of the grasslands, rice exports have increased exponentially – from 5,971 tonnes in 2005 to 192,666 tonnes last year – according to statistics from the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Danson Cheong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032664676/National/grasslands-present-dilemma.html
$10 mln to protect ecosystems in Southeast Asia
March 25th, 2013, The Cambodia Herald, Business & Commercial Development, Climate Change, Disasters & Disaster Management, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, International Relations, Lakes/Rivers, Social Concerns
The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund has committed to provide another $10 mln U.S. in grants to address the environmental crisis engulfing mainland Southeast Asia.
The ground-breaking biodiversity fund was launched in 2008. During the first phase, $10 mln was invested in efforts to conserve the critical ecosystems in the Indo-Burma Hotspot, which includes the Irrawaddy, Thanlwin (Salween), Chao Phraya, Red, Pearl and Mekong Rivers and Tonle Sap Lake system.
Collectively, these systems sustain the economy, cultures and biodiversity of one of the biologically richest and most densely populated regions on earth.
The Cambodia Herald Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=ZmM3ZDQzYjBiMmV
Documentary Looks at Impact of Mekong Dams
March 22nd, 2013, VOA, Agriculture & Agri-business, Business & Commercial Development, Climate Change, Construction, Electricity, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Fishing, Hydroelectricity, Infrastructure, International Relations, Lakes/Rivers, Social Concerns, Water
An updated documentary, “Where Have All the Fish Gone?,” examines the impacts of hydroelectric dams on the Mekong River.
The Xayaburi dam, which would produce hydropower for market, has become a divisive issue among Mekong River countries. Critics say it could severely damage ecosystems on which lower countries like Cambodia and Vietnam rely. It is one of 11 dams under consideration on the lower Mekong. …
Some 60 million people live along the Mekong River, relying on it for food and agriculture. The use of the river is supposed to be supervised by the Mekong River Commission, which has representatives from regional governments. …
Say Mony
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/documentary-looks-at-impact-of-mekong-dams/1626779.html
Short on Water in the Tonle Sap
March 20th, 2013, Radio Free Asia, Agriculture & Agri-business, Business & Commercial Development, Climate Change, Construction, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Fishing, Infrastructure, Lakes/Rivers, Social Concerns
Residents of a village in the middle of Cambodia’s Tonle Sap “Great Lake” live surrounded by water, but don’t have enough access to clean water for drinking, cooking, and washing.
The Tonle Sap, a combined lake and river system that swells in the rainy season to form Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake, has for generations supported fishing communities living in floating villages of moored houseboats.
But the silt deposited by the flow of the Mekong River, which nourishes the Tonle Sap’s abundance of fish that form a key source of food for millions of Cambodians, makes its brown, muddy waters unsuitable for daily use by households. …
During the wet season, residents can get clean water from nearby ponds and wells, but during the dry season villagers have to buy bottled water. …
Radio Free Asia Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/water-03202013141227.html
New study reveals catastrophic loss of Cambodia’s tropical flooded grasslands
March 17th, 2013, Phys Org News, Agriculture & Agri-business, Agro-Industry, Business & Commercial Development, Climate Change, Construction, Disasters & Disaster Management, Economics, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Farming, Fishing, Infrastructure, International Relations, Lakes/Rivers, Land Tenure, Reports
Around half of Cambodia’s tropical flooded grasslands have been lost in just 10 years according to new research from the University of East Anglia. The seasonally flooded grasslands around the Tonle Sap, Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake, are of great importance for biodiversity and a refuge for 11 globally-threatened bird species, including the Bengal Florican. They are also a vital fishing, grazing, and traditional rice farming resource for around 1.1 million people. …
The grassland area spanned 3349 km² in 1995, but by 2005 it had been reduced to just 1817 km² – a loss of 46 per cent.
Despite conservation efforts in some areas, it has continued to shrink rapidly since, with a further 19 per cent lost in four years (2005-2009) from the key remaining grassland area in the southeast of the Tonle Sap floodplain.
Factors include intensive commercial rice farming with construction of irrigation channels, which is often illegal. Some areas have also been lost to scrubland where traditional, low-intensity agricultural activity has been abandoned. …
Phys Org News Staff
http://phys.org/news/2013-03-reveals-catastrophic-loss-cambodia-tropical.html
Villagers Petition Against Dam
February 14th, 2013, Radio Free Asia, Climate Change, Construction, Disasters & Disaster Management, Electricity, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Hydroelectricity, Infrastructure, Lakes/Rivers, News Source, Water
Ethnic minority villagers expecting to be displaced by a proposed Chinese-built hydroelectric dam in northeastern Cambodia are asking the country’s parliament not to approve a law providing financial guarantees for the project. …
Villagers living along three rivers that will be affected by the dam spoke at a press conference hosted on Thursday by the NGO Forum on Cambodia, urging the National Assembly to reject the draft law. …
Seak Mekong, Srekor commune chief in Strung Treng province, told RFA’s Khmer Service on Wednesday that villagers have petitioned authorities over their concerns and have asked for relocation sites, but have received no response. …
RFA’s Khmer Service
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/villagers-02142013163955.html
Climate change threatens Asian birds
February 11th, 2013, The Economic Times, Climate Change, Environment & Natural Resources, News Source
Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam are among the six countries whose bird species will suffer, in the future, from the effects of climate change, according to a research conducted by two British scientist institutions. …
The document, published by Global Biological Change magazine, assesses a future distribution in more protected sites of nearly 370 endangered species in the eastern Himalayas and the regions near Mekong. …
The Economic Times
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/environment/flora-fauna/climate-change-threatens-asian-birds/articleshow/18443828.cms
Cambodia exposed to large fiscal risks from disasters
December 20th, 2012, China Daily, Climate Change, Disasters & Disaster Management, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, News Source
Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines are the three Southeast Asian countries most heavily exposed to fiscal risks from disasters, the World Bank warned yesterday.
In its annual economic update on East Asia and the Pacific, the bank said the region was the most disaster-stricken in the world with more than 1.6 billion people affected by natural catastrophes since 2000.
“Disasters disproportionally affect the poor, vulnerable and marginalised,” it said. “Disasters can also push affected households further into debt with the poor carrying the greatest debt burden.” …
asianewsnet
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2012-12/20/content_16035026.htm
UN,Cambodia jointly hold workshop on Sustainable Energy for All
December 13th, 2012, Xinhuanet News, Climate Change, Electricity, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Green Energy, Hydroelectricity, International Relations, Natural Gas, Oil, Solar Power, Technical Assistance, Water
The United Nations Development Program and Cambodian Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy on Thursday jointly held a workshop on Sustainable Energy for All ( SE4All) in order to discuss the future of sustainable energy in Cambodia.
The workshop, opened by Suy Sem, Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy, and UN Resident Coordinator Douglas Broderick, was attended by 80 people from various ministries, development partners, non-governmental organizations and civil society. …
Editor: Hou Qiang
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-12/13/c_132038593.htm
Cambodia’s mangroves under threat
December 5th, 2012, The Phnom Penh Post, Agriculture & Agri-business, Climate Change, Environment & Natural Resources, News Source
Cambodia’s vital southern mangrove systems are choking as rising sea levels, agitated by climate change, inundate them with sand, while sand dredging sucks them dry of sediment, a study by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has found.
Stressed by a host of escalating environmental pressures, mangroves in Koh Kong and Kampot provinces, including the largest in all of Southeast Asia, are struggling, the IUCN study reports. …
Leang Phannara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012120560112/National-news/mangroves-threatened.html
Coalition of Cambodian NGOs calls for help with climate change
November 26th, 2012, The Phnom Penh Post, Climate Change, Disasters & Disaster Management, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Foreign Aid, News Source, Technical Assistance
As the latest UN climate change conference begins today in Doha, Qatar, a coalition of Cambodian NGOs is joining calls for developed countries to bear more of the burden of combating climate change.
Cambodia and other poor countries are unprepared to deal with rapid climate change on their own and should not have to do so, because developed countries are largely responsible for the problem, argues a position paper released yesterday by the Cambodia Climate Change Network and the NGO Forum of Cambodia. …
Justine Drennan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012112659936/National-news/coalition-of-cambodian-ngos-calls-for-help-with-climate-change.html
Widening emissions gap too high for climate tackle: report
November 26th, 2012, The Phnom Penh Post, Climate Change, Disasters & Disaster Management, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, News Source
As nations meet at the 2012 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Doha today, the greenhouse-gas emissions gap is widening, according to a report by the UN Environment Program (UNEP) released last week.
Keeping the global average temperature rise below two degrees Celsius requires that action on climate change be scaled up quickly. …
Anne Renzenbrink
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012112659931/Business/widening-emissions-gap-too-high-for-climate-tackle-report.html
1 in 20 Firms Carry Out Environment Assessments
November 23rd, 2012, The Cambodia Daily, Climate Change, Disasters & Disaster Management, Economic Land Concessions, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Hydroelectricity, Lakes/Rivers, News Source, Social Land Concessions, Water
Only about 5 percent of the roughly 2,000 major development projects, such as dams, roads and bridges, approved by the government between 2004 and 2011 carried out environmental impact assessments, an official at the ministry of Environment said yesterday.
Speaking at a workshop in Phnom Penh on a new draft Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) law, Danh Serey, deputy director of the ministry’s EIA department, said existing legislation such as the 1996 Law on Environmental Protection and Natural Resource Management was not strong enough to ensure companies conduct the necessary environmental check before starting work. …
Simon Lewis and Khuon Narim, P.1
www.cambodiadaily.com
Millions Threatened by Dam in Stung Treng
November 23rd, 2012, The Cambodia Daily, Climate Change, Construction, Disasters & Disaster Management, Electricity, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Hydroelectricity, Infrastructure, Lakes/Rivers, News Source, Water
More studies should be conducted on the controversial Lower Sesan 2 dam in Stung Treng province in order to understand its potential social and environmental effects, Conservation International (C.I.) said in a statement.
The Lower Sesan 2-as well as other dams planned for the Sesan, Srepok and Sekong rivers-will affect the 1.1 million people who depend on the Tonle Sap river and another 60 million people living in the Mekong Delta, C.I. said. …
Dene-Hern Chen and Kuch Naren, P.19
www.cambodiadaily.com