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... continue
A waterfall has been blasted less than two kilometres from the Cambodian-Lao border, beginning work on another unapproved hydroelectric dam on the Mekong river, environmental group International Rivers claimed yesterday.
Pianporn Deetes, the Thailand campaign coordinator for International Rivers, said she had learned of the excavation work, near Khone Falls, the largest in South East Asia, during a recent visit to Champasak province, where the Lao government proposes to build the Don Sahong hydroelectric dam. …
Although much less powerful than the proposed 1,285 megawatt Xayaburi dam in northern Laos, Don Sahong, which could have a capacity of 380 megawatts, would also threaten Cambodian fishing communities downstream because of its potential to block the Hou Sahong channel, the only section of the Mekong that fish pass through during the dry season, IR said.
The Malaysian company Mega First Corporation is contracted to build Don Sahong, but fellow Mekong River Commission states Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand have not agreed to the project – a requirement under a 1995 pact. …
While the humanitarian objections to Mondulkiri’s proposed Lower Sesan 2 hydropower dam project are well documented, a report from conservation NGO International Rivers yesterday highlighted an objection of another sort: the Lower Sesan wouldn’t be a very good location for a dam in the first place.
According to the report, which compiled information from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), environmental assessments and local media reports, the Lower Sesan is a poor place for such a project from a logistical standpoint, and the dam would rank among the least efficient in terms of megawatts (MW) of power produced versus land lost to flooding. …
The report said that the Lower Sesan is heavily dammed above the proposed site, and even dams upstream are struggling to get enough water to operate at full capacity – due in part to more dams even farther upstream. …
The hydro-power dams planned for three tributary rivers in north-eastern Cambodia will have unforeseeable social and environmental consequences for the regional and its people, according to a report released yesterday.
Authored by International Rivers and 3S Rivers Protection Network, the report focuses on six hydro-power dams planned for the Sesan, Sekong and Srepok rivers in Stung Treng and Ratanakkiri provinces.
The report asserts that there is a lack of information regarding the long-term effects on the six dams, which environmentalists believe will have irreversible consequences for fisheries and the livelihoods of millions living on the three rivers. …
Cambodia has been asked to send a delegation to the site of the proposed Xayaburi hydro-electric dam in northern Laos, Minister of Water Resources and Meteorology Lim Kean Hor said yesterday.
Kean Hor, who is also chairman of Cambodia’s National Mekong Committee, said the equivalent body in Thailand had urged the Kingdom to inspect development at the site. …
Cambodia has already voiced its opposition to the controversial US$3.8 billion, 1,285-megawatt hydroelectric dam, which in theory is on hold, but which environmental groups say is already being built. …
Cambodia and Vietnam announced in early July they would write a joint letter to the Lao and Thai governments urging that construction of the dam be halted, until the potential trans-boundary impacts of the dam on Mekong communities are studied.
In Laos, the construction of controversial hydroelectric dam in Xayaburi province is under way, despite disagreement from its neighbors, Cambodia and Vietnam.
The Xayaburi dam project started when the Laotian government and Thailand’s giant construction company, Ch Karnchang Pcl, signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2007. However, scientists, activists and two other countries, Cambodia and Vietnam oppose the construction. They claimed that the hydroelectric dam would directly affect hundreds of thousands of people, disconnect the ecosystem, contribute to the extinction of endangered fish species and block the nutrient-rich sediment for Mekong Delta in Vietnam…
Cambodia would significantly strain its land and water resources if a projected series of large-scale hydro-power dams are built along the Mekong, according to projections released this week.
Fish remains the primary source of protein and researchers [from the Australia National University in Canberra and World Wildlife Fund] have estimated that dams planned on the Mekong and its tributaries would result in more than a 9 percent drop in fish stocks. …
Should 11 mainstream dams be built as planned, Cambodia would need at least 29 percent more water annually. And if all 88 mainstream and tributary dams go ahead, that number shoots up to 42 percent. Moreover, the country will need at least 29 percent more pastureland to meet its food needs, placing it among the most vulnerable of all the countries along the Mekong. …
The economic, social and environmental consequences of the construction of dams on the Mekong River could be devastating..
ANU research suggests that millions of people are in danger of going hungry if the dams proceed. Replacing fish as a protein source with alternative food would use more land and water in sensitive environments. …
In an attempt to replenish the nation’s shellfish stocks, the Fisheries Administration has released seven million young lobsters into Cambodian rivers and the Tonle Sap Lake this year, officials said.
Cambodia harvests about 100 tons of wild lobsters annually, although the market demand is for about ten times that number. However the Kingdom’s stocks have fallen sharply over the past few years. …
A kilogram of quality lobster sells for about US$30, up 300 percent from 2005, according to lobster farmers. The climbing prices have encouraged fishing for crustacean, including illegal activities. …
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday approved a new sub-decree geared toward increased protection of the endangered Mekong river dolphin through a series of fishing and motorised transport restrictions in the Mekong river in Kratie and Stung Treng provinces.
The Council of Minister’s sub-decree, obtained on Friday by the Post, sets out to meet management and conservation obligations on Cambodia for the species. …
The sub-decree bans the use of all kinds of fishing grills and motorised transport exceeding 30 kilometres per hour.
The clearance of forest and large-scale construction of infrastructure along the island near Kratie in the protected zone is also prohibited under the 12-point sub-decree. …
The Mekong river dolphin protection zone covers 7,630 square metres and stretches 180 kilometres from Laos into Cambodia.
A district governor and two fisheries officials are among 10 people who will be questioned at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court next week over the destruction of flooded forest to make way for dry-season rice fields in Kampong Thom province, an official said yesterday.
On July 27, the court charged six people, including Samprorch commune chief Peanh Poul, provincial director of water resources Cheat Syvutha and four farmers for their role in clearing flooded forest. …
Military police said on July 5 that in just one week, they confiscated 38 mechanical excavators near the Tonle Sap river that they believed were being used to clear flooded forest, which is crucial to maintaining healthy fish stocks in the Tonle Sap, as fish use the roots of such trees as hatcheries during the wet season.
The Sahrika reports that around 50 villagers in Kandal province protested yesterday in an attempt to stop the sand dredging operation on the Mekong River.
“The activity of sand dredging has severely affected our villagers’ lands and houses”, said village representative Tuy Phy.
Kandal province residents believe that the Mekong River sand dredging has allegedly resulted in the collapse of riverbanks in the Kien Svay district…
The Council of Ministers on Friday approved a draft report on political rights in Cambodia, which made outline efforts being made by the government to reduce poverty and secure land titles for millions across the country, a measure that Cambodia must complete as a signatory to the U.N. convention on human rights.
Prepared by the government’s Human Rights Committee, the draft focuses heavily on a recently introduced policy by Prime Minister Hun Sen to issue land titles to people whose land is located within the concessions of state or private companies. …
Also on Friday, the Council of Ministers approved a draft sub-decree for the establishment of so-called management and protection zone for dolphins in the Mekong River. …
The Cambodian government on Friday said it will limit fishing in a zone in the Mekong River to protect critically endangered freshwater dolphins…
The Irrawaddy dolphin conservation area will cover a 180-kilometre-long (110 miles) stretch of river from eastern Kratie province to the border with Laos, the government said after the measure was approved in the weekly cabinet meeting.
Fishing will still be allowed inside the zone but the use of floating houses, fish cages and gill nets will be banned as they risk endangering the dolphins.
The government estimates there are between 155 and 175 Irrawaddy dolphins left in Cambodia’s stretch of the Mekong River, while WWF last year put the figure at just 85.
The newly created zone “will serve the eco-tourism sector and sustainably preserve dolphins,” the statement said…
Thirteen percent of more than 2,500 freshwater species of fish, crabs and plants profiled across the region are under threat of extinction, a report released on Wednesday says.
According to an International Union for Conservation of Nature study of freshwater biodiversity in the “Indo-Burma” region, which includes Cambodia, that figure could soar as hydro-electric dams are built. …
Environmental groups are concerned that projects such as the Xayaburi dam, a 1,285-hectare hydro dam proposed for the Mekong in northern Laos, could affect the livelihoods of Cambodians who depend on the river. …
The Cambodian government has committed to the construction of five dams along the Mekong River in order to meet a huge demand for electricity, but environmental groups warn that severe repercussions loom for this strategy.
“While each project proposed in Cambodia comes with a different set of impacts, large dams are likely to widen the gap between the rich and the poor, increase malnourishment levels and lead to an environmentally unsustainable future,” Ame Trandem, South East Asia program director for International Rivers, told IPS.
Four dam projects have been approved so far in Cambodia, with one already operational. All are being developed by Chinese companies on build-operate-transfer agreements, according to Trandem…
More than 100 Cham families living in boats on the banks of Phnom Penh’s Chroy Chongva peninsula have agreed to relocate upriver after they celebrate the end of the holy month of Ramadan over the weekend, a community representative said on Friday.
Matt Kriya, a representative for the floating Cham community, said authorities had informed them they would be moved 500 meters north on the Tonle Sap river on Monday as a temporary solution to an order demanding their relocation. …
Chroy Chongva commune chief Chao Sidorn said that authorities were currently working out how to properly relocate the families, but that nothing had yet been decided. …
Thai construction company Ch Karnchang has continued work on the controversial Xayaburi dam in Laos, even as the Lao government has assured other Mekong River nations that the project is postponed pending further environmental studies, the company’s CEO said yesterday.
Ch Karnchang’s CEO Plew Trivisvavet told news agency Reuters that the company has received no formal request from the Lao government to halt work on the Xayaburi dam, despite an agreement between Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam to stop such work. …
Mr. Plew added that work on the dam’s reservoir should begin later this year. Kirk Harbertson, Southeast Asia policy coordinator for environmental group International Rivers, said the reservoir’s construction would completely alter the Mekong River’s ecosystem. …
Construction of the main structure of the supposedly on-hold Xayaburi dam could begin by the end of this year, the Thai company contracted to build it said yesterday.
Ch Karnchang chief executive Plew Trivisvavet said preparatory work at the site of the proposed US$3.8 billion, 1,285-megawatt dam in northern Laos was being undertaken – with the aim of beginning to build the main dam structure on the Lower Mekong River by December.
“We have entered the area for some relocation work and to prepare for the construction of the reservoir,” Plew told Reuters. …
Various statements from Lao government officials, including Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, have said only preparatory work had been approved pending further studies of environment impacts on countries such as Cambodia.
Work has resumed on a controversial $3.5 billion dam across the Mekong River in Laos, its Thai developer said on Thursday, contradicting Laotian assurances it had been suspended following protests over its environmental impact.
Laos agreed in December to suspend the Xayaburi dam project and said on July 13 work had stopped after neighbours Cambodia and Vietnam repeatedly expressed concern that the 1,285 megawatt dam would harm migratory fish and the livelihood of downstream villages…
