Cambodia Launches “One Tourist, One Tree” Campaign To Promote Green Tourism
February 27th, 2013, Xinhuanet News, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Industry, International Relations, Tourism
Cambodia on Wednesday launched a “one tourist, one tree” campaign, aiming to promote green tourism and environment protection, Tourism Minister Thong Khon said.
“We have already prepared tourism gardens in 11 provinces including cultural Siem Reap province, coastal Preah Sihanouk province and eco-tourism side in Kratie province. A garden has a minimum size of 5 hectares,” he said.”Tourists who love green environment, they can go and grow tree seedlings in those gardens.”
Tourism is one of the major four pillars supporting this Southeast Asian nation’s economy. He said the country greeted 3. 58 million foreign tourists last year, generating total revenue of about 2.2 billion U.S. dollars. “We predict that the sector will attract about 4 million foreign visitors this year,” he said. …
Xinhuanet Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/travel/2013-02/27/c_132196175.htm
Operations commence at 18MW Kirirom III hydro power plant in Cambodia
February 26th, 2013, Energy Business Review, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Electricity, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Foreign Investment, Hydroelectricity, Infrastructure, International Relations, Lakes/Rivers, Water
The Cambodian government has commenced operations at the 18MW Kirirom III hydro power plant in the southwestern part of the country.
The facility will produce 78 million KWh of electricity a year and help the country reduce its power shortage crisis and dependence on oil-fueled electricity. …
Electricity from the hydro plant is sold to state-owned firm Electricity of Cambodia for a cost of 7.91 cents per KWh. …
The Kirirom III dam is the 3rd Chinese hydroelectric investment that has begun operations in Cambodia following the 193MW Kamchay plant in Kampot province and the 12MW Kirirom I facility in Kampong Speu province. …
Charcoal prices rise in urban areas
February 26th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Timber/Wood
Deforestation and Cambodia’s strong economic growth have resulted in an increase in the price of charcoal, an energy source the poor are dependent on, charcoal vendors say.
The price of charcoal in Phnom Penh had increased at least 200 riel ($0.05) a kilogram compared to 2012, charcoal vendor Amom told the Post yesterday. …
Firewood and charcoal form the main sources of energy for households and many small and medium-size enterprises, such as palm-sugar producers, noodle factories and brick and tile industries, according to a background document to Cambodia’s National Forest Program from the Technical Working Group on Forestry and Environment (TWG-F&E). …
The number of households projected to use charcoal as an energy source in Cambodia will rise to more than one million in 2015 from about 500,000 in 2008, according to a 2008 study conducted jointly by Cambodia’s Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, the UN Development Program and GERES. …
Sarah Thust
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022661597/Business/charcoal-prices-rise-in-urban-areas.html
Logger Reported Dead as Rosewood Trade Directive Announced
February 26th, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Business & Commercial Development, Environment & Natural Resources, News Source, Timber/Wood, Trade
Amid reports that a second Cambodian has been killed this year by Thai armed forces while illegally logging in Thai border territory, officials had little detail yesterday on a government directive that is aimed at ending the international demand for rosewood from Cambodia.
Prime Minister Hun Sen announced Friday that he had signed a new directive, which was prepared by Interior Minister Sor Kheng, to outlaw the logging and selling of high-value rosewood. Mr. Hun Sen also asked unnamed countries to “stop buying” rosewood from Cambodia. …
Khy Sovuthy, P.18
www.cambodiadaily.com
PM Hun Sen ushers in new dam
February 25th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Electricity, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Foreign Investment, Hydroelectricity, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Lakes/Rivers, Social Concerns, Water
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday inaugurated the third in a string of six Chinese-funded hydropower dam projects, offering lavish praise for the superpower as he officially opened the $47 million Kirirom 3 dam in Koh Kong.
“I am really pleased for the new achievement as an addition to many existing achievements flowing from China,” Hun Sen told an assembled crowd of more than 2,000, which included villagers, the Chinese ambassador, company representatives and high-ranking government officials.
“Watching the prime minister opening this Kirirom 3 with such a happy face, we’re a little concerned. We worry the number of dams built will continue to be built without proper investigation or proper study as to the impacts,” said opposition lawmaker Son Chhay, who in parliament has repeatedly called for stricter regulation of the hydropower industry. …
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022561590/National/pm-hun-sen-ushers-in-new-dam.html
PM’s Logging Decree ‘Too Late’
February 25th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Infrastructure, International Relations, Social Concerns, Timber/Wood
Activists are welcoming Prime Minister Hun Sen’s public vow to prevent logging and rosewood trafficking, but they also say it’s too little too late to have any serious impact on protecting Cambodia’s already decimated forests.
In a speech on Friday at the Ministry of Interior, Hun Sen said he was joining in the battle to protect the country’s precious rosewood, or Kronhung trees, which are high-value targets for loggers for the enticing amounts of money they fetch. …
Chan Soveth, senior investigator of rights group Adhoc, said that if there were large amounts of rosewood to protect remaining in Cambodian forests, then Cambodians wouldn’t go across the border to log in other countries.
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022561589/National/pm-s-logging-decree-too-late.html
Hun Sen says Hydropower Is the Key to Stable Electricity Prices
February 25th, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Electricity, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Hydroelectricity, Infrastructure, International Relations, Lakes/Rivers, Oil, Production, Water
Cambodia’s focus on hydropower will reduce its independence on oil and ensure nationwide access to electricity at a stable price, Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a speech Saturday during the inauguration of a $47.1 million hydropower dam in Koh Kong province. …
However environmental groups have said the government’s focus on hydropower is misguided, as information on the likely environmental and social impacts of dam projects is sorely lacking, particularly the consequences for the countries fisheries. …
Mr. Hun Sen also said that Cambodia currently obtains more than 200 megawatts of electricity from its hydroelectric dams: 190 megawatts from the Kamchay dam in Kampot province, 18 megawatts from the Kirrirom II dam in Koh Kong and another 12 from the Kirrirom I dam in Kompong Speu province.
But in the coming years, Mr. Hun Sen said, additional hydroelectric dams will produce hundreds more megawatts for domestic consumption. …
Neou Vannarin, P.19
www.cambodiadaily.com
Hun Sen Says Chinese Companies Not Favored, Just Served
February 25th, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Economics, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Foreign Investment, Hydroelectricity, Infrastructure, International Relations, Lakes/Rivers
Prime Minister Hun Sen yeserday lauded his government’s strong ties with China but said Cambodia does not give Chinese any preferential treatment.
Mr. Hun Sen was speaking at the inauguration of the $47.1 million Kirirom III hydropower dam in Koh Kong province’s Sre Ambel District- constructed by a state-owned Chinese company under a 30-year-build-operate-transfer agreement. …
Although China has become Cambodia’s largest source of investment, as well as military aid and loans, Mr Hun Sen said Chinese businessmen were not given any “privilege” over others.
“I would like to publicly declare that Cambodian invetment policy is ‘first come, first served,’” Mr. Hun Sen said.
Neou Vannarin
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-says-chinese-companies-not-favored-just-first-served-11585/
Villagers summonsed in illegal logging case
February 25th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Disputed Land, Environment & Natural Resources, Farmland, Land Tenure, Protected Areas, Social Concerns, Timber/Wood
Some 300 villagers from the Andong Trabaek community in Svay Rieng province’s Romeas Hek district will accompany two representatives who have been summonsed to the provincial court Tuesday to clarify allegations of illegal logging that villagers say were fabricated by Forestry Administration officials in order to steal farmland.
Representative Soun Seyha said 86 families had been wrapped up in a dispute over 71 hectares with forestry officials since 2008, and had filed multiple complaints to no avail. The current case began when people returned to the disputed land to grow cassava and rice – without disturbing the acacia trees – Seyha said, maintaining the Forestry Administration had “used the court system to threaten us”. …
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022561580/National/community-reps-summonsed.html
Senate Oks Sesan Dam Payment Deal
February 23rd, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Electricity, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Infrastructure, International Relations, Social Concerns, Timber/Wood
After a 60- minute debate, the Senate on Friday voted in favour of a payment guarantee for the private companies constructing the controversial Lower Sesan 2 dam in Stung Treng province.
At the Senate session, 43 out of 48 senators voted to approve the deal which includes payment guarantees to Kith Meng’s Royal Group and China’s Hydrolancang International Energy Co. Ltd …
The impact on fisheries and local communities who depend on the resources of the Sesan River was still small compared to the benefits the government can gain from the hydropower project, Mr. Sarith said after the vote. “In two critical studies evaluating all factors of impacts, we have seen that the impact is minor compared to the benefit.” …
Two studies estimate that up to 10,000 families from Srekor, Phluk and Kabal Romeas communes will be displaced once the construction of the dam goes ahead. …
Chan Than, a representative for Srekor commune, said the lack of information in the past have raised concerns in his community about such government promises. …
“We never had the intention to oppose the dam … but the government should provide clear information about the risks and compensation deal” he said. …
Kuch Naren, P.10
www.cambodiadaily.com
Million-dollar rosewood bust
February 22nd, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Environment & Natural Resources, International Relations, Land Tenure, Protected Areas, Timber/Wood
Five men allegedly caught with 10 cubic meters of illegal rosewood worth more than $1 million on Wednesday were being questioned in Stung Treng provincial court yesterday, officials said.
Chroeung Khmao, the provincial prosecutor, said the men – four Chinese citizens and one Cambodian – were being quizzed over the haul, seized from a rental house in Stung Treng district’s Srah Russei commune. …
On New Year’s Eve, forestry officials in Stung Treng seized a truck loaded with endangered and illegal wood. …
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022261563/National/million-dollar-rosewood-bust.html
Cambodia launches $200 mln irrigation project in eastern provinces
February 21st, 2013, The Cambodia Herald, Agriculture & Agri-business, Environment & Natural Resources, Farming, Infrastructure, International Relations, Lakes/Rivers, Rice
The government launched Thursday a $200 million project to divert water from the Mekong River to irrigate 300,000 hectares of rice fields in Prey Veng, Svay Rieng and Kampong Cham provinces. …
Under the first phase, estimated to cost $100 million, canals will be restored between Koh Sotin district in Kampong Cham and Sithor Kandal district in Prey Veng (13 kilometers), and between Sithor Kandal and Kamchay Mea district, also in Prey Veng (27 kilometers). …
The Cambodian Herald Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=MzIxZTMyNDAzMjV
Hun Sen says all villages to have electricity by 2020
February 21st, 2013, The Cambodia Herald, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Electricity, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Hydroelectricity, Infrastructure, Lakes/Rivers
Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday that all Cambodian villages would have electricity by 2020 while 70 percent of households would have power by 2030. …
Hun Sen said average per capita consumption of electricity rose at an annual rate of seven percent over the past five years. Major challenges include boosting generation while improving transmission and revenue collection, he said. …
The Cambodian Herald Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=ZjIwMmU0N2I1NTF
Move to lift energy efficiency in Cambodia
February 20th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Electricity, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Green Energy, Infrastructure, International Relations, Technical Assistance
A national energy efficiency policy is currently in development, officials told the Post last week. Experts at the Ministry of Industry, Mines, and Energy (MIME) and the multi-donor fund EU Energy Initiative Partnership Dialogue Facility (EUEI PDF) are in discussions about details of the policy, which they plan to publish in May. …
“Cambodia’s total energy consumption is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 5.2 per cent for the period 2009 to 2035. The industrial sector is expected to have the highest growth followed by residential/commercial sectors,” the document said, emphasizing the importance of adequate political and regulatory frameworks.
“The national projected energy consumption annual growth rate can be reduced down to 4.3 per cent, representing an overall reduction of future energy demand of 20 per cent by 2035, compared to the ‘business as usual’ projections,” the EUEI PDF document continued. …
The project team is now working on the definition of the strategic objectives of the Energy Efficiency Policy and the development of a detailed Action Plan. The final draft policy, strategy and action plan will be presented at a workshop in Phnom Penh in early May.
Sarah Thust
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022061465/Business/move-to-lift-energy-efficiency-in-cambodia.html
Corporate: China powers its way through Cambodia
February 19th, 2013, HydroWorld.com, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Foreign Aid, Foreign Investment, Hydroelectricity, Infrastructure, Lakes/Rivers, News Source, Technical Assistance, Water
In the hilly wilderness across southwestern Cambodia, the foundations of the country’s strengthening bonds with China are taking root. It is there that large dams supported by Chinese money are being built to literally bring the impoverished Southeast Asian nation out of darkness.
The largest of them so far, the US$280 million (RM865.2 million) Kamchay Dam in Kampot province, came to life a year ago, helping to brighten the nights in Phnom Penh. It is one of five dams backed by Chinese investments aimed at easing the electricity deficit in the country of 14.9 million people â [sic] ” where only a quarter of the population has access to power from the national grid.
The howls of protests from villagers and green groups have not deterred China’s dam builders, which have committed a total investment of US$1.6 billion to produce an estimated 915mw of power by harnessing the untamed rivers that gush down that remote terrain. The largest symbol of this Cambodian-Chinese alliance is the 338mw Russei Chrum Krom hydropower project, which is being built at a cost of US$500 million. …
Marwaan Macan
http://www.hydroworld.com/news/2013/02/18/corporate-china-powers-its-way-through-cambodia.html
Government promotes clean cities in Cambodia
February 19th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Industry, News Source, Tourism
Tourism officials have launched a new initiative called the Eco-Club designed to promote environmental awareness and improve the image of Cambodian cities through better management and disposal of plastic bags.
The program aims to recruit Cambodian youth to spread the word and educate the broader community on the benefits of clean cities. …
Thong Khon, minister of tourism, said the Eco-Club will be established at schools, universities, factories and radio and television stations. …
Rann Reuy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/Business/government-promotes-clean-cities-in-cambodia.html
Questions follow on heels of hydropower dam Sesan 2 vote
February 18th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Disputed Land, Electricity, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Foreign Investment, Hydroelectricity, Infrastructure, International Relations, Lakes/Rivers, Land Tenure, Social Concerns, Water
Villagers near the Sesan River in Stung Treng province are a step closer to being forced to make way for a hydropower dam following a National Assembly vote on Friday, but they are no closer to learning the details of such a move, a community representative said yesterday.
Keo Mib, a representative of villagers set to be relocated from where the $781 million, 400-megawatt dam will be built, said hundreds of families from three villages in the middle of the dam project still knew nothing about relocation plans.
Assembly President Cheam Yeap said the benefits of the 400-megawatt dam were multiple.
“It will stimulate the country’s economy, reduce electricity prices, provide many jobs and enhance technology in our labour and tourism sector,” he said.
The company will pay about $38 million in compensation to relocate 797 families, which will include new houses, schools, health centres, streets and wells.
Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Son Chhay said, however, that according to a previous study, more than 1,000 families should receive compensation. …
Sen David and Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013021861415/National/questions-follow-on-heels-of-sesan-2-vote.html
Sesan Dam Law Approved
February 18th, 2013, Radio Free Asia, Construction, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Farmland, Forests, Hydroelectricity, Infrastructure, Lakes/Rivers, Land Tenure, News Source, Protected Areas, Water
Cambodia’s parliament on Friday approved a law providing financial guarantees for the developers of a planned hydropower dam on a Mekong River tributary, despite opposition from civil society groups seeking to delay the project.
Villagers campaigning against the Lower Sesan 2 dam in northeastern Cambodia’s Stung Treng province have expressed concern about compensation for villagers displaced by the project, which they say would destroy protected forest areas, kill rare fish, and negatively impact local ethnic minority culture.
But Friday’s vote in the National Assembly, after five hours of tough debate, cleared the way for the dam’s Chinese- and Vietnamese-backed developers to move ahead with plans to begin constructing the project next year. …
Environmental group International Rivers said the law helps put into effect an implementation agreement that significantly reduced the project’s compensation and environment costs, effectively releasing the developers from responsibility for many of the dam’s ecological and social impacts.
The text of the bill includes plans to provide compensation for less than 800 villagers displaced by the project, but green groups have said tens of thousands others living upstream and downstream from the project will also be affected. …
RFA’s Khmer Service
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/sesan-02152013182113.html
Land Is Life, and It’s Slipping Away
February 14th, 2013, IPS News Agency, Agro-Industry, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Disputed Land, Economic Land Concessions, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Farmland, Foreign Investment, Forests, Infrastructure, International Relations, Lakes/Rivers, Land Tenure, Social Concerns, Timber/Wood
Nean Narin, a humble man and father of three children, says his family is going hungry. Narin lives in the village of Boeung Kak, situated on the edge of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh. For years, he and other villagers relied on the Boeung Kak Lake for fish and plants, which they would eat and sell.
But in mid-2008, construction workers began pumping sand into the lake “in preparation for the development of a 133-hectare commercial and housing project” sponsored by Shukaku, Inc. — a Cambodian firm owned by a Senator of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party – and leased to the Chinese-owned Erdos Hong Jun Investment Co., Ltd.
Over the next four years, the project would displace over 3,000 families. …
But a sugar plantation tycoon has since claimed that land, and the family now faces eviction for the second time, she told IPS. All the fruit trees Vanny’s parents relied on for food have been cut down, and no compensation offered. …
The market-driven economy – launched in 1989 and opened to foreign investors in 1993 – fuelled a rapid increase in FDI, from practically nothing in 1990 to 800 million dollars in 2008, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. …
While investments initially went straight into sectors like tourism (53 percent), infrastructure (21 percent) and the garments industry (20 percent), the past half-decade has seen a steady rise in land investments. …
Land investments are also characterised by a lack of data. The last report released by the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries was in 2006. In that year, 30 land concessions were granted to foreign companies: about half were Chinese while the rest were Vietnamese, Thai, South Korean and from the U.S.
Not only is FDI displacing farmers but the beneficial trade ranking the European Union (EU) afforded Cambodia as an LDC — known as the Everything But Arms (EBA) agreement—has also taken a toll. The scheme allows duty-free exports of agricultural products to the EU and has sparked an upsurge of land grabs for sugar cane plantations.
These acquisitions have displaced over 1,500 families in the Koh Kong, Kampong Speu and Oddar Meanchey provinces. …
Michelle Tolson
http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/02/land-is-life-and-its-slipping-away/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
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