Environment and natural resources
Environmental and biodiversity protection
Vietnam Rubber Group stripped of accreditation
A giant Vietnamese rubber company that has faced repeated accusations of illegal land and forest grabbing in Cambodia has been stripped of its accreditation as a sustainable forestry product supplier by the world’s leading forest certification body. In a damning report, the Forest Stewardship Council claims ...
ASEAN environment meeting opens in Hanoi, looks to green community
Vietnam is hosting the 13th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment (AMME-13), which kicked off in Hanoi on 25 October, focusing on creating a green and clean ASEAN community. The AMME-13 and other related meetings, which will last until 30 October, are of significant importance as ...
Ministry puts brakes on Pailin dump plans
Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment has called on local authorities in Pailin province to find a new location for a 34-hectare dumpsite currently planned for a protected forest. Environment Minister Say Sam Al, who led a team to inspect the site on 3 October, wrote to Pailin Governor ...
With ASEAN integration come more threats to natural resources
Toek Vannara, director of the NGO Forum, discusses the likely environmental problems Cambodia and other countries could face if they do not act to protect their natural resources. Keep reading ...
Forest land-using projects required to plant new trees
Any projects using forest land in the future must include, once put forward for investment approval, a feasible report on the plan to plant new trees and to allocate a specific land fund, said Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai. During an online conference of the ...
Climate change targets aim high
The Ministry of Environment submitted an ambitious national climate change plan to the United Nations on 1 October ahead of scheduled climate talks in Paris (COP 21), though observers questioned the plan’s feasibility given a lack of both funding and political will. According to Sao Sopheap, spokesperson ...
Sand firms’ licences are revoked
Preah Sihanouk provincial authorities have revoked the business licences of four companies working across more than 10 hectares for alleged environmental impact. Keep reading ...
7 more bears saved from Vietnamese farms
Animal rights activists on 22 September rescued seven bears from farms in northern Vietnam in their efforts to save the animal from the local bear bile extraction industry. Members of a Hong Kong-based animal welfare group brought the bears to Vietnam’s biggest bear sanctuary at Tam Dao National ...
Groups slam dam go-ahead
Advocacy groups on 21 September voiced their “strong disappointment” over the approval of the concession agreement for the controversial Don Sahong hydropower dam in Laos. Keep reading ...
Vietnamese environment group voices concerns over Mekong dam
An environmental watchdog based in Vietnam is asking the Laos government to reconsider the construction of a controversial hydropower plant along the Mekong River. The non-governmental organisation Vietnam River Network issued a press release on 18 September stating that the Don Sahong project, the second largest ...
