At two public fora in October, Cambodian and Myanmar journalists called for editors and decision makers to work on improving environmental reporting and the availability of quality information.
The events, Cambodia’s “Editor’s Forum on Sustainability” and Myanmar’s “The Health of Rivers” roundtable discussion attracted a combined 73 participants ranging from Cambodia’s Minister of Environment H.E Say Samal to key editors and reporters from the countries’ local media.
Category: Cambodia
Working group plans to finish the guideline on Environmental Impacts Assessment by early 2017
Ministry of Environment (MoE) and CSO working on environmental protection recognized that this regional guideline on environmental impacts assessment is very crucial to boost meaningful public participation in Environmental Impact Assessment process in the Mekong region.
Cambodian government and civil society hold landmark public consultations on infrastructure development
In a landmark move for public participation in Cambodia, the government and non-government organizations jointly held public consultations on regional guidelines to ensure Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) processes involve affected communities.
Report reveals a big dependence on freshwater fish for global food security
Freshwater fish play a surprisingly crucial role in feeding some of the world’s most vulnerable people, according to a study published Monday (Oct. 24) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“It was eye-opening just how many people are deeply dependent on freshwater fisheries as sources of protein,” says Pete McIntyre, a lead co-author of the study and professor of zoology in the Center for Limnology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “Many people in poor nations do not get much animal protein to eat, and freshwater fish provide protein for the nutritional equivalent of 158 million people around the world.”
Path to Responsible Mining
In an effort to improve the governance of the Kingdom’s mining industry, with a focus on increasing revenue generation, the government has approved 11 articles largely concerning export permits for mined resources.
“Except for uranium and any reactor [related] mining which is banned from being exported, export permits have to be mainly evaluated for the long-term purpose – based on the comparative advantage and benefit to the economy, society and the environment.”
Meng Saktheara, secretary of state at the ministry told Khmer Times yesterday that the sub-decree is complementary to the existing mining law which had been promulgated since 2001.
“This sub-decree is to be used to manage any kinds of mining production except oil and gas. We do hope that the sub-decree sets strong and clear guidelines for the industry that can attract more foreign investors.”
“It provides us with clear mechanisms to manage the industry, as we will automatically allow exports if the product can be processed locally,” he said, noting the importance of adding value to the country’s mined resources.
Last month, the Ministry of Mines and Energy issued Cambodia’s first industrial mining license to Indian-owned Mesco Gold (Cambodia) to start operating an underground gold mine in Ratanakiri province.
According to ministry data, over 20 gold occurrences, 15 base metals occurrences and 26 iron ore and related occurrences have been identified. Work is continuing on some 60 active concessions to further delineate the country’s mineral wealth, with a particular emphasis on gold, base metals and bauxite.
According to the sub-decree, any mined resource which can be processed locally, and therefore boost its “value-added,” will not be allowed to be exported.
“It can be allowed to be exported if it cannot be processed locally due to the impact [it may cause] to the environment or because the amount of product exceeds local demand,” it said.
According to data from ministry, the before-tax revenue from the mining industry has sharply increased. In 2015 the figure was $17.25 million, up from just $4 million the year before.
Cambodia is at the early stages of mineral resource development. As part of a prospective region with a burgeoning exploration sector, the country has an opportunity to lay the foundations for responsible mining.
Research: Watershed or Powershed? Critical Hydropolitics, China and the ‘Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Framework’
Abstract: The countries sharing the Lancang-Mekong River are entering a new era of hydropolitics with a growing number of hydropower dams throughout the basin. Three ‘powersheds’, conceptualised as physical, institutional and political constructs that connect dams to major power markets in China, Thailand and Vietnam, are transforming the nature–society relations of the watershed. In the process, new conditions are produced within which the region’s hydropolitics unfold. This is epitomised by the ‘Lancang-Mekong Cooperation’ framework, a new initiative led by China that proposes programs on both economic and water resource development, and anticipates hydrodiplomacy via China’s dam-engineered control of the headwaters.
Government urged to work with Cambodia on solutions to water resources
Scientists have urged the Vietnamese government to cooperate with Cambodia and draw up a plan to take full advantage of water resources.
Vietnam playing ‘key Mekong sub-region role’
VIETNAM has been making practical contributions to turning the Mekong sub-region into a dynamic and prosperous economic area via two crucial cooperation frameworks. That is according to the country’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, who spoke before meetings of those cooperations, the 8th Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam Summit (CLMV-8) and the 7th Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Coopera-tion Strategy Summit (ACMECS-7) which will be held in Hanoi on October 25 and 26.
From dams to basins: mapping across scales
t the end of June 2016, WLE Greater Mekong published a series of maps identifying dams on the Irrawaddy, Salween, Mekong, and Red rivers and their tributaries. The maps cover existing dams, dams under construction, planned dams, and cancelled dams; both irrigation dams and hydroelectric dams are mapped, as long as they have a reservoir size of at least 0.5 km2 and/or have an installed capacity of at least 15 megawatts (for hydroelectric dams).
The following is the first half of an interview that took place on 8 July 2016, between Dr Kim Geheb—the WLE Greater Mekong Regional Coordinator — and the editor of Thrive. It is being published here in anticipation of the Great Mekong Forum on Water, Food, and Energy.
Jarai Say No to Ratanakiri Gold Mine
An insurrection led by ethnic Jarai villagers against the Kingdom’s first commercial underground gold mine, to be operated by Indian-owned Mesco Gold (Cambodia), looms over the green, serene remote hamlet of Plung, a few kilometers from the Vietnamese border, in Ratanakiri’s O’Yadaw district.