Chinese factories in Cambodia bring prosperity and modernisation but at the cost of environmental pollution and poor working conditions. While developing green industrial zones shows the potential way forward, stricter monitoring and enforcement of environmental and labour compliance would help Cambodia strike the right balance.
Category: Article
A green alternative to the BRI
Response to China’s Belt and Road Initiative has to contend with a history of authoritarian, carbon-heavy development that both China and its opponents have pursued
Firm to plant 10M eucalyptus trees in Kratie, Stung Treng
Chea Chamroeun, president of the NGO Save Environment and Agriculture, said on May 25 that planting trees could not protect the environment as fully grown eucalyptus trees would be cut down for use. The trees also cause serious damage to soil quality.
Sustainable Cambodia, Vietnam transboundary groundwater management deliberated
A project on enhancing the sustainability of transboundary groundwater management between Cambodia’s Mekong River lowland and Vietnam’s Mekong River delta so-called PIF has been discussed.
IFC financing two wind power projects in Vietnam
IFC on May 26 announced that it is providing a financing package of US$57 million to Thuan Binh Wind Power Joint Stock Company (TBW), a subsidiary of Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corporation (REE). This will enable the construction of two onshore wind power plants – Phu Lac 2 in Binh Thuan province and Loi Hai 2 in Ninh Thuan province – with a total capacity of 54.2 megawatts ((MW). The plants will generate about 170 million kilowatt-hours of clean energy per year once they start operating later in 2021.
Myanmar junta looks to line its pockets and fund the coup with massive auction of illegal timber
EIA Forests campaigners have learnt that the brutal military junta which seized control of Myanmar on 1 February is seeking an injection of hard currency by selling off thousands of tonnes of illegal timber to international markets.
CITES and FAO hold joint workshop in support of the verification of timber legality in the Lower Mekong Region
Verifying the origin of timber destined for export and ensuring its legality is a crucial aspect of trade regulations under CITES. Most of the countries in the Lower Mekong Region have a general understanding of the “legal acquisition findings” requirement but none have published national guidance to ensure that the verification of the legal acquisition is done systematically and in a transparent manner.
Thailand’s gold panners blame Mekong dams in China, Laos as fortune dries up
“I used to find pieces of gold the size of a tamarind seed,’ says Rodjana Thepwong, 64. ‘Now there are only tiny amounts.” I
Park dwellers’ prosecution likely to be delayed
The villagers argued they had lived there for generations until being evicted by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plantation (DNP) more than a decade ago.
Kuoy people’s ancestral lands on verge of extinction
Kuoy indigenous community in the province’s Rovieng district are facing threats from two companies that have already cleared some of their lands and even a 10-hectare site earmarked for the construction of a school, a hospital, and a pagoda.