Massive flooding in Thailand and elsewhere have destroyed large parcels of rice farmland, pushing rice prices up and leaving Southeast Asia at greater risk of a food price shock.
Cambodia’s woodlands are seeing continued deforestation, despite a plan by the government to curb illegal logging, environmental groups say. Authorities say they have a plan to protect the forest, but non-governmental groups say the problem persists, including through an increase in land concessions, and massive illegal logging by the military. Cambodia has an official strategy to protect the forests over the next 18 years, including land management practices and tighter governmental controls over still exiting forests
The Sam Rainsy Party has sent a request to Prime Minister Hun Sen requesting that he cancel economic land concessions in Prey Lang forest, in the east of the country, where thousands are villagers say their livelihoods are under threat. Nine SRP parliamentarians singled out more than 6,000 hectares in a concession to a Vietnamese company, CRCK, among others, and suggested the forest be listed as a Unesco World Heritage site.
Cambodia is building up its rural infrastructure in an effort to link itself to its neighbors, under an “economic corridor” project aided by the Asian Development Bank. Proponents of the southern economic corridor, part of the Greater Mekong Subregion project, say it will bring benefits to villagers like those in Kampong Thom district’s Sambo Prey Kuk temple, in Prasat Sambo district.
[Editor’s Note: The Mekong River Commission, or MRC, whose members include Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, is holding its annual meeting in Preah Sihanouk through Saturday, to debate whether to allow a proposed dam in Xayaburi province, Laos. Opponents say the dam could be damaging to the ecology of the river and the livelihoods of the people who rely on it. Cambodia has yet to determine its support for the dam, Sin Niny, vice chairman of Cambodia’s National Mekong Committee, told VOA Khmer in an interview at the outset of the meeting.] Why is the decision on whether to build the Xayaburi dam so important, especially for Cambodia?
Villagers from four different provinces say they are concerned about two land concessions that could destroy a strip of forest and deprive them of their livelihoods. The Prey Lang forest spans the provinces of Kampong Thom, Steung Trang, Kratie and Preah Vihear. Two rubber concessions cut into the forest in Preah Vihear and Kampong Thom.
Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture is set to sign an agreement to buy palm sugar with Geographical Indicator status from local producers