Environment and land

Cheaper credit extended to Vietnamese coffee growers for replanting part of the world’s biggest robusta production will not accelerate the process that has already been hindered by lengthy paperwork, traders and analysts said on 31 December.   Vietnam aims to replace old coffee trees, now accounting for ...

After four bitter years, sugar mills can look forward to sweeter prospects in 2016. Prices have rebounded 50% since reaching a seven-year low in August. Raw-sugar futures traded in New York posted a 5% gain for the year, their first annual advance since 2010. The market ...

Laos has continued to transport logs from its forests to Vietnam, despite a government ban on timber exports that took effect in August and a leaked report by an international environmental group two months ago, revealing huge increases in illegal logging with the implication of ...

During the 8 November elections, Khin Maung Myint, 65, won an upper house parliament seat for the National League for Democracy in Kachin State’s Hpakant District, an area that has long been famous for its jade mines. The newly elected MP spoke with Myanmar Now ...

Thailand’s Administrative Court on 25 December dismissed complaints over the Xayaburi Dam against five state agencies. However, the 37 plaintiffs, from eight Mekong provinces, say they will appeal further. The judge, who read the verdict, said the defendants had fully complied with their obligation according to the law, ...

Civil society and government representatives met at the Royal University of Phnom Penh on 24 December to discuss how both sides can cooperate to formulate climate change policies that fulfill Cambodia’s treaty obligations in the wake of the historic climate accord reached in Paris earlier this ...

Cambodian farmers and exporters have expressed concerns over an Agriculture Ministry notice issued on 23 December asking farmers to have only one harvest this upcoming dry season because of water shortages across the country, given that this could affect the paddy output next year. The ministry notice ...

More than 160 families in Kratie province’s Snuol district have alleged that the Memot Rubber Plantation company has been using excavators to clear their land. The families from Pi Thnou commune filed a complaint to the provincial office of local rights group Adhoc on 23 December, ...

Preah Vihear provincial authorities cracked down last week on an illegal gold mining operation occurring inside a land concession belonging to a Chinese company in Rovieng district. Unauthorised mining is common both inside and outside the 2008 concession to Cambodia WS Mining Industry Holding Ltd, known ...

They are mired in debt bondage, their pay slips are slashed by hidden fees and fabricated taxes, and they’re forced to work excessive hours in slave-like conditions absent of breaks and without the guarantee of overtime pay. This is the lot of migrant workers who ...