People and government
Aid and development
EU provides satellite training for Forestry Administration
The European Union has begun training Cambodia’s Forestry Administration to use satellite imagery to crack down on deforestation. Members of the EU’s Joint Research Centre have been meeting with forestry officials since September 26, teaching them how to analyse images captured by the EU’s Sentinel-2 satellite ...
Asian countries defend Cambodia after UN envoy critique
The U.N.’s special rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia on September 28 hit the country with a growing list of criticisms over alleged human rights abuses, which Cambodia parried with the apparent support of neighboring states, including Burma, Laos, Thailand and China. Rhona Smith, in a presentation ...
New education aid announced for floating villages
More than 13,000 vulnerable children in 137 floating villages along the Tonle Sap river and Tonle Sap lake in Kampong Chhnang and Pursat provinces will have access to early childhood education under a $2.7 million project announced on September 28. Beginning mid-2017, children 5 and younger ...
Flood protection embankment to be built in Hadxaifong
Construction of a 30-km embankment along the Mekong River starting near the Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge in Vientiane will soon begin. The flood protection levy will run from the Vientiane-Nong Khai Friendship Bridge downstream through Huaymarkhia village to Dongphoudy and Thamuang villages in Hadxaifong district. The project, known ...
World Bank funds environmental protection projects
The Environment Protection Fund and the World Bank recently provided funding for the second phase of four environmental and social protection sub-projects in Laos at a cost of more than US$4 million. The first sub-project named Capacity Building for Pollution Control, Waste and Hazardous Chemicals Management ...
Govt, World Bank Group discuss disaster risk management
The Department of Waterways under the Ministry of Public Works and Transport is concentrating on the implementation of the South East Asia Disaster Risk Management Project in Laos. The project development objective of the proposed South East Asia Disaster Risk Management Project shall be funded by ...
USAID backs MFIs with $10m guarantee
USAID kicked off a seven-year program to guarantee over US$10 million in microfinance loans to the agricultural sector on September 20, as part of a new US effort to offer greater economic support to the country. The US development agency has signed a multi-bank loan portfolio ...
Banking with a positive spin
A banking sector initiative launched on September 19 aims to advise Cambodia’s financial sector on best practices for sustainable lending while capitalising on the growing pool of international funds that could flow into green and socially responsible projects. The Sustainable Finance Initiative will conduct two years of ...
PM weighs in on rice lending
Rice millers said on September 18 they welcomed the prime minister’s announcement that the government would make over $20 million in funds available shortly to support cash-strapped millers and prop up falling paddy prices.“We’ve been waiting for these loans for a long time like fish waiting ...
Climate change adaptation project launched to sustain wetlands
A project valued at US$4.7 million was launched on September 12 in Vientiane, aiming to help communities in and around the Xe Champhone, and Beung Khiat Ngong wetlands to adapt to the impacts of climate change. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s Department of Environmental Quality ...
