Environment

Two weeks ago, shortly after it turned 2am, Sami’s boat rolled over on the waves of the Mekong river and tipped all of her possessions into the water—including Lydie, her newborn daughter. 'Just like that, she was gone,' the 16-year-old remembers.

Thousands of megawatts of wind and solar energy contracts in the Mekong region of Southeast Asia have been signed, seriously challenging the financial viability of major hydropower projects on the river, an energy expert told a water conference last week.

Suddenly the road ends. The cart track disappears under the water. A vast lake stretches out in front of me. I have to transfer from a motorbike to a canoe. “Tuk laang,” my guide says coolly. “The water is rising.”

New wildlife sanctuary will be called Sangrukhavoan wildlife sanctuary in Cambodia

The four member countries of the Mekong River Commission today confronted predictions of social and environmental disaster if damming and other development projects in the region are allowed to proceed as planned.

While a plate piled high with hairy, palm-sized tarantulas is the stuff of nightmares for some, these garlic fried spiders are a coveted treat in Cambodia, where the only fear is that they may soon vanish due to deforestation and unchecked hunting.

Presented with "frightening" possibilities due to intense damming, the leaders of the Mekong River Commission member countries gave little sign Thursday they had heeded calls to rethink a fundamental water policy for the shared waterway, with the exception of Vietnam.

Beijing’s spending on hydropower projects is welcomed by many poorer Southeast Asian countries, but it comes with a huge environmental and social cost, experts say

Cambodia inaugurated the first water quality monitoring station with China's aid on Monday near the confluence of the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers in the Diamond Island town.

Amid worry about the impact hydropower dams are having on the economically and environmentally critical Mekong River, leaders of four Southeast Asian nations dependent on its waters are scheduled to convene a summit early next month to reaffirm their "political commitment" to a 1995 cooperative agreement.

With climate change being considered one of the most pressing global issues impacting the world today, students from Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) volunteered over their Spring Break to address the issue through a service learning trip to Cambodia.

A community in Kratie is banding together to protect the area’s critically endangered Mekong Irrawaddy dolphins.

The Asian Development Bank has announced an additional $30 million in grants and $10 million in loans to Cambodia as part of the organization’s Green Climate Fund.

In February, Cambodia announced the establishment of its very first marine national park, covering 524 square kilometers (202 square miles) in the Gulf of Thailand. But the declaration does nothing to protect the environment, at least in the short term, with no new patrols of the heavily fished waters until next year, and a $2 billion island development plan allowed to continue unhindered.

A new study confirms that the breeding population of leopards in Cambodia has declined by 72 percent in the last five years.

Cambodia's goal of electrifying 100% of its villages is on track for completion in 2020, owing in large part to development of its hydropower resources.

Yet again, the Kingdom this year burns brighter than its neighbours, with fires in Cambodia being detected from space at a much higher rate than any other country in the region, according to a NASA report published last week.

Cambodia's forests are being felled at a shocking rate, as poachers and corrupt officials profit from the black market trade in rare wood species, which is being exported to Vietnam — and beyond.

Grown in floods and thriving without pesticides, floating rice offers Cambodia a sustainable alternative for its eco-friendly food production amid threats from climate change.

Despite official pledges to halt the trade, smugglers in Cambodia and Laos are finding ways to illegally ship timber to neighboring Vietnam. The precious hardwood is often used in furniture factories that ship their products largely to China.