Cambodia’s leader said today that the country will not build dams on the Mekong River, after scrapping a US$1.5 billion (RM6.7 billion) coal project in a protected reserve.
Cambodia has come under fire for allowing companies to clear hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest — including in protected areas — for everything from rubber and sugar cane plantations to hydropower dams.
Prime Minister Hun Manet said building dams on the mainstream of the Mekong would have “a huge impact” on the environment and ecology in the river itself and the Tonle Sap lake, South-east Asia’s largest freshwater lake and a key source of fish for Cambodians.
