Forestry watchdogs say they have seen increased logging activity in the Prey Lang sanctuary, especially after independent forest patrollers were stopped by authorities from entering, but officials have defended their ban on unregistered forest patrols.
Cambodia’s service sector will be hit hard by the global economic shock of the coronavirus pandemic, contracting 1.7 percent for the year, the Asian Development Bank said in its latest forecast.
Cambodia’s GDP growth this year could drop to its lowest rate in more than a decade, the World Bank projects, with some economic experts warning that the country’s reliance on international markets could slow recovery.
The nation’s casino and rice industries are the latest sectors to face restrictions as part of the government’s response to Covid-19, leaving some casino workers worried about lost income and the rice sector largely unfazed.
Cambodian Muslims in Phnom Penh say they are experiencing a drop in customers frequenting their businesses and other discrimination after a number of reported infections within their community were linked to a religious gathering in Malaysia.
Cambodia has aimed and succeeded at wooing Chinese travelers in recent years, but some tourism professionals say that wasn’t the best strategy, even before the Covid-19 outbreak started taking a toll on Siem Reap tourism.
As the Tonle Sap ecosystem is strained by hydropower dams, drought and unprecedented forest fires, the flooded forests, people who rely on them, and the forests’ carbon-capturing potential face increasing threats.
The Environment Ministry and local authorities on Friday prevented hundreds of environmental rights advocates and others from entering the Prey Lang protected area for an annual forest conservation event set for the weekend, a ministry spokesman and rights group said.
An online clothes seller was questioned in court and accused by police of committing pornography crimes on Thursday, after posting photos of herself in supposedly revealing attire on the same day that she was “educated” not to do so by authorities.
A five-month-old child who lived with her incarcerated mother in a Phnom Penh prison died while under the care of state institutions, human rights group Licadho said, following renewed calls by Prime Minister Hun Sen to hasten trial proceedings for women in detention.
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