Land and Environment

‘Community Zones,’ Land Titles Planned Inside Protected Areas

The government will take nearly 1 million hectares out of protected areas across the country to create “community zones” with land titles, but the exact locations of these areas — and who will get titled land — are still unclear.

A colorful tented resort along a newly-plowed road seen from the edge of Mondulkiri's Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary on February 11, 2021. (Danielle Keeton-Olsen/VOD)

Four Land Disputants Arrested in Mondulkiri

Mondulkiri prosecutors are questioning four people arrested after a confrontation between authorities and residents over an alleged land grab in Keo Seima district. 

Plastic trash on Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changva shore on September 15, 2021. (Michael Dickison/VOD)

Mekong River Body Raises ‘Alarm’ Over River Plastics

Mekong countries are producing 8 million tons of plastic waste a year — three-quarters of which is littered or inadequately disposed of — polluting rivers and endangering environmental and human health, the intergovernmental Mekong River Commission said.

Monkey cages line around 300 warehouses at Vanny Bio Research. (Tran Techseng/VOD)

US Monkey Importer Says It No Longer Gets Animals From Cambodia

A publicly traded American importer of laboratory monkeys says its supply from Cambodia has stopped after the U.S. indicted a Cambodian supplier for allegedly trafficking wild macaques, delaying its fourth-quarter earnings report as two of its subsidiaries face grand jury subpoenas related to the case. 

Rows of houses and interweaving roads built as part of the World Bank's Lased II land redistribution project in Kampong Thom province's Doung commune on November 29, 2022. (Danielle Keeton-Olsen/VOD)

World Bank Land Giveaway Marred by Problems

On one side of Kampong Thom province, the government ended a community forest program for a World Bank project village. On the other side, farmers had land taken away to make way for an earlier version of the project.