Cultural identity is a huge part of a person’s selfhood and it is also a quality that distinguishes one community from another. Future Forum’s Thong Sariputta says there needs to be a better understanding of the needs, beliefs and identities of Cambodian migrant communities overseas beyond just their labor.
As the number of Chinese investors and immigrant workers has risen in Cambodia, transnational crimes have also risen with it, a problem that has severely threatened security in the port city of Sihanoukville and elsewhere in the country.
Labeling buildings by sustainability; cost-benefit summaries showing reduced long-term costs: Architects, activists, construction managers, developers and government officers are coming together and raising action plans for Phnom Penh’s urban future.
Phnom Penh’s streets are among the city’s few fully public spaces, and are key to a more vibrant and livable city. Future Forum fellow Ses Aronsakda floats an idea for turning St. 184 into a people-friendly “shared street” from riverside to Monivong Blvd.
Assaults on news media leave a huge gap, too easily filled by social media disinformation. Chaos in information plays out well for autocrats, who are happy to demonize those challenging false narratives, writes Annie Game, director of free expression group IFEX.
City Hall has said that NagaWorld women protesters have shown behavior “not suitable as Khmer women.” But why is this protest, and so many others in Cambodia, made up of mostly women? And is the act of protest really contradictory to the idea of Cambodian womanhood?
Overindebtedness was a growing problem in Cambodia even before the pandemic struck. According to the Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey of 2019-2020, the average outstanding loan of $4,435 per household was an increase of around 85 percent compared to 2017 and a significant increase of 339 percent compared to 2014.
The Mekong Delta is sinking: sea levels are rising while land is subsiding, the resulting sea level rise far outpacing the effects of climate change alone, writes Stanford University research engineer Rafael Schmitt.
Urbanization and degrading infrastructure is threatening to unravel the ecological and financial promise of the Mekong — including its supply of clean water.
In the face of worsening climate change, the extent to which Cambodian farmers are supported to adapt will have significant ramifications for livelihoods, communities’ food security, the environment and the economy, writes University of Sydney professor Daniel Tan.
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