A growing number of reports show that large-scale deforestation continues in Cambodia’s protected forests, often with tacit endorsement from government officials—despite promises of conservation.
Editorial
A series of reports this year show that protected forest areas across Cambodia are under increasing threat from land grabs and deforestation.
Minister of Interior Sar Kheng has instructed all provincial governors, and the Mondulkiri provincial governor in particular, to regularly inspect forests and natural resources in helicopters.
Sar Kheng, also the deputy prime minister, said relevant ministries and leaders in Mondulkiri have to protect natural resources. The work, he said, will gain the support of people and attract tourists and investors to the area.
“It is our ancestral wealth,” he said.
Ministry of Lands has suggested that security feature which be included to land certificates in order to protect them from being tampered with as part of the lessons learnt from the pilot phase of the Strenghtening Land Governance Systems for Smallholder Farmers in Malawi peoject fo the review of Land Act.
Deputy Minister of Lands, Abida Mia made the suggestion Tuesday at Golden Peacock in Lilongwe when she opened a High Level workshop on lessons learnt from the pilot project on the implementation of land laws in Phalombe, Kasungu and Rumphi.
There is a raging debate with regards to viability and legality of the barter deal that was agreed between Malawi government and an investor.
For the starters, we understand that, to address shortage of housing among police officers, Worldwide Construction Company was awarded a K9.9 billion contract to construct 140 houses (i.e. K70 million per house) at Area 30 in Lilongwe.
The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) on Thursday launched the P24.625 billion World Bank-funded Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) project, which aims to improve land tenure security and stabilize property rights of 1,140,735 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) nationwide.
The national government’s upcoming plan to re-open the world-class Porgera mine in Enga Province will hit a snag because local landowners are claiming billions of kina in compensation.
Prime Minister James Marape and Minister for Mining Johnson Tuke recently announced that the government was taking Porgera mine seriously and will re-open it in due time.
Close to 20 million hectares of land have already been restored, as part of the Great Green Wall (GGW) initiative, according to the implementation report released recently at a virtual meeting of environment ministers from Nigeria, Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Djibouti together with regional partners, international organisations and development agencies.
The government recently requested a change in administrative boundaries between Phnom Penh and Kandal province by re-allocating 302ha from Kandal’s Takhmao town to the capital’s Dangkor district.
A letter signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen and sent to acting head of state Say Chhum on October 19 said the move will help the development of the new satellite cities of Boeung Tompun and Boeung Choeung Ek. It will also make the management of the district more efficient and improve public services.
Mondulkiri provincial authorities are working to identify suspects who cut down tens of thousands of trees and buried them in a 60ha patch of forestland in order to take over the land.
The search came after a joint force confiscated three machines in Pu Leh village, in O’Raing district’s Dak Dam commune.
Provincial Forestry Administration director Um Van Sopheak told The Post police have been looking into the case since last Thursday.
Officials at the Land Management Ministry declined to accept a petition from nearly 1,000 protesters who had gathered outside the building on September 21 to demand a resolution to their long-running land disputes in several provinces.
The villagers from Koh Kong, Tbong Khmum and Svay Rieng provinces were demonstrating to mark the United Nations’ International Day of Peace, representing more than 7,000 families embroiled in conflicts over a total of more than 12,000 hectares of land.
Lesotho Prime Minister Dr Moeketsi Majoro reports that the country aims to overhaul its underperforming agricultural sector with the objective of improving both food security and attracting export-oriented investment into the production of high-value crops, such as fruit, vegetables and plant-based medicinal oils.