One year ago, Cambodia jailed five activists from the award-winning environmental group Mother Nature Cambodia for plotting against the government, after they had sounded the alarm about river pollution and land reclamation projects. THE CLEARING follows Chandaravuth – the group’s most outspoken member – and his colleagues in the months leading up to their incarceration as they continue on their collision course with Cambodia’s rulers and refuse to buckle under pressure.

Banner image: Ly Chandaravuth, Mother Nature Activist. Image ©Andy Ball.

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Cambodia and China have signed a $1.2 billion deal to finance an ambitious canal project that aims to boost trade efficiency by linking a branch of the Mekong River near Phnom Penh to a port on the Gulf of Thailand, the Cambodian government agency heading the project announced Friday.

The deal to fund the Funan Techo Canal was signed Thursday during the state visit to Cambodia of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the agency said in a news release. Xi returned home Friday after a three-nation Southeast Asian tour that also included Vietnam and Malaysia.

Construction of the 151.6-kilometer (94-mile) canal began last year but was halted shortly after the Aug. 5 groundbreaking ceremony for reasons that were not made clear. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said at the time that the canal will be built “no matter what the cost,” emphasizing that the project promotes “national prestige, the territorial integrity and the development of Cambodia.”

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PURSAT, Cambodia — The Cambodian government has approved at least three new irrigation dams across the Cardamom Mountains, carving even deeper into forests currently being used for the Southern Cardamom REDD+ and Samkos REDD+ carbon credit projects.

Construction is yet to begin on the new dams, which are slated to be built in Battambang, Koh Kong and Pursat provinces. Officials from the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology, and the Ministry of Mines and Energy all declined to comment on the irrigation dams or their environmental impacts.

The approval of these dams raises further questions about the government’s commitment to the REDD+ mechanism for preserving forests. The Ministry of Environment, alongside New York-headquartered NGO Wildlife Alliance, co-manages both the Southern Cardamom REDD+ and the Samkos REDD+ projects, which will lose a further 5,200 hectares (about 12,850 acres) to the new irrigation dams.

These same forests have already seen significant deforestation in recent months due to the ongoing construction of five new hydropower dams with reservoirs that collectively span 15,000 hectares (about 37,000 acres).

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MONDULKIRI – Two trailblazing female graduates from the Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC) are breaking barriers in the gold mining industry.  They’re tackling key roles as a surveyor and a metallurgist at Renaissance Minerals (Cambodia) Ltd in Mondulkiri province, overcoming challenges related to gender and demanding work schedules.

Renaissance Minerals, a subsidiary of Australia’s Emerald Resources NL, employs nearly 700 Cambodians, including 60 women, at its gold mining site.  Around 90 employees are from overseas.

Chhun Thhey, originally from Battambang province, has been making her mark as a surveyor at the company since August 2023, after earning her bachelor’s degree.

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The Funan Techo canal, a 180km (112-mile) project to link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand, is a flagship project expected to reduce Cambodia’s transport dependence on Vietnam.

However, according to recent correspondence in the journal Nature, the canal’s passage through various habitats crucial to biodiversity will cause ecological harm and could impact agriculture.

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PHNOM PENH — In a rare move to combat forest crimes, Cambodian Environment Minister Eang Sophalleth on Sept. 2 banned all forest clearance at the site of a dam project in the country’s southwest.

The ban came after multiple incidents of illegal logging inside a protected area were reported, including by Mongabay, in connection to the Stung Meteuk hydropower project in Koh Kong and Pursat provinces.

However, activists monitoring the logging operations on the ground remain skeptical over the efficacy of the ban, noting that timber processing continues at the site of the hydropower project.

In a letter dated Sept. 2 and addressed to Ly Yong Phat, chair of Steung Meteuk Hydropower Co. Ltd., Sophalleth ordered the company to temporarily suspend its activities related to clearing forest for the 150-megawatt dams’ reservoirs, as well as the processing of logged timber.

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PREK TAKEO, Cambodia (AP) — The Mekong River is a lifeline for millions in the six countries it traverses on its way from its headwaters to the sea, sustaining the world’s largest inland fishery and abundant rice paddies on Vietnam’s Mekong Delta.

Cambodia’s plan to build a massive canal linking the Mekong to a port on on its own coast on the Gulf of Thailand is raising alarm that the project could devastate the river’s natural flood systems, worsening droughts and depriving farmers on the delta of the nutrient-rich silt that has made Vietnam the world’s third-largest rice exporter.

Cambodia hopes that the $1.7 billion Funan Techo canal, being built with Chinese help, will support its ambition to export directly from factories along the Mekong without relying on Vietnam, connecting the capital Phnom Penh with Kep province on Cambodia’s southern coast.

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Cambodia has launched a controversial canal project to link the Mekong River to the sea.

Work on the $1.7bn project kicked off on Monday. Phnom Penh hopes the canal will boost the country’s economy. However, concern over the impact on the region’s environment and foreign relations is rife.

The Funan Techo Canal will run from a spot on the Mekong River about an hour’s drive southeast of Phnom Penh to the Gulf of Thailand. It is due to be completed in 2028.

A pet project of former Prime Minister Hun Sen, the canal is also viewed as a galvanising national undertaking intended to build support for his son and successor. Prime Minister Hun Manet took over at the end of his father’s 38-year rule last year.

The government declared Monday – also Hun Sen’s birthday – a holiday so Cambodians could participate in the “celebration in a joyful, crowded and proud manner”.

At the launch, Hun Manet called the 180km (110-mile) project “historic”, saying it will give the country a “nose to breathe through”.

“This project is not just an infrastructure project, but a nationalistic endeavour,” Hun Manet added. “We must build this canal at all costs.”

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As Cambodia continues its journey of digital transformation, the ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025 (ADM 2025) serves as a crucial guide for navigating the complexities of cybersecurity and trust in digital services. 

The plan outlines critical steps that Cambodia, alongside other ASEAN nations, must take to build a secure, inclusive and competitive digital economy.

“In this context, Cambodia faces both challenges and opportunities as it strives to enhance its digital infrastructure, foster trust in digital services and align with regional standards,” the ADM 2025 states.

One of the core objectives of the master plan is to build trust in digital services across critical sectors such as finance, healthcare, education and government. 

For Cambodia, this means developing robust security mechanisms tailored to these industries. These frameworks include unified certification approaches and the establishment of dedicated security response teams capable of managing potential risks and swiftly responding to cybersecurity incidents.

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The United Nations’ cultural agency recommended Thursday that Laos invite a monitoring mission to the historic city of Luang Prabang, a World Heritage Site where a nearby dam project on the Mekong River has raised concerns it could lose the coveted status.

While the World Heritage Committee welcomed Laos’ efforts to improve data collection on the possible effect of the dam and mitigate any harm to the UNESCO site, it recommended the country invite a new team of experts to assess the state of conservation first-hand.

Laos seemed agreeable to the idea, with its delegate telling the group at its annual meeting in New Delhi that authorities were prepared to work “hand in hand” with UNESCO to preserve the site.

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