PHNOM PENH - AN ENVIRONMENTAL watchdog group praised Cambodia on Wednesday for banning the export of sand, the dredging of which the group says degrades coastlines and depletes fish populations.
The London-based group Global Witness said it was pleased that Prime Minister Hun Sen's government responded to its concerns over the potentially devastating impacts of sand dredging.
Hun Sen announced a partial ban on the practice and a total ban on exports on May 8.
Most sand exports have gone to Singapore, which has an ambitious land reclamation project, the group said.
Indonesia had been Singapore's main supplier of sand until January 2007, when the government in Jakarta banned its export.
The group - which has been critical of the country's attitude toward the exploitation of natural resources - said the ban was a positive first step.
In a report issued three months ago, Global Witness said that 'a huge sand dredging operation' began in Cambodia's Koh Kong province last year.
The group estimated the activity to be worth at least US$8.6 million per year in Cambodia. -- AP
Cambodia bans sand export for environmental protection
www.chinaview.cn 8 May 09;
PHNOM PENH, May 8 (Xinhua) -- The Cambodian government issued a directive signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen here on Friday to ban sand export for the sake of environmental protection.
"In order to protect the balance of nature and environment in areas of sea and fresh water, the government has decided to allow sand business to meet domestic demand only," said the directive.
After examination by experts, sand dredging is only allowed in places where the balance of nature can be restored or water flow is obstructed, it said.
Meanwhile, the directive "terminates any sand export to foreign countries," too.
The Committee of Sand Management has to check sand trade immediately, and report all the involved institutions to the premier, it added.
According to local reports, Cambodia used to export 40,000 to 50,000 tons of sand per month from its coastal province of Koh Kong, and the annual value of this business stood at 35 million U.S. dollars.
Vietnam and Singapore were the major destination countries.
While sand business boomed, sand dredging frequently caused riverbanks and houses to collapse along the Mekong River and the Tonle Bassac River.
Hun Sen announces ban on sand exports
Sam Rith, Phnom Penh Post 11 May 09;
Cites negative environmental effects on rivers, marine areas.
PRIME Minister Hun Sen has announced a ban on the export of sand abroad, citing the environmental effects of sand dredging on the Kingdom's rivers, estuaries and marine areas.
"In order to protect the stability of the natural environments of both rivers and marine areas, all kinds of sand-dredging businesses throughout Cambodia have to stop exporting sand outside the country," the Prime Minister stated in a letter dated Friday.
A local sand-dredging firm extracts sand from the bed of the Tonle Bassac river Sunday. Photo by: HENG CHIVOANOnly sand-dredging businesses that serve local demand will be allowed to continue their operations, Hun Sen said, as well as areas where sand build-ups are obstructing waterways.
He also announced a blanket ban on marine dredging, citing its negative environmental effects, but said an exception would be made where sand gathered and replenished itself naturally.
Hun Sen ordered all involved ministries - including the ministries of Environment; Water Resources and Meteorology; and Industry, Mines and Energy - to take action to implement the ban.
He also ordered the country's Sand Resource Management Committee to review immediately sand dredging businesses operating in Cambodia and to report back to him on the extent and nature of their operations.
Demand for sand
River and marine sand dredging, much of it for export to Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, has increased significantly in Cambodia in the past year.
In March, the Post reported the Hong Kong-based Winton Enterprises Co Ltd was removing thousands of tons of sand each week from estuaries in Koh Kong province, which environmentalists said was having severe effects on the local environment.
Recent months have also seen an increase in complaints by villagers whose houses and farmland have been lost to unseasonable riverbank collapses that many claim have resulted from dredging operations.
Senior CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap confirmed the decision to ban the practice was made after people protested about the impact of sand dredging on the local environment.
"Due to some local protests ... Prime Minister Hun Sen is closing the sand-dredging businesses," he said, adding that such companies would remain in operation "only in places where it does not impact the people's interest".
Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Yim Sovann said his party had sent many letters to the government raising concerns about the impact of sand-dredging operations on the livelihood of people living along the rivers.
"The only people who benefit from the sand-dredging businesses are businessmen and corrupt officials, while only the people suffer the impacts," he said, adding that he supported the prime minister's ban.
"This is a lesson the government should bear in mind: Before offering investments to any company, they have to strictly study the impact on the environment and the livelihood of the people," Yim Sovann said.
Mao Hak, director of the Department of Hydrology and River Works at the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology, said enforcement of the ban began immediately following the prime minister's order.
Mao Hak, who is also a member of the Sand Resource Management Committee, said a total of 124 dredging companies were operating in Cambodia, and that some had received licences to export sand. But he said none of the companies would stop dredging sand altogether.
"Those companies still continue dredging sand to supply local demand," he said. "We have just banned them from exporting sand outside the country."
Global Witness welcomes sand export ban as first step to reform
Vong Sokheng and Sebastian Strangio, Phnom Penh Post 14 May 09;
INTERNATIONAL corruption watchdog Global Witness has welcomed the recent decision by Prime Minister Hun Sen to ban sand exports from the country, calling it a "first move" towards the sustainable management of the country's natural resources.
"Sand dredging is just one example of widespread environmental malpractice," said Global Witness campaigner Eleanor Nichol in a statement released Tuesday.
"This must be the beginning, not the end, of action to counter natural resource mismanagement and exploitation in Cambodia."
Global Witness also called for an end to the "untransparent allocation of onshore oil and mining concessions" and a review of the concessions already existing in the Kingdom.
The comments came three months after Global Witness released its "Country for Sale" report, alleging high-level corruption and nepotism in the country's extractive resources sector.
The report also included information about a large-scale sand-mining operation in Koh Kong province, where thousands of tonnes of sand per week were being extracted from the area and shipped to Singapore by the Hong Kong-based Winton Enterprises.
In a letter dated Friday, Hun Sen announced a blanket ban on sand exports, in order to "protect the stability of the natural environments of both rivers and marine areas".
Pech Siyon, director of the Koh Kong provincial Department of Industry, Mines and Energy, said local authorities had ordered a "temporary" stop to the export of sand.
But he said companies continued to extract sand from the province's coastal estuaries, pending an examination of the operations by a special interministerial committee.
In a statement released April 6, the Cambodian ambassador to the United Kingdom accused Global Witness of engaging in "virulent and malicious campaigns" against the government, and called for financial backers to cut off funds to the group.
Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said that despite the positive reaction of Global Witness to the ban, the government would continue to serve the needs of the Cambodian people, rather than outside pressure groups.
"We don't pay attention to this organisation. We just [want to] make sure our people have enough food and are happy," he said Wednesday.
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