Andrew Califf

A Global Green truck loaded with iron ore passes through Rik Reay commune, kicking up dust, September 17, 2023. (CamboJA/Andrew Califf)

Environment -

Fast and Ferrous: Mine’s Rapid Exportation of Iron Takes Toll on Infrastructure

26 Oct 2023 10:07 AM|
Andrew Califf|

Rovieng, Preah Vihear – Before 10:30 a.m. on a cloudy Sunday morning between 20-30 hulking trucks gather in formation, ready to make a mad dash to a multipurpose port in Kampong Chhnang. Drivers lounge in their cabs, waiting for excavators and steam rollers to clear mud from the trail, and say they are hauling iron ore mined by Global Green Energy Development, a company with ties to sanctioned tycoon Try Pheap. The company exports iron to Vietnam by means of Try Pheap’s new multipurpose shipping port.

Environment ·

Fast and Ferrous: Mine’s Rapid Exportation of Iron Takes Toll on Infrastructure

26 Oct 2023 10:07 AM|
Andrew Califf|

Late Cheng gate currently under construction near a torn up acidic smelling stream of water, on 14 September, 2023. (CamboJA/Andrew Califf)

Environment ·

Expanding Gold Mine Diverts Stream in Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary

20 Oct 2023 3:19 PM|
Andrew Califf|

Snang An, Kampong Thom – Dead fish and black water ran through the Por Roung river last year due to contamination upstream from an industrial Chinese-owned mine, residents of Snang An village say. They brought their concerns to provincial authorities and were themselves blamed for the pollution.

Although larger than the Indochinese tigers that used to live in Cambodia, Bengal tigers such as this one in India’s Ranthambore National Park are the most likely candidates to fly to Cambodia given India’s successful tiger conservation efforts. (Andrew Califf)

Environment ·

Condition of Indochinese Leopard Casts Shadow Over Tiger Reintroduction Efforts

8 Sep 2023 4:06 PM|
Andrew Califf|

A report published in June this year concluded Indochinese leopards are functionally extinct in Cambodia after camera traps failed to capture a single image of them in 2021. Between 2009 and 2019, a total of 35 animals were recorded by camera traps according to research by Panthera and Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) published in Biological Conservation.

Photos released by the Singaporean police show stacks of cash belonging to the money laundering suspects. More than $16 million in hard cash alone was seized during the city-wide raid.

National ·

Nine of Ten Charged in Singaporean Money Laundering Raids Appear to Be Cambodian Citizens

25 Aug 2023 8:22 PM|
Andrew Califf|

All but one of the ten arrested this month in Singaporean money laundering raids appear to be Cambodian citizens, according to Cambodian naturalization documents obtained by CamboJA.

A young worker sprays pesticides on Thaco Agri’s Ratanakiri banana plantation with homemade, ill-fitting personal protection equipment on July 11, 2023. (CamboJA/ Andrew Califf)

Human Rights ·

Ratanakiri Rice Wine Sellers Arrested, Despite Unanswered Questions in Spate of Deaths

24 Aug 2023 3:29 PM|
Andrew Califf|

Kon Mom District, Ratanakiri Province – July storm clouds rolled through the sky as Chhan Yen sobbed while surrounded by family and neighbors standing by with dejected postures and vacant gazes in their village of Sre Angkrong.

Upon arriving at the shrine within the concession, LASED III consultant King Vireaksith (foreground) began drawing boundaries and maps in the mud as Bunong community leader Lin Moa (traditional vest and cap) and other community members surrounded him to voice their concerns on July 14.(CamboJA/Andrew Califf)

Environment ·

Mondulkiri Authorities Hold Meeting to Discuss Contentious World Bank Project

22 Aug 2023 4:14 PM|
Andrew Califf|

After an indigenous Bunong community publicly voiced concerns about a World Bank-funded project repurposing their customary forest and burial grounds, authorities convened a meeting last Thursday between communal and provincial authorities — but the community members were excluded.

The Environment Ministry station in Kratie province’s Srae Chis commune after it was set on fire by hundreds of farmers on August 5, 2023. (Supplied)

Environment ·

Burning of Environment Ministry Station Caps Off Years-Long Feud

14 Aug 2023 2:13 PM|
Andrew Califf|

Srae Chis commune, Kratie province — The scorched remains of an Environment Ministry station still lay strewn about after more than 300 farmers stormed and burned it down two weeks ago. Even the outhouse was reduced to rubble in the culmination of a multi-year conflict between local communities and ministry officials.

Environment ·

World Bank Project Advances Despite Occupying Indigenous Burial Grounds

4 Aug 2023 7:20 PM|
Andrew Califf|

Roya commune, Mondulkiri province – Indigenous Bunong people from Roya Leu village offered rice wine and pork to a shrine, asking forest spirits to protect…