An environmental group in Cambodia alleges that sea sand exports to Singapore have quietly resumed despite a 2017 government ban, citing new footage of dredging operations and cargo vessels bound for the city-state.The allegations by Mother Nature Cambodia revive long-standing concerns over sand mining in Koh Kong province, where dredging has been linked to environmental damage and declining fisheries, and where a previous export scandal prompted the 2017 ban.Cambodia’s minister of mines defended sand mining as important for navigation and construction, while acknowledging environmental concerns, but did not address claims that exports to Singapore have resumed.The dispute comes as Mother Nature Cambodia continues to face pressure from the government, with several of its members imprisoned on charges widely viewed as retaliation for exposing environmental abuses.
BANGKOK — Environmental activism group Mother Nature Cambodia on July 14 posted a new video alleging that Cambodia has quietly resumed sand exports to Singapore after the trade was banned in 2017. The prohibition followed a scandal involving environmental degradation along Cambodian rivers linked to shipments of sand sold to Singapore for land reclamation projects.
