Geography of Cambodia
Human impact
### Human impact

**Issues**
* Illegal [logging](/wiki/Logging "Logging") activities throughout the country
* [rubber](/wiki/Natural_rubber "Natural rubber") tree mono\-cultures and strip mining for gold in the eastern highlands
* gem mining in the western region along the border with [Thailand](/wiki/Thailand "Thailand")
* destruction of mangrove swamps threatens natural fisheries, illegal fishing and over\-fishing
* large scale sand mining in river beds and estuaries of Koh Kong's mangrove marshes affects tidal balance

A nascent environmental movement has been noticed by [NGO's](/wiki/Non-governmental_organization "Non-governmental organization") \- and it is gaining strength, as the example of local resistance against the building of a Chinese hydro\-electric dam in the Areng Valley shows.

Cambodia has a bad but improving performance in the global [Environmental Performance Index](/wiki/Environmental_Performance_Index "Environmental Performance Index") (EPI) with an overall ranking of 146 out of 180 countries in 2016\. This is among the worst in the [Southeast Asian](/wiki/Southeast_Asia "Southeast Asia") region, only ahead of Laos and Myanmar. The EPI was established in 2001 by the [World Economic Forum](/wiki/World_Economic_Forum "World Economic Forum") as a global gauge to measure how well individual countries perform in implementing the United Nations' [Sustainable Development Goals](/wiki/Sustainable_Development_Goals "Sustainable Development Goals").

The environmental areas where Cambodia performs worst on the EPI (i.e. highest ranking) are [air quality](/wiki/Air_quality "Air quality") (148\), [water resource management](/wiki/Water_resource_management "Water resource management") (140\) and health impacts of environmental issues (137\), with the areas of [sanitation](/wiki/Sanitation "Sanitation"), [environmental impacts of fisheries](/wiki/Environmental_impacts_of_fisheries "Environmental impacts of fisheries") and forest management following closely. Cambodia has an unusually large expanse of protected areas, both on land and at sea, with the land\-based protections covering about 20% of the country. This secures Cambodia a better than average ranking of 61 in relation to biodiversity and habitat, despite the fact deforestation, illegal logging, construction and poaching are heavily deteriorating these protections and habitats in reality, partly fueled by the government's placement of economic land concessions and plantations within protected areas.EPI (2016\): [Cambodia](http://epi.yale.edu/country/cambodia) 

In November 2017, the U.S. cut funds to help clear [unexploded ordnance](/wiki/Unexploded_ordnance "Unexploded ordnance") including land mines and chemical weapons in Cambodia which it had dropped during the Vietnam War.Ananth Baliga and Phak Seangly [US cuts funding to CMAC amid government's war of words with superpower](http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/us-cuts-funding-cmac-amid-governments-war-words-superpower) 7 November 2017, The Phnom Penh Post.

**Consequences**
* Flooding
* [Deforestation](/wiki/Deforestation_in_Cambodia "Deforestation in Cambodia")
* [Soil erosion](/wiki/Soil_erosion "Soil erosion") in rural areas
* Declining fish stocks
* Decreasing access to clean water
* Habitat loss and declining biodiversity


What are some consequences of human impact on Cambodia's environment?