Natural resources are materials that occur in a natural form within environments. These can be classified as either biotic or abiotic on the basis of their origin. The landmass and the territorial waters of Cambodia contain a rather moderate amount, array and variety of resources. Apart from water, abiotic resources, such as minerals are generally rare. Still, advanced geo-scientific technologies have produced remarkable results and re-assessments in recent years, such as the localization of offshore oil and gas depots in the Gulf of Thailand. Cambodia, on the other hand possesses a relatively wide range of biotic resources, in particular timber, forest products, rare plants and a fauna of great diversity.
Overview
Cambodia comprises an undulating plateau in its eastern part, a continuous flat plain (the Lake Tonle Sap lowland) interrupted only by isolated hills (Phnoms) and the Mekong River in the central part of the country, highlands to the north and northeast and the Cardamom Mountains in the south-west. The agricultural area was estimated at in 2009, with estimated cultivated areas totaling . 96% of this area was used for annual crops and 3.8% for permanent crops.
Water
The Cambodian hydro-logical system is dominated by the Mekong River and Tonle Sap Great Lake. From July to the end of October, when the level of the Mekong is high, water flows via the Tonle Sap River, increasing the size of the lake from 2,600 km2 to about at its maximum extent. The storage capacity of Tonle Sap Great Lake is about . When the level of the Mekong decreases, the Tonle Sap River reverses its flow and water flows back from the Tonle Sap Lake into the Mekong River.
The Mekong flows from north to south, over a distance of around 480 km. About 86% of Cambodia’s territory () is included in the Mekong’s basin with the remaining 14% draining directly towards the Gulf of Thailand. Cambodia represents 20% of the total catchment area of the Mekong basin. Total internal renewable water resources have been estimated at over .
Hydroelectric power
Cambodia's hydroelectric generating potential is considerable, especially from the swift current of the middle Mekong River where it flows through the Stoeng Treng and Kracheh provinces. Other sites of minor importance are on rivers in the highlands of the northeastern and north-central parts of the country. Although the Tonle Sap is Cambodia's dominant hydraulic feature, the rivers flowing into this great lake have little or no exploitable potential.
In general, development of Cambodia's water potential appears to be more important for the expansion of irrigation than for the production of electricity. The largest hydroelectric dam in Cambodia is Lower Se San 2 Dam which began operation in November 2017 and scheduled for full operation by October 2018. Stung Treng Dam is a proposed hydroelectric dam with an average production of 4,870 GWh per year, almost 2.5 times the average production of Lower Se San 2.
Forests
The forests of Cambodia include evergreen, semi-evergreen, deciduous, swamp, mangrove and bamboo forest in various conditions from closed to disturbed and mosaic formations. There are also re-growth and plantation forests as well as open forest types including evergreen shrub land and dry deciduous shrub land. About 10% of Cambodia’s flora is endemic. Cover is largely dominated by moist lowland evergreen forest, semi-evergreen forest and deciduous forest. A unique seasonally inundated forest is found along the flood plains surrounding the Tonle Sap Lake. Extensive and fairly intact mangroves are found along the southern marine coast.
Forests, which cover approximately 70 percent of Cambodia and which potentially constitute a second pillar of the economy in addition to the primary one, agriculture. A survey in the 1960s disclosed that Cambodia had more than 130,000 square kilometres of forests that contained many species of tropical growth and trees but not teak or other valuable sources of hardwood. Some destruction of the forest environment undoubtedly occurred in the war that followed in the 1970s, but its extent has not been determined. Most of the heavy fighting took place in areas uncovered by dense tropical jungle.
As of late 1987, forest resources had not yet been fully exploited because of poor security in the countryside and a lack of electrical and mechanical equipment, such as power tools and lumber trucks. Nevertheless, the Cambodian government reportedly has discussed with Vietnam the possibility of coordinated reforestation programs.