There are only 80 Irrawaddy dolphins left in a loosely-patrolled stretch of the Mekong River in central Cambodia. Hydropower dams are shrinking freshwater pools in their main habitat, leading to more contact with fishermen who threaten their survival. Three dolphins died in December, accounting for about 5% of their ...

Three financial institutions in Japan, the United States and Australia have announced that they will support Vietnam’s decarbonization effort. The institutions, backed by the governments of the countries mentioned above, would help Vietnam transition into liquefied natural gas plants and step up renewable energy utilization and ...

Myanmar’s junta has been responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity since the military coup in February 2021, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2023. The security forces have been implicated in mass killings, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, sexual violence, and attacks on civilians in ...

A fear-cloaked dynamic has increasingly percolated Vietnam’s information environment, in both cyberspace and the mainstream media. A decree guiding the controversial Cybersecurity Law, which took effect in October 2022, looks to further empower Vietnamese authorities to censor online content they disfavour and bolster the state’s digital surveillance ...

On 30 December, Lao Prime Minster Phankham Viphavanh (72) resigned ostensibly on health grounds, but amidst an economy in sharp decline and saddled in foreign debt. He is succeeded by the scion of one of the country’s two political dynasties, Deputy Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone (56). Politics in ...

The Mekong River, the longest waterway in Southeast Asia, is often called the world’s most productive river because it holds a greater abundance of freshwater fish than any other river basin on the planet. From an ecological standpoint, there is one stretch of the river, in ...

Fostering Innovation and collaboration between emerging digital identity companies across the APAC region.  The goal of the event is to foster innovation and collaboration between emerging digital identity companies and projects across the APAC region. unConferences are particularly generative, with a facilitator we will co-create the agenda ...

EngageMedia is inviting digital rights advocates to kick off 2023 with a series of panel discussions, breakout sessions, and conversations with changemakers in the Asia-Pacific Digital Rights Forum, to be held from January 12 to 14, 2023. The three-day event, which will be held in a hybrid format, ...

Deadline: 22 January 2023 Mekong Commons is inviting applications for our 3-day online writeshop to be held in February 2023. Up to 20 places are available. Selected applicants will receive a grant to participate in the online writeshop to learn about writing engaging stories, and to plan, ...