The government yesterday confirmed four changes to the controversial NGO law in response to widespread criticism; opponents, however, say the edits are insignificant and the legislation remains a “severe violation” of Cambodia’s constitution. As protests over the law continued yesterday in Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park, ministers ...

Thailand’s economic slump during the coronavirus pandemic led to a drop in electricity demand, with Thai officials estimating power reserves currently at 50% over total capacity.  However, despite the Thai surplus, hydroelectric dams are still being developed next door in Laos, Thailand’s top provider of electricity. Critics say the dam projects are not driven ...

Twenty years ago, few conservationists knew about the Gulf of Mottama and the secrets hidden within its complex coastline. Its location in southern Myanmar is, like many parts of the country, rugged and difficult to access. However, in the early 2010s, everything changed when surveys lead ...

The early 2000s saw a boom in the banana farming sector in southern China. By 2008, the fruit had become an increasingly popular target of investment, with low supply and soaring prices, and banana plantations were set up across China, as well as in Myanmar ...

A man takes a big bowl of waste vehicle oil from a bucket and splash the thick black liquid directly onto his water spinach field. Some of his farming neighbors in Thuong Xuan Ward in District 12, Ho Chi Minh City are showed doing the same in a ...

As China shows signs of recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak, speculations abound about what a post-COVID-19 future will look like. Amid the cacophony of voices, consensus is gathering that global power balances will shift. What this shift might entail is fiercely debated. Some see China ...

It started with the water changing color. Soon after that, the fish began to die. When the villagers bathed, they became itchy and covered in sores like an allergic reaction. Later, women and farm animals in the area started having miscarriages at an unusually high ...

Nearly a half-billion people in the Asia-Pacific are still malnourished and eliminating hunger by 2030 requires that millions escape food insecurity each month, according to a report released Wednesday by UN agencies. Data compiled by the United Nations show slow progress and even backsliding in the ...

The fishing gangs visit the river at night and the rangers do nothing to stop them. Working in large groups, the boatmen use fishing methods that have long been outlawed in this part of the mighty Mekong River like gillnetting, which uses nets that hang like ...

A recently published study of a 2012 enterovirus outbreak that killed at least 54 Cambodian children has found that flare-ups of the virus tend to occur in a cyclical pattern, and that another one could be in store soon. Released last Wednesday ahead of its January ...

The total export of fish products decreased in 2016 even though fish yields rose, causing income from the fisheries sector to drop by nearly a half compared with a year earlier. An Agriculture Ministry report showed that income from the fisheries sector in 2016 was ...

Five thermal power projects have been developed in Binh Thuan province, raising serious concerns about pollution, as the plants are located near marine protected area. Binh Thuan has emerged as a province which attracts many industrial projects, especially thermal power ones. The Vinh Tan Power ...

Construction of the Laos-China railway was 89.43 per cent complete as of the end of May with Lao authorities calling for the project developer to progress work according to plan. General Manager Xiao Qianwen of the Laos-China Railway Co, Ltd. (LCRC), a joint venture based in ...

Myanmar’s lush rainforests and at least nine globally-threatened species are facing significant risks if the Dawei-Htee Khee road project (“Dawei Road”) continues without a comprehensive biodiversity protection plan, conservation experts warned. In the report entitled ‘Nature in Peril: The risk to forests and wildlife from the ...

In 2014, several indigenous communities in the Mekong started recording their stories and legends with the help of a group of researchers who are exploring how these narratives can help exposing the destructive impact of large-scale projects in the region.The Mekong is one of Asia’s ...

The securities watchdog has said it is not worried about defaults involving millions of baht worth of bills of exchange, saying the exposure is very low compared to the total bond market. The Securities and Exchange Commission, however, has taken prompt action to mitigate nervousness ...

HCM CITY – The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta is entering its annual flooding season and many rice farmers in upstream provinces have opened their field sluices to let the floodwaters and aquatic creatures in. The floods are caused by the rising level of the Mekong River ...

Nearly 30,000 people have benefited from improved natural resource management and biodiversity conservation thanks to the Green Annamites Project in Quang Nam and Thua Thien-Hue provinces. The project has been sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) from 2016-2020. It also reduced the amount of carbon ...

Local prison authorities in Arakan State’s Buthidaung Township say more than 100 “Bengalis” were released this week after serving the duration of their sentences in connection with violence between Buddhists and Muslims that wracked the state in 2012.   Prison staffer Win Kyaw confirmed the release of ...

The governments of Myanmar, Japan and Thailand will be meeting over the troubled Dawei special economic zone (SEZ) project that has stalled since 2013 for lack of funding. Ministers will form a Joint Cooperation Committee to discuss how Japan can be more involved in developing ...