Disasters and emergency response
Untold impact on northern Thailand’s wildlife from Mekong dams
About a year ago, the Boon Rueang Wetland Forest Conservation Group began a survey of wildlife in the 483-hectare community forest in northern Thailand. “We have recorded some leopards, otters and other animals,” says Songpol Chanruang, chair of the group. Though only around 130 kilometres long, ...
Tyler Roney, Piyaporn Wongruang
Outbreak fears as Mekong Delta struggles with returning migrant workers
With the Mekong Delta laboring under large quarantining burdens as migrants return from the southeast region in the thousands, officials fear outbreaks if the localities’ capabilities are stretched. An Giang Province, for instance, had more than 15,000 migrant workers return on motorbikes over the past three ...
Cuu Long, Ngoc Tai
Lao villagers still disenfranchised three years after eviction
Villagers who were evicted from their homes in northern Laos to make way for a new hydroelectric dam remain disenfranchised three years on, according to media reports. The villagers relocated from Xayaburi province in 2018 are housed in resettlement towns where they lack enough land and ...
UCA News reporter, Vientiane
Lao Villagers Displaced by Xayaburi Dam Still Lack Farmland, Water
Lao villagers displaced by construction of the Xayaburi Dam, a hydropower project on the Mekong River in northwestern Laos, are struggling to survive in resettlement towns three years after being moved, saying they lack sufficient farmland and water to support themselves, Lao sources say. Construction began ...
Reported by RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Dams lift discharge rate, flooding downstream
The Chao Phraya Dam on Wednesday increased its discharge rate, sending a huge volume of water downstream, where four villages in Bang Ban district of Ayutthaya were flooded. Extra water is also being released from the Pasak Jolasid Dam, with flood warnings for five central provinces. The Chao ...
SUNTHON PONGPAO AND ONLINE REPORTERS
China Courts Vietnam With More COVID-19 Vaccines, Mistrust Remains
Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi concluded a three-day visit to Vietnam, making him the second high-ranking Chinese official to have visited the country since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019 and early 2020. Wang’s trip to Hanoi came on the heels ...
Hai Hong Nguyen
Thai students suffer inequality and poor mental health as pandemic lingers
At a protest earlier this month, a large banner was unfurled on the side of an overpass that read, “1.8 million children are about to fall out of the school system due to online instruction that doesn’t give a shit about them.” A young girl ...
MARK S. COGAN
Droughts and political risk challenge hydro’s place in energy mixture
The Minister for Mines and Energy is giving nothing away on how hydropower figures in Cambodia’s draft power development plan (PDP). However, he did say the PDP would not turn its back on established power sources, such as coal- and oil-fired power plants because of ...
Michael Firn / Khmer Times
Vietnamese Facebook User Fined for ‘Fake News’ as Criticism Grows of Government’s Handling of Pandemic
Police in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City have fined a local Facebook user for saying that local government has neglected city residents and let them go hungry amid lockdowns aimed at controlling the spread of COVID-19, sources said. Nguyen Thuy Duong was fined VND 5 million ...
RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Translated by Anna Vu. Written in English by Richard Finney
Forest fires linked to tens of thousands of avoidable deaths
Setting fire to forest and agricultural land in Southeast Asia to prepare it for cultivation or grazing contributes to an estimated 59,000 premature deaths a year, say scientists. Their analysis reveals that the greatest health impact from the burning, which releases tiny particles into the air ...
University of Leeds
