Biodiversity
Animals
The Philippines declares more than 100,000 acres as critical habitat
In November last year, the Philippines declared its largest critical habitat yet. Located in the long, narrow Philippine island of Palawan, the new Cleopatra’s Needle Critical Habitat is spread across 41,350 hectares (more than 100,000 acres). The second largest critical habitat, Carmen Critical Habitat for ...
New regional platform to develop tourism companies
The Mekong Business Initiative will launch a new platform next month aimed at developing startups in the tourism sector throughout the CLMV region, which includes Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, a program organiser said on January 31. MBI, a program launched by the Asian Development ...
Ministry issues measures meant to counter wildfires
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries on January 30 signed off on a list of seven measures intended to guard against forest fires, although details on implementation remained scarce on January 31 and observers said they expected little to come of the new document. The ...
Xieng Khuang promoting native cattle exports
Xieng Khuang province plans to expand the breeding of native cattle for domestic and overseas sales with the province already exporting almost 10,000 head per year. The province has promoted health programmes with vaccinations to protect local breeds from diseases and ensured that sufficient pasture ...
Prey Lang forest NGO in running for Yale prize
A member of the Prey Lang Community Network will travel to Connecticut in the United States this weekend after it was selected as one of only two finalists for Yale University’s International Society of Tropical Foresters Innovation Prize. The PLCN was nominated by the University of ...
Dak Lak takes prompt action to save elephants
As elephants are now facing a threat of extinction in Vietnam, the country has decided to spend big money on elephant conservation programs. A survey conducted under the framework of the elephant conservation project, Vietnam now only has 60 domesticated and over 100 wild elephants, ...
More animals removed from controversial Tiger Temple
Parks officials on January 19 mobilised staff from the Protected Areas Regional Office 3 to catch protected and endangered animals left at the Tiger Temple in Kanchanburi province. The animals were left over from the last animal seizure at the controversial temple mid last year, ...
Will Myanmar lose its Irrawaddy dolphins?
Tears fill U Maung Lay’s eyes as he describes losing the dolphin he knew since his childhood, the latest casualty of a battle against pollution and electrofishing that may see the species disappear from Myanmar. Loved for generations for corralling the catch into fishermen’s nets, ...
Australian charity to send Northern Territory cattle to Cambodian families
An Australian charity has bought 150 Brahman breeders from a Northern Territory Government research farm to send to Cambodia. Cows for Cambodia loans Cambodian families pregnant cows to look after until they have a calf, which the family keeps as payment. The Northern Territory cattle, ...
The Bird’s eye view: what endangered birds tell us about the risks of Mekong development
The Thai government started 2017 announcing another major commitment to transportation expansion: US$25 billion to finance futuristic high-speed trains, super highways and expanded sea and airports. Far less glitzy but immediately controversial, however, was one of its final transportation acts of 2016: preparing to restart, after ...
