Ecosystems

Abnormally high-water levels in the Mekong River at the end of May indicate that dams on the river must release less water during the dry season to protect the ecosystem, experts said at an online panel Monday.  Rain levels during the dry season this year have ...

With hydrological projects now a daily reality along Southeast Asia’s most important waterway, the Mekong River Commission and its partners have introduced new technology to measure if one large project will have significant impact on the river’s water quality, flow or fish population. At the Don ...

Cambodia’s Great Lake – the Tonle Sap – is in trouble. The lake and its residents face the converging impacts of global climate change, upstream hydropower dams, and illegal fishing abetted by government corruption. All have combined to threaten the lake’s nourishing flood-pulse, which for ...

For decades, scientists have struggled to find certain rare and endangered mammals in the vast Truong Son Mountain Range, which stretches from Vietnam’s northern provinces to Lam Dong Province in the Central Highlands. Now, a group of scientists has come up with a creative way ...

For Pianporn Deetes, the Mekong is more than a river. “This is not just liquid, but this is the entire life-supporting system,” Deetes, a local activist, said recently on a wooden long-tail boat heading upstream in northern Thailand’s Chiang Rai province. The Mekong, one of the world’s longest waterways, runs about ...

Forest watchers in 2020 filed 90 percent fewer reports of illegal logging amid officials’ threats against community patrols, according to an international research report, as one advocate said young people were refraining from joining patrols out of fear of repercussions. Using a combination of satellite data ...

A local community in Oddar Meanchey province is doing an online “one-dollar” campaign to raise funds for forest protection after facing personnel shortfalls for their patrolling, leaving much of the Sorng Rukhavorn Wildlife Sanctuary’s more than 30,000ha unprotected. The Sorng Rukhavorn forest community said forestry crimes ...

Did you know that illegal logging can be five times as lucrative as selling the world’s most well-known soda? In 2020, the Coca-Cola company reported $33 billion in revenue. The global illegal timber trade, in comparison, generates up to $152 billion a year — accounting for up ...

Peatlands are one of the most important ecosystems on Earth for capturing and storing carbon. The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is playing a key role in efforts to ensure their protection, delegates attending an event on the sidelines of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow ...

The local authorities and environmental organisations in the Mekong Delta region are stepping up efforts to preserve and develop ecosystems vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Located in southern Vietnam, the Mekong Delta has a diverse and unique ecosystem that includes marine life, islands, estuaries, ...