Environment and natural resources
Climate change
Rice and the Climate Crisis: Thai rice farmers struggle against climate-driven challenges
It has been another difficult harvest for Manas Takfaeng. This farmer has seen plenty of seasons in his years in the fields. But now as his retirement looms closer, watching another crop suffer is hard to comprehend. The 67-year-old is an ordinary small-hold rice grower whose family ...
Jack Board
Mechanical eyes are ready to watch Southeast Asia’s weather systems
A fleet of unmanned surface vessels numbering in the hundreds could be a key tool in helping Southeast Asia countries adapt and prepare for an increase in the frequency of severe weather. Oceanographer Ruth Patterson of Charles Darwin University in Darwin, Australia, believes unmanned surface vessels ...
TROY KIPPEN
Floods cause mass buffalo starvation at Thale Noi park in southern Thailand
More than 200 dead water buffaloes have been found floating today at the Thale Noi Waterfowl Park in the southern Thai province of Pattalung. Prolonged flooding in the region had destroyed the grasses that the buffalo rely on for food. Without it, they starved to ...
Petch Petpailin
Death of last river dolphin in Laos rings alarm bells for Mekong population
Known only by his identity code, ID#35 was the last individual of a doomed subpopulation of freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris). He was the sole occupant of a deep pool in the Mekong River that spans the border between Cambodia and Laos, and fought for ...
Carolyn Cowan on
Developing a Freshwater Health Index: Encompassing Earth Data, Community Concerns, and Climate Change
Earth’s climate is changing, and one of the main impacts is on the water cycle. For example, there is an elevated risk of more frequent and intense flooding and droughts. Also, the amount of water flowing in individual streams and rivers is changing, and those ...
Earth Science Communications Team at NASA
Agriculture development in Mekong Delta must adapt to climate change: Vietnam PM
Agricultural development in the Mekong Delta region must adapt to climate change and be in close connection with the growth of industry and services, said Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính. He made the statement while chairing a meeting jointly held in the Mekong Delta’s Kiên Giang ...
Viet Nam News
Building Resilience across Southeast Asia
Climate change and myths about natural disasters Because we are powerless to prevent natural disasters from occurring, catastrophes become extraordinary experiences that must be learned, understood, and lived with as a normal part of daily life. When calamities strike, there is a chance of injury, death, crop ...
Wanwalee Inpin
The Mekong Delta in Vietnam is sinking. Can sediment save it?
In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, home to about 17 million people, large areas of land have been poldered for the cultivation of crops such as rice and shrimp. At the moment, the delta is on average less than a meter above sea level. But due to ...
Wageningen University
Scientists step up hunt for ‘Asian unicorn’, one of world’s rarest animals
Weighing 80-100kg and sporting long straight horns, white spots on its face and large facial scent glands, the saola does not sound like an animal that would be hard to spot. But it was not until 1992 that this elusive creature was discovered, becoming the first ...
Veronika Perková
Cambodia one of just 49 countries to submit climate strategy to UN
Cambodia on December 30 submitted its egy (LTS4CN) to the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) , according ...
Ry Sochan