Environment and natural resources policy and administration
Environmental impact assessments
Sediment loss in Mekong River killing southern delta
The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta is home to nearly 18 million Vietnamese people, and is the most important rice field and fishing region of the country. Việt Nam cannot afford to lose it as an agricultural powerhouse, but may be unable to stop just that ...
VNS Reporter
Bid to ease hydro dam threats on the Mekong
Guidelines for mitigating the environmental impact and managing risks of hydropower dams in the Mekong River will be established at the end of March 2018 after discussion between Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. Forty-five officials from the four countries have been meeting in Vientiane this ...
Sen David
Mekong observation projects launched
The Mekong River Commission on January 17 launched two joint projects to better manage the Mekong basin resources and address flood and drought issues, especially monitoring the environmental impact of the controversial Don Sahong hydropower dam.Keep reading ...
Khuon Narim
Mekong River Commission stations not operational
Less than half of the monitoring stations set up by the Mekong River Commission in Cambodia are operational due to a lack of financial commitment from the Cambodian government, officials said yesterday, jeopardising the collection of important environmental and hydrological data.Though the stations were set ...
Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon and Rinith Taing
Progress review of SEZs in Myanmar demanded
As Myanmar pushes for attracting more foreign direct investment through its three special economic zones, civil society organizations have reiterated their recommendation to review and monitor the progress of the SEZs. Keep reading ...
Khine Kyaw
Pak Beng dam meets stiffer new resistance
An environmental group in Chiang Rai has renewed its campaign against the controversial Pak Beng dam that is due to be built on the transnational Mekong River by lodging a complaint with the Supreme Administrative Court against Thai authorities for failing to provide local communities ...
US$5.2 billion first phase of China-Thailand railway project facing further delays, reports say
Construction had been expected to start next month, but that is now unlikely as Thailand’s environmental authorities have yet to give the project the green light, China’s CCTV reported on Friday, citing Thai media.Experts need to evaluate potential areas of concern, and construction will not ...
Flood control ‘lacking’
Cambodia and Vietnam currently lack a system to effectively forecast and control flooding in the Sesan and Srepok river basins, both at the national and intergovernmental level, according to a study published by the Mekong River Commission (MRC). Keep reading ...
Yesenia Amaro
China’s Mekong plans threaten disaster for countries downstream
Thirty million people depend for a living on the Mekong, the great Asian river that runs through Southeast Asia from its origins in the snowfields of Tibet to its end in the delta region of Vietnam, where it fertilizes one of the world’s richest agricultural ...
Richard Bernstein
Faulty construction, heavy rain cause dam to flood Lao villages
Hundreds of thousands of cubic feet of muddy water have flooded eight villages in central Laos’ Xaysomboun province after the reservoir of a dam upstream burst its banks last week following heavy rain, damaging infrastructure, farmlands, and water supplies. Keep reading ...
RFA's Lao Service News Staff