Environmental and biodiversity protection

An endangered turtle bred in captivity laid eggs for the first time in Cambodia, conservationists said this week, in a massive win for animal protection in the kingdom. The animal was among five Royal Turtles — once feared extinct in the country — that laid more ...

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved a US$57 million project to help Lao PDR promote sustainable forest management, improve protected area management, and enhance livelihoods opportunities in eight provinces across the country. Project funding comes from the World Bank’s International Development Association, ...

The government expects to earn its first income from the sale of carbon credit next year after signing an agreement with the World Bank. The Deputy Director General of the Forestry Department, Mr Khamsene Oukham, said on Thursday that the government had signed an agreement with ...

Srongpol Chantharueang remembers his parents telling him as a boy always to protect the local wetland forest when he grew up. They told him that the ecosystem would be important for his life and that of his community. “I didn’t understand what they meant at ...

The Asian migratory bird census which is usually conducted yearly will be taken in collaboration with local communities in Myanmar this year, said Daw Thiri Daewi Aung, executive director at Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association (BANCA). “Normally, the migratory bird census is taken in the second ...

The Lao government’s high-risk plan to install a massive dam on the Mekong River, perilously close to the renowned UNESCO World Heritage site of Luang Prabang, shows a disregard for its legal obligations to protect the renowned site, according to conservation experts. Minja Yang, the former ...

The Mekong River Commission (MRC) says environment and water-resource ministers from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam have approved a navigation plan for the four countries and a regional environmental strategy. In a statement, the MRC said the two documents were among several approved during a virtual ...

More people in the Mekong Delta are planting trees and building embankments made of natural materials to prevent erosion along rivers and canals.   The delta, which has a dense river and canal network, has faced increasing erosion along rivers and canals in recent years because of human activity and climate change. In Hau ...

The path to Preak Tachan ranger station, in Botum Sakor national park, Cambodia, snakes through dense, silent forest. It crosses bubbling rivers and clearings where luminous butterflies flit around gargantuan hanging vines and tall wild grasses. It’s The Lost World, Indochina-style. I half expect a ...

Authorities have been doing too little to regrow trees they felled to make way for hydropower projects, experts said. Growing trees is the most effective way to control floods and prevent erosion in downstream areas, Dao Xuan Hoc, chairman of the Vietnam Water Resources Development Association, ...