Environment and natural resources
Environmental and biodiversity protection
Thousands of Protesters Call For Termination of Dam Project in Myanmar’s Kachin State
About 10,000 people in northern Myanmar’s Kachin state staged a massive protest Thursday against the controversial Chinese-backed Myitsone Dam and recent calls by China for the suspended project to resume. Kachin activists, leaders from Kachin political parties, religious leaders, local civil society groups, Buddhist monks, ...
Chinese company consults locals over Mekong blasting
Communities say the company hasn’t considered the social and environmental impacts of proposed changes to the river, reports Andrew Stone. Keep reading ...
Seminar seeks to address land subsidence in Mekong Delta
A scientific seminar on land subsidence in the Mekong Delta – situation and solutions took place in Hanoi on December 28. In his opening speech, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Vo Tuan Nhan said climate change, riverside landslide and land subsidence are posing challenges ...
The last 92 Irrawaddy dolphins in Mekong River may not survive
Experts are concerned that the Mekong dolphin is unlikely to survive Cambodia’s modernisation as a new dam is planned. It says, “building dams destroy habitats” and lists threats to dolphins, including pollutions and gillnets. It looks like an insect-eaten papyrus. The Irrawaddy dolphin is a critically endangered ...
Nathan A. Thompson
GMS biodiversity conservation corridors to operate from 2019
The Greater Mekong Subregion biodiversity conservation corridors and project management plans will be put into operation from 2019, said Vice Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Environment Nguyen The Dong. Dong, who is also the director of the project’s management board, said that the ...
Environmental Defenders Under Pressure Across Southeast Asia
A lack of U.S. engagement is contributing to a “declining, dictatorial and more dangerous environment” in Southeast Asia, where the abuse of fundamental rights is increasing alongside the killing of land activists, Human Rights Watch says. Keep reading ...
Study shows forest conservation is a powerful tool to improve nutrition in developing nations
A first-of-its-kind global study shows that children in 27 developing countries have better nutrition—when they live near forests. The results turn on its head the common assumption that improving nutrition in poorer countries requires clearing forests for more farmland—and, instead, suggest that forest conservation could be an important ...
Activists brace for new war on agri-chemicals
THE CALLS for a ban on the use of paraquat and two other farm chemicals seen as dangerous are growing louder again, as a government-appointed panel is set to discuss the issue at its first meeting tomorrow. Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha set up the panel ...
Call for Asean to work together for low-carbon future
The urgent need for Asean to deal with climate change was highlighted yesterday by two Singapore ministers, who called on the regional bloc to work together for a low-carbon future. Keep reading ...
4 megatrends affect Vietnam: WB official
At a national conference on Thursday in Vietnam’s Hanoi capital, Ousmane Dione, country director for the World Bank (WB) in Vietnam discussed four megatrends affecting Vietnam’s sustainable and competitive development. []Meanwhile, climate change poses a significant risk to Vietnam, he said, noting that rising sea-levels expose ...
