Environment and natural resources
Vietnam can reduce emissions and save $2.3 billion with changes in agriculture and land use
Through cost-saving practices for coffee, rice, maize, and livestock production, Vietnam can increase its Paris Agreement commitments, says a study that highlights climate action potential for agriculture in Southeast Asia. Looking toward 2020, as nations take stock of their actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under ...
Sean Mattson
Could lack of access to data be the biggest threat to Myanmar's rivers?
While Myanmar struggled through decades of political and economic repression, the country’s river systems lay relatively untouched. But hand-in-hand with democratic reform has come a race to develop the country’s natural resources. As Myanmar opens up to the world of foreign investment, many new challenges ...
Thor Windham-Wright
Timber mischief in Vietnam
In the Southeast Asian region, loss of area under natural forests is largely driven by natural resources extraction and demand for more land for production of food and other commodities. Earlier in 2018, progress tracking of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development goals for Southeast Asia revealed ...
Sheith Khidhir
Cambodia puts circular economy in motion
Climate risks and demand by Cambodia’s garment customers for international standard waste compliance are inevitably pushing the Kingdom towards a circular economy. Global temperatures are expected to rise at a minimum of 1.5C beginning 2018, according to United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) last ...
Sok Chan
Increasing ecosystem carbon is good for species, says new study
It is widely assumed that land uses that increase carbon in biomass and soil to mitigate climate change also benefit biodiversity. But that might not always be the case. Until recently, there was no clear picture on what the most likely carbon-boosting strategies, such as ...
Gloria Pallares
Forum raises urgent Mekong issues
The 7th Mekong River Commission (MRC) Regional Stakeholder Forum was held in Lao capital Vientiane over Monday and Tuesday, with participants discussing urgent issues facing the Mekong region, the Secretariat of the MRC has said. Attending the two-day event were 180 representatives from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, ...
Ry Sochan
Thai Foreign Affairs Minister Confirms China Will Halt Mekong Rapids Blasting
Mr. Niwat Roykaew, founder of the Rak Chiang Khong Group in northern Thailand, has shared a letter he received on behalf of the Network of Thai People in Eight Mekong Provinces from Mr. Don Pramudwinai, the Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs, that confirms media reports in March ...
Pianporn Deetes
Making Yangon a green city
As Myanmar develops and urbanises, buildings, roads and bridges that meet international standards alone will not do. It is also important to systematically grow and preserve trees and green spaces in the city. The example of modern buildings together with parks is a popular trend in developed ...
Myat Moe Aung
Exploring indicators to monitor and evaluate adaptation in Thailand’s agricultural sectors
Thailand’s Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC) hosted a workshop in Bangkok to enhance the technical capacity to monitor and evaluate (M&E) climate change adaptation in the country’s agriculture sectors. The workshop was jointly organized through the Integrating Agriculture in National Adaptation Plans Programme (NAP-Ag), ...
Thailand to junk three kinds of plastic by end of this year
End of this year, Thailand will be free from three types of plastic – microbeads, cap seals and oxo-degradable plastics – and from four other types of single-use plastics by 2022, according to a road map that got the Cabinet’s initial nod on Tuesday. The Plastic ...