Environment and natural resources
Review: Last Days of the Mighty Mekong
The Mekong is the world’s 12th-longest river, second only to the Amazon in terms of biodiversity importance, and the world’s most productive inland fishery. It is also a transboundary river – rising from the glaciers of the Tibetan Plateau, in China, before tumbling down through ...
Students to visit Japan as part of initiative to protect environment
Six Ministry of Environment officials, along with government representatives and young people from Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, will conduct a nine-day Japan visit from Monday as part of the Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youth – Jenesys – project, under the ...
Dozens of companies launch US$1 billion bid to end plastic pollution in Asia but environmentalists dismiss it as ‘greenwashing’ stunt
The “Alliance to End Plastic Waste” (AEPW) consortium of more than 30 companies launched last month, dedicating a combined total of US$1 billion over the next five years – aiming for US$1.5 billion if more conglomerates join – to develop better plastic recycling practices and ...
Mekong Delta prepares for dry season, seeks to keep out saltwater
Authorities in the Mekong Delta are bracing for the dry season and the resultant saltwater intrusion from the sea in rivers. They have taken a number of measures including dredging of canals, building temporary dams to keep out saltwater and storing water in reservoirs. Keep reading ...
Asia’s Environmental Apocalypse 2019?
This year’s environmental news kicked off in grisly fashion: a Vietnamese poaching gang recording one of its members straddling and punching a snared and presumably dead tiger (the Thai authorities say they have caught the perpetrators) in one of Thailand’s protected areas. Thailand has always seemed, to ...
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, ...
UK to help build flood resilience in Vietnam
The effects of climate change pose a direct threat to lives and livelihoods of people living in Vietnam, from death and injury to damaged or destroyed homes, businesses, transport links, power supplies and agricultural land. So academics from the University of Southampton, the University of ...
The Hidden Environmental Toll of Mining the World’s Sand
By far the largest mining endeavor globally is digging up sand, mainly for the concrete that goes into buildings. But this little-noticed and largely unregulated activity has serious costs — damaging rivers, wreaking havoc on coastal ecosystems, and even wiping away entire islands. In Cambodia, researching ...
Protecting our food by protecting our farmers
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projected that global warming is likely to reach 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2030. This is projected to bring about changes in the climate and natural systems, including changes in the frequency and intensity of weather ...
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 ...
