Environment and natural resources
Hundreds of environmental and customary land activists were killed, why is being a 'very dangerous' activist?
The killing of a prominent indigenous expert and a British journalist in Brazil is yet another safety issue for environmental and land activists around the world. Bruno Pereira, former head of Brazil’s indigenous organization Funai, and British journalist Dom Phillips were previously declared missing while reporting ...
Vietnam orders media to promote its ocean strategy
The Vietnamese government has launched a national campaign to promote its maritime policies as the ruling party pledges to explore “all available legal tools” to defend its interests amid China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea. A government order stipulates that by 2025, all domestic media outlets ...
RFA Staff
Mekong dams must release less water in dry season to preserve habitats, experts say
Abnormally high-water levels in the Mekong River at the end of May indicate that dams on the river must release less water during the dry season to protect the ecosystem, experts said at an online panel Monday. Rain levels during the dry season this year have ...
Eugene Whong for RFA
New hope for Mekong ‘megafish’
Weighing in at 661 pounds, a giant stingray hooked by a fisherman in Cambodia’s Mekong River earlier this month has taken the title of world’s largest freshwater fish. Nicknamed “Boramy,” or “full moon” in the Khmer language, the female ray — which was released — raises ...
Vanessa Bauza
Plastic river: Following the waste that’s choking the Chao Phraya
The Chao Phraya River is born from mountain streams in northern Thailand, flowing hundreds of kilometres south to the sea. By the time the river travels through Bangkok and empties into the Gulf of Thailand, it is carrying huge quantities of plastic waste – an ...
Wanpen Pajai
Villagers protest Yuam River diversion project
Residents from 46 villages in Mae Hong Son and Chiang Mai petitioned the chairman of the National Environment Board (NEB) and Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon to scrap the planned diversion of Yuam River. The petition was filed at Mae Hong Son’s complaint centre in Sop ...
POST REPORTERS
MRC Unveils Technology to Monitor Mekong Water Quality and Fish Migration
With hydrological projects now a daily reality along Southeast Asia’s most important waterway, the Mekong River Commission and its partners have introduced new technology to measure if one large project will have significant impact on the river’s water quality, flow or fish population. At the Don ...
Manyphone Vongphachanh
For Thai fishers facing dwindling catches, a Lao dam looms large
In the rustic old town of Chiang Khan on the Mekong River, a tourist haven in northeastern Thailand’s Isaan region, local fishing communities now live in fear of a proposed dam that threatens to devastate their livelihoods. The $2 billion, 684-megawatt dam would sit just 2 ...
Tom Fawthrop
Cambodia, VN, Laos to up wildlife crime fight
Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos have agreed to take concrete action and apply more effective measures against wildlife law offenders, and have committed to treating wildlife offences as serious crimes, although the number of cases referred to court in the three countries remains low. On June 2-3, ...
Mom Kunthear and Ry Sochan
224 new species in Greater Mekong
A report from conservation charity WWF said the unusual finds in the region of Southeast Asia showed it was a “hotspot” for wildlife diversity but also highlighted the threats they faced and the need to protect species and habitats from being lost. In total 155 plants, ...
PA/TPN