Environment and natural resources

‘Water grabbing’ refers to a situation in which public or private entities are able to take control of, or reallocate, precious water resources for profit or for power — and at the expense of local communities and the ecosystems on which their livelihoods are based.[] Many ...

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc led a Vietnamese delegation to the 9th Mekong-Japan Summit and the 9th ASEAN-UN Summit that took place in Manila, the Philippines, on Monday. The 9th Mekong-Japan Summit drew leaders of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Việt Nam and Japan. Keep reading  ...

[] A collection of shoals, reefs and islets off Chiang Rai province is the only serious block for 500-tonne Chinese riverboats past Thailand and all the way down to Luang Prabang in Laos. Beijing is once again applying economic and diplomatic pressure on Prime Minister ...

China’s Mekong development plan has stirred debate as potentially becoming an environmental and social peril for downstream Mekong countries. The country’s navigation channel improvement plan has recently attracted attention from environmentalists, activists, and the media alike.The pace has picked up since the middle of this ...

[] Sustainable development of the Mekong basin is too important to be persistently ignored. Approximately 284 million people, including around 400 ethno-linguistic groupings, live on the Mekong River. A majority of Mekong communities are considered “primary producers,” as they rely on the river’s ecosystems for their survival through ...

Climate change is already having an impact on our health, by exposing people to dangerous heat waves and more extreme weather, according to a new study. [] The report, called The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, is meant to track progress on health and climate change ...

The 63rd joint patrol on the Mekong River with law enforcers from China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand was completed on Sunday. Keep reading ...

Laos and France have agreed to enhance cooperation in the energy sector and improve the management of water resources on the Mekong River by building a new Coordination and Monitoring Centre (CMC). The centre will be equipped to monitor hydroelectric power project (HPP) development on ...

The Royal Irrigation Department (RID) has withdrawn it’s environment and health impact assessment (EHIA) report on the Mae Wong Dam project after it is considered incomplete.  Keep reading     ...

As Myanmar pushes for attracting more foreign direct investment through its three special economic zones, civil society organizations have reiterated their recommendation to review and monitor the progress of the SEZs. Keep reading ...