Environment and natural resources
Thermal power plants increasing on Hau River
Why are coal-run thermopower plants located on the Hau River? Why do the plants all use Chinese technology? Will there be another Formosa on the Hau River? These are questions raised by environmental experts about the appearance of many coal power plants believed to threaten the ...
Thousands killed by air pollution yearly: study
A new study by the World Health Organization has found 3 million deaths a year are linked to exposure to outdoor air pollution, with nearly 90 percent of those deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries like Cambodia. The WHO said Southeast Asia bears one of ...
PM orders West Lake fish-death probe
Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc on October 3 asked Hà Nội People’s Committee to handle the West Lake mass fish death incident, of which fish losses have already reached 60 tonnes and counting. PM Phúc also ordered district authorities to work with water service agencies to inspect ...
EU provides satellite training for Forestry Administration
The European Union has begun training Cambodia’s Forestry Administration to use satellite imagery to crack down on deforestation. Members of the EU’s Joint Research Centre have been meeting with forestry officials since September 26, teaching them how to analyse images captured by the EU’s Sentinel-2 satellite ...
Documentary raises alarm over Shan region threatened by Salween dam
Activists on September 28 released a 30-minute documentary as part of a campaign against a mega-dam in central Shan State. The documentary, called Drowning a Thousand Islands, includes local people from the remote Kunhing area voicing their concerns that the proposed Mong Ton hydropower project will irrevocably ...
WHO: 90 percent of world's population breathe dirty air
Nine out of 10 people globally live in places with poor air quality, the World Health Organization has said, blaming a worldwide air pollution crisis for being a major factor in millions of deaths per year. In a new report released on September 27, the health agency ...
Farming mega-mergers threaten food security, say campaigners
Deals would put the majority of seeds, chemicals and GM traits in the hands of three companies, deepening poverty for small-scale farmers. When an Indian farmer plants his cotton crop, there’s at least a 75% chance the seeds have been been bought from a company owned ...
Thailand pledges $1m to kick off ASEAN science development fund
Thailand will invest an initial US$1 million to establish a Science, Technology and Innovation Development Fund for ASEAN. After the first ASEAN Science & Technology Innovation Forum, held in Bangkok last week, Science and Technology Minister Pichet Durongkaveroj said the forum had come up with three plans to ...
World Bank funds environmental protection projects
The Environment Protection Fund and the World Bank recently provided funding for the second phase of four environmental and social protection sub-projects in Laos at a cost of more than US$4 million. The first sub-project named Capacity Building for Pollution Control, Waste and Hazardous Chemicals Management ...
Philippines to suspend 12 more mines in environmental crackdown
A dozen more Philippine mines, mostly nickel projects, are in danger of being suspended in an ongoing environmental crackdown on the sector, an environment undersecretary said on September 21. The Southeast Asian nation, the world’s top supplier of nickel ore, has already halted the operations of ...
