Environment and natural resources

The Lower Mekong Region is home to around 100 CITES-listed tree species. These include CITES Appendix-II timber-producing species of rosewoods (genus Dalbergia), yew trees (genus Taxus spp.), and agarwood (genus Aquilaria), some of which are highly valuable for international trade. This has made some of these species a target ...

Like many locals, Matthana Abhaimoon left rural Thailand to study in the city. Unlike most, she chose to come back – and fight for her right to farm in the forest as her forefathers had done. After a 20-year campaign, residents of Mae Tha won a ...

Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha will attend the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in the United Kingdom next week where he will formally announce Thailand’s new pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2065. Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa said Thailand’s delegates to the ...

Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the launch of a 1.5 billion yuan ($232.47 million) fund on Tuesday to support biodiversity protection in developing countries, as talks continue on a new post-2020 global pact to tackle species loss. Xi was virtually addressing the COP15 biodiversity summit in ...

Overfishing and habitat degradation caused by rapid population growth, infrastructure development, and climate change are stressing the Lower Mekong Basin’s fisheries while changes in the Basin’s aquatic ecosystems are impacting social conditions, reports Laotian Times. This was discussed in two reports released today by the Mekong River ...

The Mekong River stretches through 6 countries and sustains the lives of millions of people – but the river is under threat, experiencing record drought in recent years. Environmentalists believe huge hydropower dams, many built by China, are to blame. We speak with Thai activist ...

Last week, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) released two reports which once again highlighted the existential threats to the Mekong River. Social impact monitoring and vulnerability assessment 2018: Report on 2018 baseline survey of the Lower Mekong mainstream and floodplain areas Status and trends of fish abundance ...

The United States and European Union want countries from around the world to join them in slashing methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030. The recent EU-U.S. pledge recognizes that rapid reductions in methane emissions are critical to limiting global temperature rise to within 1.5 ...

With a lifetime dedicated to forest conservation, Dr. Apichart Pattaratuma reflected back on his career and what forest management means to Thailand. In the year 1978, he received the prestigious United Nations and Ananda Mahidol Foundation Scholarship to attain higher education at the College of ...

Environment experts and academics are voicing their concern over the authorities’ lack of preparation to deal with the upcoming haze season. They say the government needs to strengthen its pollution control regulations to better mitigate the problem at its source and protect the people’s health. Speaking at ...