Environment and natural resources
PM to present net-zero goal at COP26
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 ...
PRATCH RUJIVANAROM
China's Xi launches $232 mln biodiversity protection fund for developing countries
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 ...
David Stanway; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan
New reports highlight impacts of human and environmental incursions in Mekong
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’s Dam Problem
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 ...
Act now to save Mekong
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 ...
EDITORIAL
How Asia’s Rice Producers Can Help Limit Global Warming
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 ...
Oliver Frith, Reiner Wassmann, and Bjoern Ole Sander
Bringing “the people” back in: Forest Resources Conservation with Dr. Apichart Pattaratuma
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 ...
Rattana Lao
Alarm as haze plan 'lacking'
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 ...
PRATCH RUJIVANAROM
Korea Forest Service Discusses Forest Cooperation with 4 Mekong Region Countries
The Korea Forest Service held the 9th meeting of the Korea-Mekong Forest Cooperation Committee on Oct. 14 and discussed ways to strengthen forest cooperation to jointly respond to climate change with four countries in the Mekong region — Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. The online meeting ...
Jung Suk-yee
New World Heritage Site forest imperils Thai indigenous people
When Gib Tonnarmpech and her family were forced to leave their home in Thailand’s Kaeng Krachan National Park by authorities, they walked more than two days in dense forest with about 60 other families to get to their resettlement site. They named the new site Bang ...
Rina Chandran