Environment and natural resources
Xayaboury dam 50% completed
After beginning in 2012, the construction of the US$3.5 billion Xayaboury dam is now about 50 per cent complete, according to a report by Vientiane Times. When it becomes operational in 2019, about 95 percent of the 1,285-megawatt electricity produced will be sold to Thailand. The dam, ...
Another Areng Valley activist arrested
A prominent Areng Valley activist joined three other environmentalists in jail on 7 October in Koh Kong after being questioned at the provincial court about alleged “forest crimes”. Ven Vorn, 36, a community representative and commune councillor with the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, was arrested at the ...
Thai PM calls for regional haze cooperation
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered the Foreign Ministry to work closely with neighbouring countries to tackle the chronic haze problem gripping Southeast Asia. Short- and long-term solutions are needed to deal with the smog caused by slash-and-burn farming on Sumatra Island in Indonesia, Gen Prayut ...
Haze reaches southern Thailand, rises beyond safety levels
The haze from forest fires in Indonesia has reached southern Thailand, with smoke from the dust particles rising above safety levels in Songkhla province’s Hat Yai district. Songhkla Governor Songpol Sawasditham on 5 October set up a war room to combat the impact of the haze ...
On Cambodia's Tonle Sap, Vietnamese families face mass eviction
The Kompong Chhnang provincial government is in the process of evicting about 1,000 mostly Vietnamese families who live in the floating villages on the Tonle Sap river near the provincial capital, moving them up the river as part of a five-year plan to beautify the ...
Vietnamese teens busted in Cambodia with endangered animals
Two Vietnamese teenagers were arrested in Kandal province on 2 October after being found illegally transporting 44 endangered tortoises, which they reportedly intended to smuggle into Vietnam for sale. Keep reading ...
Vietnam's forest protection law falls short
Vietnam’s Law on Forest Protection and Development has become backwards and exposed numerous disadvantages, after more than 10 years of implementation, a senior official from the Vietnam Forestry Administration (VNFOREST) has said. Deputy director of the VNFOREST, Nguyen Ba Ngai, made his comment at a workshop ...
Myanmar youth leaders gather at the Social Good Summit
When 40 Myanmar youth leaders gathered at the Social Good Summit on September 26, it was clear there was one topic on their minds. The main focus of the Yangon summit, organised by the Union Nations Development Programme in partnership with the UN Volunteers and UN ...
Climate change targets aim high
The Ministry of Environment submitted an ambitious national climate change plan to the United Nations on 1 October ahead of scheduled climate talks in Paris (COP 21), though observers questioned the plan’s feasibility given a lack of both funding and political will. According to Sao Sopheap, spokesperson ...
Pollution from coal-fired power plants kills 4,300 Vietnamese every year: study
Diseases linked to pollution caused by a fast growing network of coal-fired power plants kill around 4,300 people in Vietnam each year, according to a new estimate by scientists. A study released at a conference in Hanoi on 29 September claims that once all planned power projects become ...
