Environment and natural resources
Lao loggers backed by corrupt officials pillaged Champassak forests in July
Illegal logging in southern Laos’ Champassak province was particularly devastating on forests in July, according to a local police officer, who said businessmen working in tandem with high-ranking officials raced to cut timber in the region ahead of the start of the rainy season. The police ...
Thailand’s Mekong water-diversion plan raises concerns
The Thai government’s statement in late July that it is considering bringing water from the Mekong, Moei and Salween rivers to farmland to nine of its provinces has raised major concerns. The water diversion has been described as a move to ‘extract blood from the Mekong’s ...
France repatriates 150 smuggled rare tortoises seized on route to Laos
Some 150 rare tortoises are to be returned to Madagascar by French customs, who seized them in December while they were being smuggled to Laos. The reptiles needed several months of intensive care after being transported hidden in cases of sea cucumbers. Keep reading ...
Vietnamese students win top prize with Mekong video
In their efforts to save the Mekong River, a team of young Vietnamese students from Can Tho University have won the first prize in the 2015 ASEAN Youth Video Contest. Seven youths represented Vietnam at the ASEAN Youth camp in last May in Singapore, in the ...
Coal-caked home shows danger of Vietnam’s cheap power
After Quang Ninh province’s worst torrential rains in four decades, residents still face lingering danger. Toxic run-off from an open-pit coal mine left a trail of contamination, from local streams to the emerald waters of Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site whose islets attract more than 1 ...
Vietnamese plea to Thailand: Don't divert the Mekong
People in Vietnam hope Thailand will reconsider its plan to divert water from the Mekong, because it would seriously affect their ability to produce food. The Mekong Delta is Vietnam’s most important agricultural area. Each year, the area produces the most rice and fruit in the country. This region ...
Phu Quoc forests, farm lands may have to give way for casino, resort
Authorities in the southern province of Kien Giang are seeking the government’s permission to allocate more than 2,000 hectares of farm and forest land in Phu Quoc for tourism projects. Keep reading ...
Study links polluted air in China to 1.6 million deaths a year
Outdoor air pollution contributes to the deaths of an estimated 1.6 million people in China every year, or about 4,400 people a day, according to a newly released scientific paper. The paper maps the geographic sources of China’s toxic air and concludes that much of the smog that ...
South Korean companies plan major waste treatment plant for Mekong Delta
A South Korean syndicate has proposed to build a major waste treatment plant to solve an urgent demand in the Mekong Delta where thousands of tons of waste are being discharged every day. The proposal was made by three companies in a meeting with local officials ...
Over 95kg of alleged elephant tusks smuggled from Africa to Vietnam
Customs officers at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on 12 August seized 49 purported elephant tusk parts and one alleged rhino horn that were shipped from Africa. The suspicious tusks weigh 95.54kg while the horn weighs 4.76kg, customs officers said. Keep reading ...
