Environment and natural resources

Water levels in the Mekong River have fallen to “worrying” levels since the start of this year, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) said last week, as the region heads into a third straight year of below average rainfall. In a statement on February 12, the Mekong ...

A draft master plan for the Mekong Delta for 2021-2030 and vision to 2050, recently released to collect public feedback, views climate change as not only a challenge but also an opportunity for local development. Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong said the draft features three ...

Illegal burning of rice stubble and land at the periphery of forests continues to occur throughout the Kingdom’s rural areas, especially in the north and northeast regions, according to officials who documented the activities on site. Wong Devorn, a civil servant and history professor, told The ...

On Friday 5 February, Cambodian forest activist Ouch Leng, a Goldman Environmental Prize recipient, was arrested along with four others. They had been putting up ‘No Chainsaw’ signs and wrapping trees with blessed saffron robes in a section of the vast Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary ...

Thailand is one of the world’s largest sugar producer, turning out about 10 million tons of the sweet stuff each year. But the traditional method of harvesting it is being criticized for polluting the environment. The government wants the industry to modernize, but some farmers ...

The level of the Mekong River has fallen to “abnormal” levels, threatening the livelihoods of 60 million people living along its lower course. The river starts in China and winds its way for 4,350 km, crossing Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is vital for the ...

A popular sandy beach on an island in the Mekong River has been reopened to visitors, to the delight of local businesses, after being closed since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic last year. The reopening last week of Had Hae beach, in tambon Nam Kam, ...

In the midst of political chaos fomented by a Feb. 1 military coup of the government in Myanmar, the country’s forestry sector is seeking legitimization from the international community. A statement from the nationally privatized Myanmar Forest Products and Timber Merchants Association (MFPTMA), with an oddly ...

Three Vietnamese companies have won a regional challenge to combat plastic waste in Ha Long Bay. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), the Vietnam Administration of Sea and Islands (VASI), the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ...

Vietnam became a member of the Convention on Wetlands, known as the Ramsar Convention, in 1989. So far, nine wetlands in the country have been recognised as Ramsar sites – wetlands of international importance. The Ramsar Convention, signed in Iran’s Ramsar city in 1971, is an international treaty that ...