Environment and natural resources

Pollution and waste

Mercury rising: Why a Thai community believes it is being poisoned across the international border

NAN, Thailand: On clear mornings, at dawn, Ms Kanchanaporn Paeng-ud stands on a hillcrest where her family processes tapioca and looks out beyond the sweeping valleys across to neighbouring country Laos. On the horizon, some 20 km away, she can see what resembles billowing columns of ...

Jack Board

Special Report: Under the Haze - Demystifying the Flames

Under last year’s haze that shrouded the region and sent over two million people to hospital, concerned authorities and policymakers have started to dispel the myth that has lasted for over 16 years, demystifying it and discovering the root causes; the vastly burned forests and ...

Piyaporn W.

Extinguishing a Point of Contention: Examining Transboundary Haze in Southeast Asia

As Indonesia faces another year of intensifying peatland fires, longstanding regional tensions around transboundary haze continue to envelop Southeast Asia. Neighboring Malaysia is concerned about the haze’s severity this year, urging joint regional action against rising air pollution levels. Malaysia’s vocal stance on the issue raises the question: ...

Lauren Mai

ASEAN air chiefs unite with RTAF to ‘clear the air’ in Thailand pollution battle

The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) is gearing up to join forces with its ASEAN counterparts to combat air pollution, specifically honing in on the issue of fine particulate matter PM2.5. This announcement took flight during the annual ASEAN Air Chiefs Conference in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, which concluded ...

Atima Homtientong

Report: Forest encroachment for maize cultivation increased in Lower Mekong

Industrial-scale maize cultivation to produce animal feed, one of the two main reasons behind annual smog in the three Lower Mekong countries, has grown on a massive scale, satellite data analysis has revealed. More than 11.8 million rai (4.7 million acres) of forested area in the ...

Subel Rai Bhandari for RFA

Thailand battles marine pollution with 507 tonnes of waste collected in 2020

Marine pollution issues have impinged on Thailand‘s coastal regions, with increasingly alarming statistics emerging, according to updates from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Throughout last year, there were reports of 22 oil spill events within the Gulf of Thailand, and an astonishing 507 tonnes of various waste ...

Mitch Connor

License to Log: Cambodian military facilitates logging on Koh Kong Krao and across the Cardamoms

KOH KONG, Cambodia — “I think there’s a 30% chance we’ll have trouble with the police,” said Ly Chandaravuth, an environmental activist with the outlawed group Mother Nature Cambodia. This was in August 2022, when Mother Nature Cambodia was planning a trip to Koh Kong Krao, ...

Gerald Flynn

Phuket set to be a new model for food waste disposal

With the Phuket tourism industry well on the way to recovery and aiming to welcome 12 million tourist arrivals this year, the problem of food waste is seen as an increasingly critical issue. In an effort to reduce that waste, the Thai Organic Consumer Association ...

Veena Thoopkrajae with additonal report by Patcharee Leunguthai

Cassava export boom leading to deforestation and poor air in Laos

Farmers are encroaching on national parks and protected forests in Laos, burning and clearing large areas to make room for cassava crops. The demand for cassava has seen it become the most profitable agricultural product in Laos, as demonstrated by the country’s February trade figures: cassava ...

Laotian Times/ANN

Mekong countries urged to fight plastic pollution in rivers

Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia have been asked to adopt stronger solutions to deal with plastic pollution in the Mekong River and its tributaries. The Mekong River Commission (MRC) said in a Wednesday report that the four member countries should establish a “joint, permanent mechanism to ...

VnExpress

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