Extractive industries
The Mekong Delta: an unsettling portrait of coastal collapse
Some environmental disasters present themselves over years; others come with a bang — or a splash. The latter happened one day in August, when residents of Binh My, a commune in Vietnam’s lush Mekong Delta, heard a loud cracking sound. They went outside to watch ...
John Reed
How the scramble for sand is destroying the Mekong
A crisis is engulfing the Mekong River, its banks are collapsing and half a million people are at risk of losing their homes. The entire ecosystem of this South East Asian river is under threat, all because of the world’s insatiable demand for sand. Extracted from the ...
Beth Timmins
Cambodian-Lao coal power deal an environmental worry
With plans for cross-border electricity grids growing in the region, Laos is banking on hydropower exports to earn revenue. But a recent deal to also sell coal power generated in Laos to Cambodia has sparked environmental concerns over this trade. Last month, Cambodia’s state-owned utility firm ...
Asia’s new gold: Sand mining threatens life on the Mekong
It’s an essential component of glass, asphalt and concrete. Sand is the stuff of which Asia’s growing megacities are made. In Cambodia, sand is being dredged from the Mekong River at an alarming rate, with disastrous results for local residents. Keep watching ...
Regional Government in Myanmar’s Sagaing Rethinks Support For Chinese Copper Mine
The Sagaing regional government in northwestern Myanmar on Monday cancelled permission for a Chinese company to conduct inspections for a new copper mine project following a protest by local residents in the capital Monywa. Hundreds of local residents staged a morning protest opposing the granting of ...
Koh Kong’s first coal-fired plant up in the air: Ministry
The investors of a project to build the first coal-fired power plant in Koh Kong province are still looking for buyers, according to the Ministry of Mines and Energy. In 2017, Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, a government-owned utility, started negotiations on building a 2,400-megawatt coal-fired ...
Chea Vansak
Gold mining operation kicks off in Xaysomboun
A feasibility study of exploration and processing at a 234.6 square kilometre gold mining site at Naty village area in Longchaeng district, Xaysomboun province, has begun after the government gave the green light. The project is a partnership between the Jo Bounmy Mining Development Co., Ltd. ...
Vietnam Needs to Break Its Addiction to Chinese Coal
When it comes to the effects of global climate change, Vietnam is one of the world’s most at-risk nations. Rising sea levels threaten to inundate both the Mekong and Red River Deltas, potentially impacting tens of millions of people. Vietnam is also one of the fastest ...
Brian Malczyk and Tim Robinson
China’s potash demand stirs resistance in rural Thailand
The future of a potash mine planned for north-eastern Thailand is mired in uncertainty as villagers put up fierce opposition, fuelled by concerns about their livelihoods, health and environment. Last year a group led by local women blocked access to exploratory drilling sites in the Wanon ...
Yodsapon Kerdviboon, Visarut Sankham
Illegal gold mining pollutes Đắkrông River
Although the Thừa Thiên-Huế Province People’s Committee announced it had cracked down on illegal gold mining along the upper part of the Đắkrông River in A Lưới District, the river water is still polluted, affecting people living downstream. Lao động (Labour) newspaper on Wednesday reported that gold ...
