Social development
Ethnic minorities and indigenous people
Ethnic cultural centre in land dispute
A Bunong ethnic community representative on Tuesday claimed Mondulkiri provincial officials have not begun measuring land for the Hill Tribes Cultural Centre in the Phnom Dos Kramom mountain area even though they had received an order to do so from Prime Minister Hun Sen late ...
How preserving folktales and legends help raise environment awareness in the Mekong
In 2014, several indigenous communities in the Mekong started recording their stories and legends with the help of a group of researchers who are exploring how these narratives can help exposing the destructive impact of large-scale projects in the region. In partnership with Mekong Watch, a Japan-based group ...
Small Voices, Real Actions of People in Forests
Similar to other ethnic groups, people of Hmong at Ban Pang Kob living in the buffer zone of Doi Phu Kha National Park and Khun Nan National Park are entirely dependent on the forests. Their livelihoods and food security from surrounding forests are now facing ...
What awaits any Rohingya refugees who return to Myanmar?
Since late 2017, more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh, following a military crackdown on the Muslim minority people. Under a deal between the two countries, thousands of them were due to be moved back to Myanmar. But this was halted when ...
'Myanmar wants to drive out all Muslims': Q&A with Kyaw Hla Aung
The Rohingya have faced persecution in Myanmar for decades. The military government, which took power following a coup in 1962, stripped the Rohingya of citizenship in 1982. U Kyaw Hla Aung is a well-known lawyer and activist who has been fighting for the rights of the Rohingya ethnic ...
INGOs Discourage Repatriation for their Own Interests: Gov’t Spokesperson
The Myanmar government’s spokesperson U Zaw Htay has accused international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) of deliberately discouraging refugees in Bangladesh from returning to Myanmar due to their own business interests. Speaking at the government’s press conference on Friday, U Zaw Htay, also director-general of the President’s ...
Indigenous youth take lead protecting threatened communities
The young people sitting together in a classroom at Chiang Mai University came from countries across the region, yet they do not only identify as Cambodian, Lao, Myanmar, Thai or Vietnamese. Keep reading ...
How conservation became colonialism
A feature article by Alexander Zaitchick that critically examines the importance of why indigenous people, not environmentalists, are the key to protecting the world’s most precious ecosystems. Read more ...
Myanmar-Thailand highway branded ‘ecological and social disaster’
Community and conservation groups in Myanmar have branded a planned highway linking a port project to Thailand an “ecological and social disaster”, saying it would uproot indigenous people from their homes and farms. Critics said an environmental and social impact assessment for the road project, ...
Sustainable Livelihoods Behind Street Vending in Thailand
When people talk about sustainable development there is rarely any mention of the many street vendors who make a living on streets in Thailand, as across the rest of Asia. []In January it was reported that the Thai authorities had arrested over 1,600 illegal migrants, mainly ...
Kalinga Seneviratne
