Poverty policy and regulation
Food security
Thousands flee fighting near site of dam backed by Thailand

As many as 10,000 people in Kayin State in Myanmar have been displaced due to fighting over the Hat Gyi Dam construction site, as plans move forward to begin building on the Salween River. Activists have reported a human rights crisis in the area as more than 1,000 ...
Child nutrition still lagging in Cambodia: study

The government must boost efforts to eradicate malnutrition among Cambodia’s women and children, many of whom are still chronically malnourished despite improvements in recent years, according to a new report in the International Journal of Food and Nutritional Science. Basing the study on a review of ...
Farming mega-mergers threaten food security, say campaigners

Deals would put the majority of seeds, chemicals and GM traits in the hands of three companies, deepening poverty for small-scale farmers. When an Indian farmer plants his cotton crop, there’s at least a 75% chance the seeds have been been bought from a company owned ...
Thailand pledges $1m to kick off ASEAN science development fund
Thailand will invest an initial US$1 million to establish a Science, Technology and Innovation Development Fund for ASEAN. After the first ASEAN Science & Technology Innovation Forum, held in Bangkok last week, Science and Technology Minister Pichet Durongkaveroj said the forum had come up with three plans to ...
ASEAN trade beckons strict food safety measures

Rising income levels combined with an increase in cross-border trade in Southeast Asia has meant many countries in the region have had to begin strengthening food safety measures in order to meet growing consumer awareness. Under new food safety laws revised in July, the maximum punishment for food poisoning and ...
As clouds head for the poles, time to prepare for food and water shocks

A changing climate means less rain and lower water supplies in regions where many people live and much of the planet’s food is produced: the mid-latitudes of the Northern and Southern hemispheres, including the U.S. Southwest, southern Europe and parts of the Middle East, southern ...
It’s time for development banks to start listening

The aid community often ignores the wishes of the very people it’s supposed to be helping. The world needs a more bottom-up approach to development. Almost a year ago, the United Nations set the Sustainable Development Goals, an ambitious blueprint for governments and financiers to ...
The business of achieving the sustainable development goals

By 2030, poverty and hunger should be history, every human being should have access to clean energy, and the impacts of climate change should be reduced. These are just three of the 17 promises the global community made last September when it adopted the Sustainable Development ...
ASEAN nations agree to partner in agri-food development
ASEAN agriculture experts plan to work together towards the sustainable development of the food and agriculture sectors after holding talks on the issue. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s Director General of the Agriculture Department, Mr Vilaysouk Khennavong, said “the sustainable development of the food and ...
Prayut calls for unity to ease region's woes

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is urging European and Asian countries to jointly combat economic and environmental problems. Thailand currently chairs the Group of 77, an intergovernmental organisation consisting of 134 developing nations which aim to jointly develop their economies. Though the G-77 members have increased ...