Environment and natural resources
Biodiversity
The last 92 Irrawaddy dolphins in Mekong River may not survive
Experts are concerned that the Mekong dolphin is unlikely to survive Cambodia’s modernisation as a new dam is planned. It says, “building dams destroy habitats” and lists threats to dolphins, including pollutions and gillnets. It looks like an insect-eaten papyrus. The Irrawaddy dolphin is a critically endangered ...
Nathan A. Thompson
157 ’new' Mekong species discovered
A bat that could be a member of an American boy band, a gibbon with a Star Wars name and a toad straight from Tolkien’s Middle Earth are among the 157 newly discovered species in the Greater Mekong region described by the world’s scientists in ...
Forum to protect Eld’s deer
Around 50 officers and wildlife conservationists from China, India, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia gathered in Phnom Penh for a workshop intended as a forum to share information to help provide better protection for the Eld’s deer. The species is now a rare and ...
Seminar talks marine planning, coastal ecosystems in Mekong Delta
A seminar was held in Hanoi on November 22 to look into marine spatial planning and a project on improving the human habitat and coastal ecosystems in the Mekong Delta. Keep reading ...
Illegal trafficking of baby elephants to China and Dubai for tourism must be stopped, say activists
An investigator has called on the international body that polices trade in wildlife to crack down on the illegal trafficking of young elephants across borders in south-east Asia. Secretive agents in Laos are sending dozens of animals each year across the country’s land border with China and fly others to the Middle East, earning up ...
Exclusive: Illegal Tiger Trade Fed by ‘Tiger Farms,’ New Evidence Reveals
A shocking video and new intelligence suggest that legal and illegal captive tiger facilities fuel Asia’s tiger trafficking—with brutal efficiency. Keep reading ...
Southeast Asia's Tigers Show Slight Revival But Remain Under Pressure
According to the best estimates, some 100,000 tigers used to roam through parts of Asia. But that was more than a century ago. Today, experts estimate that worldwide only some 3,800 tigers have survived in the wild. This marks a slight improvement for the big ...
Regional Short Film Contest Launched to Combat Wildlife Trade
The British Embassy in Yangon launched a regional short-film competition on Thursday as part of a UK government initiative to combat the global illegal wildlife trade (IWT). The UK government, in association with the Luang Prabang Film Festival, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Wildlife ...
Live Lao pangolins seized on Mekong boat
The Thai authorities on Wednesday morning rescued some 40 live pangolins, weighed 200kg in total, that were smuggled in 10 sacks in a boat across the Mekong River into Chiang Rai’s Wiang Kaen district to be sold to restaurants and medicine shops. The pangolins were ...
Thailand’s last untouched Mekong tributary
The Lower Songkram River basin is the latest site in Thailand under the global spotlight as a crucial ecological resource, the WWF-Thailand said ahead of World Environment Day today. The river basin has been nominated as a wetland of international importance (RAMSAR), intended to protect ...
