NGO files suit over ‘seizures’ in Phnom Oral

A Kampong Speu-based NGO has accused a police officer and several rangers working for the provincial Environment Department of seizing more than 100 hectares of Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary, demanding a court order to restore the land and hold the parties to account. Keep reading ...

Green light for Mekong ‘time bomb’ sparks alarm

Environmental groups have expressed alarm at the Laotian National Assembly’s approval of the concession for the Don Sahong Dam project, which has been described as an “ecological time bomb” about to be dropped on the Mekong River. The Laotian government and the project’s developer, Malaysia’s MegaFirst ...

China seizes 620 live turtles, most endangered, in shipment from Vietnam: report

Chinese border patrol officials seized 620 wild turtles and tortoises that were found alive in a shipment claimed to be frozen seafood from Vietnam, Xinhua News Agency said on 30 August. Keep reading ...

Thailand destroys more than 2 tons of illegal ivory

Thai authorities destroyed more than 2 tons of seized and smuggled ivory on 26 August, in the latest move by the government to avoid possible economic sanctions over a perceived failure to tackle the illicit trade. Tusks from more than 200 dead African elephants and other ...

Fishing curbs pledged for Mandalay Lake

The Mandalay regional government will cease issuances of new commercial fishing licenses for Taungthaman Lake in a bid to conserve the body of water. Aung Maung, development affairs minister for Mandalay Division, announced the plan during the 13th regular session of the Mandalay divisional parliament on ...

Dams 'destroying Mekong fish stock'

Fishermen in delta and Northeast Thailand say dams in China and Laos have hit breeding and yields, forcing many to quit. Mekong River fishermen have already suffered dramatically from dams and irrigation works, which have decimated fish stocks and undermined livelihoods that supported families for generations.Nguyen Anh ...

France repatriates 150 smuggled rare tortoises seized on route to Laos

Some 150 rare tortoises are to be returned to Madagascar by French customs, who seized them in December while they were being smuggled to Laos. The reptiles needed several months of intensive care after being transported hidden in cases of sea cucumbers. Keep reading ...

Over 95kg of alleged elephant tusks smuggled from Africa to Vietnam

Customs officers at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on 12 August seized 49 purported elephant tusk parts and one alleged rhino horn that were shipped from Africa. The suspicious tusks weigh 95.54kg while the horn weighs 4.76kg, customs officers said. Keep reading ...

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) issue warning on Mekong’s biodiversity

Scientists say the Southeast Asia’s rapid development is driving deforestation in the vital Mekong Subregion, and threatening scores of species in one of the world’s most bio-diverse ecosystems. Trafficking in plant and animal wildlife is accelerating the trend, and governments are being pressed to do ...

Laos, destination in illegal ivory trade, so far eludes global crackdown

When the authorities in Thailand recently intercepted huge stashes of ivory stuffed inside shipments of beans and tea leaves, the seizures were described as groundbreaking international police work. But there was a major omission in the operation, which took place over the past four months and uncovered ...

Contact us

Contact us

Do you have questions on the content published by Open Development Mekong? We will gladly help you.

Have you found a technical problem or issue on the Open Development Mekong website?

Tell us how we're doing.

Do you have resources that could help expand the Open Development Mekong website? We will review any map data, laws, articles, and documents that we do not yet have and see if we can implement them into our site. Please make sure the resources are in the public domain or fall under a Creative Commons license.

File was deleted
ERROR!

Disclaimer: Open Development Mekong will thoroughly review all submitted resources for integrity and relevancy before the resources are hosted. All hosted resources will be in the public domain, or licensed under Creative Commons. We thank you for your support.

cEkhg
* The idea box couldn't be blank! Something's gone wrong, Please Resubmit the form! Please add the code correctly​ first.

Thank you for taking the time to get in contact!