Environment and natural resources policy and administration
Environmental impact assessments
JICA to aid impact studies
The Ministry of the Environment signed an agreement yesterday afternoon with the Japan International Cooperation Agency in an effort to improve the Ministry of the Environment’s capacity to curb pollution and review environmental impact assessments for development projects. “[JICA] will deploy advisers and discuss with officers ...
Academics call for reform of environmental impact studies on projects
A strategic Environment Assessment was proposed by academics to serve as a sustainable solution for conflicts over major development projects such as the Krabi coal-fired power plant. A team of academics and public policy campaigners discussed the current problems of Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental ...
Govt pushes Krabi coal plant forum
The government has pressed ahead with its plan to improve the public’s understanding about new environmental and health impact assessments needed for the Krabi coal-fired power plant project, saying a forum have to be organised within a month from now. Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon assigned agencies ...
Sihanoukville dredging eyed
Ministry of Environment officials on February 22 said an inspection team will be deployed to investigate the recently halted sand-dredging operation for the development of the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port’s new multipurpose terminal, which has affected local families. Danh Serey, director of the ministry’s environmental impact assessment ...
Govt gives in to protesters’ demands to order new study of Krabi coal-fired plant
The government has accepted demands from protesters and ordered that the Environmental and Health Impact Assessment of the Krabi coal-fired power plant be restarted from the beginning. The move has concerned officials at the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, who voiced fears that the delay ...
Hin Nam Nor submission to UNESCO next year
The final master plan of Hin Nam Nor National Protected Area in Khammuan province for submission to the World Heritage list will be sent to UNESCO early next year for assessment. An official for the Hin Nam Nor National Protected Area, who asked not to ...
Vietnamese luxury wooden furniture makers feel pain of regulations and deforestation
A mere 45 minutes northeast of Vietnam’s bustling capital city of Hanoi is the carpentry town of Đồng Kỳ, where conversations take place above the incessant din of electric saws cutting wood. A thin layer of sawdust coats every surface, and after a few hours ...
New dam on Mekong looms
Representatives from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam gathered in Vientiane on Thursday to launch a six-month consultation process on what would be the third mainstream hydropower dam in Laos’s Lower Mekong River. Laos first signalled its intention to move ahead with the proposed 912-megawatt Pak ...
Pheapimex ties ‘cause for concern’
Alex Corporation, the firm behind a proposal for an ambitious Mondulkiri mining project, appears to be ultimately owned by ruling party Senator Lao Meng Khin and his wife, Choeung Sopheap, the Post has discovered, a scenario rights groups say should give cause for concern. The ...
Villagers wary of M’kiri mine project
An environmental impact assessment released on Friday for a $245 million mining project slated to begin operations in Mondolkiri province next year has raised concerns about its potential effects on the environment and local communities. The project, proposed by the Chinese-owned Alex Corporation, would see ...
