Environment and natural resources

The Mekong River, a critical waterway for six countries in Southeast Asia, is registering critically low water levels this summer. The Mekong River Commission (MRC), which monitors Southeast Asia’s longest river, reported in mid-July that water levels over the previous month had fallen to “among the lowest ...

Some have survived for hundreds of millions of years, but many of the world’s freshwater megafauna—including sumo-sized stingrays, colossal catfish, giant turtles, and gargantuan salamanders—may soon find themselves on the brink of extinction, according to a new study published. For the first time, researchers have quantified the ...

Populations of the great beasts that once dominated the world’s rivers and lakes have crashed in the last 50 years, according to the first comprehensive study. Some freshwater megafauna have already been declared extinct, such as the Yangtze dolphin, and many more are now on the ...

Drought, follows flood and storm, is among the most influential natural disasters in the world. According to 2018 publication on the International Disaster Database website, 16% of people affected by disasters in 2018 were affected by droughts. Over the past few decades, countries along the Lancang-Mekong ...

The European Union (EU) has teamed up with wildlife and conservation groups in the Greater Mekong region, Malaysia, and China to try and disrupt the flow of illegally trafficked wildlife through the region. The €10 million (about $11.14 million) project which will run through until December ...

The Special Senior Officials Meeting of the 40th Meeting of the ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry (Special SOM-AMAF) opened in Vietnam’s central province of Thua Thien-Hue on August 5. The event brought together 130 delegates from 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian ...

In late January, WildAid and the Ho Chi Minh City-based Center of Hands-on Actions and Networking for Growth and Environment (CHANGE) launched a graphic anti-wildlife trafficking campaign focused on three animals: pangolins, elephants and rhinos. In a bold move, the organizers brought a group of bloodied, weakened statues ...

Civil society and forest protection activists on Monday called for officials in the government and armed forces guilty of corruption and exploiting state property to be removed from their positions and have their assets frozen.  The request came after a government spokesman said Prime Minister Hun ...

The United States has expressed concern over Chinese dam building, dredging and other activities on the Mekong River in Southeast Asia, calling them “troubling trends.” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with ministers from lower Mekong River countries, including Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. The foreign ministers of ...

HCMC on Saturday asked three major waste treatment companies to quickly find solutions to deal with the stench they produced. The Department of Natural Resources and Environment asked Vietnam Waste Solutions (VWS), Green Saigon Biotech and Hoa Binh Environment Service companies, all operating within the Da ...