Environment and natural resources

The Mekong River in Southeast Asia is one of the world’s great waterways, fertile and ecologically diverse with millions relying on it for their food, but it’s increasingly clogged with plastic pollution. To help address the mounting problem, a team of researchers from the University of ...

Mekong River water levels that fell dramatically on Thursday under impact from dam operations will soon recover, says the national water management agency. Somkiat Prajumwong, secretary-general at the Office of National Water Resources (ONWR), offered the reassurance despite warnings from experts that the dams are destroying ...

Piles of industrial and electronic waste dumped in protected forest in the eastern province of Sa Kaew were cleared on Wednesday, making way for the Pollution Control Department to soon move in to check whether toxic residues would endanger the health of local residents. Grateful the ...

Last week, the Bangkok Post published remarks by Yang Yang, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Thailand, explaining how China and others are promoting water resources cooperation in the Mekong “for the benefit of the people in the region”. I, and members of the Thai ...

The water level in the Mekong river is the lowest level in 10 years, according to local media reports. The water level, 2.60m, is about 10 metres below the spill-over point on the Mekong river bank, which is 13m high. In the same period last year, ...

The impact of climate change in Myanmar is likely to be immense and will play out in multi-dimensional ways. Beyond that, though, it is difficult to predict. In remote, upland areas of the country that are controlled or influenced by ethnic armed groups, political, economic and ...

The recent media report on the Mekong River which contained false accusations against China ignores the joint efforts made by China, Thailand and other relevant parties to promote cooperation on Mekong water resources for the benefit of the people in the region. These accusations mislead ...

When it comes to the effects of global climate change, Vietnam is one of the world’s most at-risk nations. Rising sea levels threaten to inundate both the Mekong and Red River Deltas, potentially impacting tens of millions of people. Vietnam is also one of the fastest ...

Local residents and environmentalists spent the weekend having a hot debate with the Chinese Embassy about Beijing’s utilisation and management of the Mekong River.  While the embassy accused Thai media of spreading false information on China’s development projects in Southeast Asia’s longest rivers, the Thai Mekong ...

About 90 tonnes of plastic waste a day are dumped in the Ayeyarwady River and another 29 tonnes in the Yangon River, said Friedor Jeske, waste management expert at Thant Myanmar.  “Almost 90 tonnes of plastic trash go into the Ayeyarwady, mostly hard plastic materials, packing ...