Environment and natural resources
Mekong Delta attempts to combat saltwater intrusion
Saltwater intrusion in the Mekong Delta is expected to increase between April 28 and May 6 as the volume of water flowing southward from the Mekong River will decline, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Irrigation Department. High tides from the sea are ...
The World Lost a Belgium-sized Area of Primary Rainforests Last Year
The tropics lost 12 million hectares of tree cover in 2018, the fourth-highest annual loss since record-keeping began in 2001. Of greatest concern is the disappearance of 3.6 million hectares of primary rainforest, an area the size of Belgium. The figures come from updated data from the ...
Mikaela Weisse and Elizabeth Dow Goldman
Southeast Asia to suffer intense, more frequent drought without government action: UN and Asean report
Drought in Southeast Asia may become even more frequent and intense if countries do not take steps to reduce its impact, according to a joint study from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and ASEAN. “Ready for the Dry Years: ...
Where the Silk Roads meet the mighty Mekong
Welcome to the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor, one of the key planks of the New Silk Roads, or Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The apparition on the Mekong is an under-construction bridge, part of the 420 km-long, US$6 billion worth high-speed railway connecting Kunming, in Yunnan ...
Pepe Escobar
Is China meeting its international environmental and human rights obligations on BRI?
On Thursday, April 25, 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping will deliver the keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Second Belt and Road Forum (BRF) for International Cooperation in Beijing. Heads of state and other senior government officials from 37 governments will attend, including representatives from ...
Oliver Ward
Vietnamese land grabbers linked to Cambodian firm
A senior Virak Chey National Park official on Monday said the 12 Vietnamese nationals being held in pre-trial detention for allegedly crossing the border illegally into Ratanakkiri province and clearing land are suspected of having links to a Cambodian company. Sou Khon, Virak Chey National Park ...
Illegal Charcoal Trade Wrecks Myanmar’s Bulwark Against Cyclones
The depletion of mangroves in southern Myanmar is impacting local fisheries near the island villages and playing havoc with the mangrove forest that protect the coastline from extreme weather events. The illegal charcoal trade persists due to a lack of law enforcement and oversight in Myanmar ...
Wudan Yan
China’s assertive maritime policy is older than Xi
The toughening of China’s policies in the South and East China Seas is widely regarded as a defining characteristic of Xi Jinping’s foreign policy. But while it is true that the PRC has become more assertive in its maritime disputes under Xi, China had already ...
Andrew Chubb
Standing on the shoulders of science above the South China Sea fray
The waters of the South China Sea face environmental peril that is ‘inseparable from the territorial disputes that plague it’. As claimants solidify their positions through artificial island construction, with China driving the most ambitious builds, habitats with wide-ranging ecological and economic value are being ...
James Borton
Drought, saltwater intrusion double whammy for Mekong delta farmers
Due to a prolonged drought, seawater has intruded deep into rivers in the Mekong Delta, leaving thousands of households facing a water shortage. Freshwater is sold in certain areas for VND200,000 ($8.6) per cubic metre, and local authorities use tanker trucks to deliver water to households. For ...
Huy Phong, Hoang Nam