Environment and natural resources
Lower Mekong Governments and Development Partners Seek to Improve Water Data Sharing
In the Mekong region, there is a general push to strengthen water data management and ultimately make evidence-based infrastructure development and water resources management decisions. The efforts of the region’s governments and development partners will ideally help mitigate the cumulative impacts of infrastructure development on ...
Wet rice farming increases greenhouse emissions: expert
Methods of farming wet rice in Southeast Asia have resulted in a vast increase in greenhouse gas emissions, posting a major climate change challenge for the agricultural sector in the region. Of all 10 countries in Southeast Asia, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia take the top spots, ...
Summer field trip programme examines Mekong Delta
Foreign and Vietnamese lecturers and postgraduates will conduct research about landslides, river pollution, climate-change adaptation, transnational marriages and Khmer migration as part of the Summer School & Field Trip 2019 from March 18 to 31 in the Mekong Delta. Seven field sites in HCM City, ...
Asean calls for improvement in key biodiversity area identification
A series of workshops held in Bangkok this week aims to help participants identify sites critical to the global persistence of biodiversity in the Asean region. It will also develop visualisation tools to aid the reporting processes for multilateral environmental agreements. Keep reading ...
Beijing saves Mekong islets
The revelation that China is backing away from its plans to blow up islands and outcroppings in the Mekong River is welcome news. Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said he had raised the issue last month during a visit by Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. It is ...
Lack of clarity on scrapping Mekong rapids blasting raises concerns
Environmentalists and local people along the Mekong River in Thailand remain uneasy over previously proposed plans to blast the Mekong River rapids, inspite of a Foreign Ministry assurance that the navigation channel improvement project had been scrapped. Keep reading ...
Mekong Conservation Groups in Chiang Rai Want Written Proof that Blasting Project Scrapped
Members of the Rak Chiang Khong Conservation Group and other environmentalists still remain uneasy despite Thailand’s Foreign Ministry assurance that the navigation channel improvement project had been scrapped. Rak Chiang Khong and residents along the Mekong river are asking that the Thai Government make an official ...
ASEAN lacks crucial data on air pollution
A large portion of the population in Southeast Asia do not have proper information on the air they breathe every day. While an analysis of air pollution readings from Greenpeace and AirVisual found that 95 percent of Southeast Asian cities surveyed exceeded the World Health Organization’s ...
Women’s rights and river protection
Usually at this time of year during the dry season in northern Thailand, the Mekong River recedes, and sand and pebble beaches appear. Covering the pebbles, through the clear and shallow water, one can see the pale green kai, a river weed of the Mekong. This ...
Some 331 species are endangered in Myanmar
More than 5,000 species are endangered in Asia, around 800 in the Greater Mekong region alone. Plants and wildlife are used to produce traditional medicines, clothes and accessories. Hunting and poaching are practiced in about 70 pe cent of sanctuaries. In Southeast Asia and the ...
