Environment and natural resources
Floating Vietnamese communities evicted from Phnom Penh struggle to make ends meet
Starting in June 2021, hundreds of ethnic Vietnamese families living in floating villages on the Tonle Sap river have been evicted from Phnom Penh and told to relocate upstream and downstream — a move that families say has caused difficulties for their livelihood. Speaking at a press ...
Va Sopheanut
Myanmar online wildlife trade on rise, says WWF report; threat to public health and endangered species
A report by the World Wildlife Fund shows illegal purchases of wildlife online are growing in Myanmar in a threat both to public health and to endangered species. The report issued Friday found that enforcement of bans on such transactions has weakened amid political turmoil ...
Agence France-Presse
First water level monitoring station opens atop lower Mekong basin
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) has unveiled the Xieng Kok water level monitoring station in Laos that’s expected to reduce downstream vulnerability to unexpected flows. This could benefit millions who live downstream the Mekong River, an MRC Friday press release said. The station sits on Laos’s northern ...
Viet Anh
Cooperation key on Mekong issues
In the coming months, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) will host a unique competition for university students from our four member countries: Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. The objective is to see which team can develop the most effective, cost-efficient and sustainable technology to monitor water ...
ANOULAK KITTIKHOUN
GT investigates: Who are the mouthpieces of US-led war of public opinion on “Chinese dams’ threats” along Mekong River, and what are their typical methods?
US’ politicization of ecological water issues in the Mekong River for the purpose of tarnishing China’s reputation via launching rhetoric battles has become more trendy. The Stimson Center, a US-backed think tank, again bashed China in February for allegedly “holding a massive amount of water” ...
Hu Yuwei and Zhao Juecheng
Thai tourism elephants are ‘far better off’ in forests: Q&A with photographer Adam Oswell
An Asian elephant supports itself on one leg, completely submerged in garish electric-blue water, while a keeper tugs painfully at its ear. The photograph shows bubbles rising from its trunk as it offers a stick of sugarcane toward a crowd of onlookers on the other ...
Carolyn Cowan
How hydropower dams impact the communities they're built in
Over the last two decades, almost 1,000 hydropower dams have been built around the globe. And while these dams provide many benefits to farmers, wildlife and the climate, the costs of their construction on local communities where they are built has largely been left out ...
Liz Schondelmayer, Michigan State University
High-tech cleanup on the way for Mekong, Tonle Sap in Phnom Penh
The Ministry of Tourism and two NGOs – Everwave and River and Ocean Cleanup – plan to launch a campaign to clean up the Mekong, Tonle Sap and Tonle Bassac rivers in Phnom Penh by collecting rubbish from the water and along the river banks. ...
Opinion: A Convention Could Lock In China’s Mekong Cooperation
The success and survival of the Mekong River rests with China: the largest, wealthiest state in the region, positioned in the strategically important upstream. As the Mekong enters its fourth year of drought, certainty about China’s cooperation is no longer desirable — it is essential. No ...
Kenneth Stiller
Developing a Freshwater Health Index: Encompassing Earth Data, Community Concerns, and Climate Change
Earth’s climate is changing, and one of the main impacts is on the water cycle. For example, there is an elevated risk of more frequent and intense flooding and droughts. Also, the amount of water flowing in individual streams and rivers is changing, and those ...
Earth Science Communications Team at NASA
