Environment and natural resources
Farmers choose solar farm over endangered bird
When given a choice between renewable energy and wildlife conservation, people in Samut Sakhon have opted for a solar farm for financial reasons. Tractors and trucks loaded with soil were seen busily working in a field yesterday to fill a salt pan in Ban Khok ...
Closed Mae Sot zinc mine to become forest
Padaeng Industry closed its zinc mine in Mae Sot last month because of the depletion of ore reserves. Managing director Francis Vanbellen said on 27 July that PDI’s mine concluded its 32 years of sustainable operations after producing its last 140,000 tonnes of zinc-silicate ore this ...
River of change: hydropower dams and the Mekong River’s uncertain future
From the snowy plateaus of Tibet to the mountain gorges of China’s Yunnan province and beyond to the jungled borders of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and down to the plains of Cambodia and paddy fields of Vietnam – the Mekong River is of crucial importance to ...
Grain drain, Laos' sand mining damaging the Mekong
Grain by grain, truckload by truckload, Laos’ section of the Mekong river is being dredged of sand to make cement—a commodity being devoured by a Chinese-led building boom in the capital. But the hollowing out of the riverbed is also damaging a vital waterway that feeds ...
As clouds head for the poles, time to prepare for food and water shocks
A changing climate means less rain and lower water supplies in regions where many people live and much of the planet’s food is produced: the mid-latitudes of the Northern and Southern hemispheres, including the U.S. Southwest, southern Europe and parts of the Middle East, southern ...
Land used for palm oil could double without damaging forests, say researchers
The area covered by palm oil plantations worldwide could double without damaging protected areas or sensitive forests, Austrian researchers said on Tuesday (July 26).Researchers from the Austria-based International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) studied satellite maps from South-east Asia, Africa and Latin America to ...
Vietnam busts illegal transport of 18 bear legs from Laos
Police in the central province of Thanh Hoa seized 18 frozen bear legs transported aboard a bus by its driver without a license Tuesday.The limbs, weighing 38 kilograms in all, were identified as belonging to red-listed sun bears, news website VnExpress said.Dinh Hong Phuong, 47, ...
Rosewood exports to Vietnam achieved with fake signatures: official
housands of cubic metres of endangered Siamese rosewood were sent to Vietnam in 2014 with export permits bearing the Photoshopped signature of a retired Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) secretary of state, a ministry official said yesterday.The trade in Siamese rosewood was internationally ...
Laos builds third hydropower dam, threatening Mekong River in VN
Vietnam needs to find solutions to the increasing number of hydropower dams being built in regional countries, according to Dr Vu Trong Hong, chair of the Vietnam Water Resources Association, and former Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. Laos is preparing to build the ...
Disney carbon deal follows past emissions credit failure
A $2.6 million deal by Walt Disney Company to preserve nearly 300,000 hectares of eastern Cambodian forest through the purchase of carbon credits will need to overcome past failures to succeed, critics said on 25 July. The carbon trade aims to counter 365,000 tons of emissions ...
