Environment and natural resources
Plastic gets to the oceans through over 1,000 rivers
The problem with plastic waste just got more complicated—and so did the effort to stanch its flow into the world’s oceans. Rivers are the primary conduits for plastic waste to the seas. In 2017, two separate groups of scientists concluded that 90 percent of river-borne plastic ...
LAURA PARKER
Mekong countries’ diplomats call for more experience sharing in water governance upon in-person visits to China’s dams
Mekong River countries’ diplomats expressed that they value the scientific, regulatory effect of Chinese dams on water resources, following their latest in-person visits to the main hydropower stations along the Lancang River, recognizing China’s role in bringing practical benefits to downstream sustainable development and calling ...
Hu Yuwei in Yunnan
Vietnam promotes gender mainstreaming in climate change policies
Gender mainstreaming in climate change policies is crucial to promoting gender equality in Vietnam, according to Deputy Director of the Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment (ISPONRE) Nguyen Trung Thang. At a workshop held in Hanoi on April 28, Thang said that ISPONRE carried out ...
VNA
Google helps tackle plastic pollution in the Mekong River, aided by machine learning
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has partnered with Google to fight plastic pollution in the Mekong River, leveraging citizen science and machine learning to understand the magnitude of the problem impacting the longest river in Southeast Asia. Aided by technical advisory support from Google, the CounterMEASURE ...
James Henderson (Channel Asia)
USAID helps Vietnam's climate change fight with two new projects
Aerial view of the Ru Cha mangrove forest in Thua Thien-Hue Province. Photo by VnExpress/Vo Thanh. USAID has launched two new conservation and forest management projects to help Vietnam’s fight against the climate crisis, the U.S. Embassy said Tuesday. The Sustainable Forest Management project, implemented by U.S.-based ...
Phan Anh
People live in fear as Mekong riverbanks collapse
One recent mid-morning, Lev Pheng Ang, a 52-year-old mother who runs a grocery store on the bank of the Mekong River in Rakar Korng Muoy commune, Kandal province’s Muk Kampoul district, was running her business as usual when she heard a loud splash in the ...
Moeun Chhean Nariddh
Four adaptation opportunities Myanmar can take to build resilience to climate change
Myanmar has experienced a number of extreme weather events in recent years, many of which are likely to worsen with climate change. In 2019, the country suffered record pre-monsoon heat. The city of Yangon recorded 42 degrees Celsius in April – a new record for the city. ...
Georgina Wade
Park rangers join hands with Wildlife Alliance to crack down on more than 5,000 cubic meters of illegal timber, 17 chainsaws and demolition of two charcoal kilns
The rangers of the Wildlife Alliance and the Ministry of Environment confiscated 17 chainsaws, 5,462 cubic meters of illegal timber, including heavy timber, which were under threat. They also demolished two illegal charcoal kilns, according to the announcement of the Wildlife Alliance on April 20. The Wildlife ...
Scientists to catalogue mollusc diversity in Tonle Sap
Scientists working with the Wonders of the Mekong project have undertaken an ambitious initiative to catalogue the overlooked mollusc diversity in Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake, which was previously based on records from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Their new report provides a much-needed update on ...
National forest service payment mechanism generates 120 million USD annually
The Payment for Forest Environmental Services (PFES) system implemented at national scale under an USAID project now generates approximately 120 million USD annually to finance the management of approximately 6 million hectares of Vietnam’s forests. The figures were released at an Earth Day event held in the Central ...
VNA
