Environment and natural resources
Climate change is seriously impacting Cambodia, says ministry
Cambodia has registered a staggering 6,920 different forms of natural disasters since 1996, the Ministry of Environment revealed. Speaking during a press conference entitled “Climate change and its impact on Cambodia” at the Office of the Council of Ministers yesterday, ministry spokesman Neth Pheaktra said not ...
Khann Chanvirak
New Mekong dam ignores threats to UNESCO World Heritage city, livelihoods and ecosystems
As US-China tensions turn towards the Mekong River and its dams, the area near Laos’ latest hydropower project on the river is already seeing major controversy around existing dam projects. The Lao government is preparing to start construction on the Luang Prabang Dam, a 1,460-megawatt (MW) project that will be ...
Editorial
‘We have upset the balance of nature’, Thai environment minister warns amid green recovery efforts from pandemic
Thailand’s Environment Minister has warned that urgent action is needed to rebalance humans’ relationship with nature, or mankind may not live into the next century. In an address to diplomats, politicians and journalists on Friday (Aug 7), Mr Varawut Silpa-archa compared the challenges of fighting the ...
Jack Board
A river running out of time – the mighty Mekong reduced to a trickle
In his book, River of Time, Jon Swain evoked brilliantly the heady beauty of Indochina and the great Mekong Delta in the very south of Vietnam, where the river finally meets the South China Sea. He also captured the terrifying uncertainty as the Vietnam War came to ...
LUKE HUNT
Chinese dams and the Mekong drought
The latest reports from the Lower Mekong Basin are cause for growing concern that another period of drought will succeed that of 2019, affecting Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Expected rainfall from late May through June and July has not arrived, and the level of ...
MILTON OSBORNE
Hanoi's biggest landfill is running out of space
Built in 1990, the Nam Son waste treatment complex in Soc Son District spans over 157 ha and is divided into two phases. The first phase included 10 trash burial slots spanning over 83 ha, while the second one included eight slots spanning over 73 ...
Ngoc Thanh, Tat Dinh
Vietnam approves $9 billion development within mangrove reserve
A $9.3 billion residential and tourism development has been approved within the buffer zone of the Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve here in this city of 13 million, Vietnam’s largest urban area. The project was proposed by the Can Gio Tourism Urban Area Joint Stock Company, a ...
Tim Rist
“Exceptionally Low” Flows in the Mekong River Pose Serious Threat to SE ASIA’s Largest Lake of Tonle Sap
Mekong countries are being urged to share data in regard to their dam operations as they are being suspected to contribute to these exceptionally low flows of the river, besides weather anomaly. The Mekong River has experienced the situation called by the regional water regulating body ...
B.Tribune
ASEAN works to respond to transboundary haze pollution
The ASEAN Secretariat has hosted an online conference to strengthen efforts, coordination and preparation for tackling transboundary haze pollution, which is predicted to peak in August and September. The event, funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)’s Measurable Action for Haze-Free Sustainable Land Management in Southeast Asia ...
Tiger sightings in Thailand boost conservationists’ hopes
A century ago tigers were kings of the jungle across much of Southeast Asia. Literally so. The striped predators ruled supreme at the top of food chains in thick forests from Laos to Malaysia and from Burma to Vietnam. No longer. Most of those forests have ...