News
Chinese investment upheavals anger Laos' indigenous tribes
Rackety trucks rush across China’s border with its backwater neighbor, stirring up clouds of dust and drowning the tweets of tropical birds. Chinese projects to construct roads in one of Asia’s poorest countries date back to 1962 when Laos was subject to a proxy war between the global Cold ...
Robert Bociaga
Safeguarding livelihoods for fishing communities in Mekong Countries
The community at Dun Ei, a fishing village 180 kilometers northwest of Phnom Penh, has been making a living through fishing along the Pursat River for generations. In recent years, however, river structures, such as dams and dikes, have been preventing fish from migrating upstream ...
Over 60 per cent of Myanmar’s mangroves deforested in the last 20 years
Mangroves account for only 0.7 per cent of the Earth’s tropical forest area, but they are among the world’s most productive and important ecosystems. They provide a wealth of ecological and socio-economic benefits, such as serving as nursery habitat for fish species, offering protection against ...
Calls on private sector to help achieve clean water targets
Consumption of clean water increased to 331 million cubic metres in 2019, as the government aims for its 2025 goal to have 100 percent of households in urban areas connected to potable water. According to current figures from the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft, 4.9 million ...
Chea Vannak
Plans to tackle Mekong plastic pollution take shape
Researchers plan to assess plastic waste leakage into the Mekong River system as part of efforts to protect the mighty river. Government officials and researchers from the four Mekong countries will join forces to assess plastic waste leakage into the Mekong River system. This will be done ...
Vientiane Times / ANN
Mekong Delta faces historic salinity threat
Vietnam’s Mekong Delta will suffer salt intrusion at levels that would beat the 2016 record this month, meteorologists have warned. In the period of March 11-15, salinity will rise to eventually trump the levels of mid-February and the same period in 2016, according to the hydrological ...
Minh Nga
NGOs identify challenges in gender equality
Civil society organisations yesterday identified physical, mental and sexual violence against women are still challenges yet to be addressed by the government. The NGOs also said the government has not done enough to open doors for women in institutions. Chak Sopheap, executive director of the Cambodian Center ...
Pech Sotheary
Cultivation improvements on agenda amid droughts
The Lao National Disaster Prevention and Control Committee is helping farmers across the country to improve their cultivation techniques so that crops can better withstand drought and dry season yields can be increased. Committee officials said recently that the country is facing drought conditions as rivers ...
Asia News Network
EU trade perks in the balance
On February 12, the European Union Commission pulled the plug on Cambodia’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP), citing “serious and systematic violations of human-rights principles,” partially withdrawing the country’s preferential access to the EU. The decision resulted in uncertainty for Myanmar’s industries, especially the garment and shoemaking ...
JOHN LIU
Meet Thailand's secret weapon in climate change battle
Bangkok’s future hangs in the balance. Rising sea levels, unchecked development, groundwater extraction, and rapid urban population growth has left millions vulnerable to natural disasters — scientists warn the city itself may not survive the century. New analysis by the Nestpick 2050 Climate Change City Index says ...
Lillian SUWANRUMPHA