News

Report: Forest encroachment for maize cultivation increased in Lower Mekong

Industrial-scale maize cultivation to produce animal feed, one of the two main reasons behind annual smog in the three Lower Mekong countries, has grown on a massive scale, satellite data analysis has revealed. More than 11.8 million rai (4.7 million acres) of forested area in the ...

Subel Rai Bhandari for RFA

A forest gave Cambodia’s captive elephants a new life. Now they’re paying it back

PU TROM, Cambodia — The quiet life that Sambo leads today seems as distant from her past plight as the searing-hot streets she once trod as a tourist attraction in the far-off capital of Phnom Penh. “Elephants are not meant to walk on concrete,” says Jemma ...

John Cannon

Vietnam Joins ASEAN Neighbors in Denouncing Chinese Map

Vietnam has joined three other Southeast Asian governments in denouncing a new map published by China’s government, which depicted the country’s expansive claims in the South China Sea. The so-called “new standard” map, which was published by China’s Ministry of Natural Resources on August 28, has ...

Sebastian Strangio

Renewable energy in South-east Asia, including Laos, to deliver US$100bil in revenues

VIENTIANE (Vientiane Times/Asia News Network): Renewable energy generation in South-east Asia, including Laos, can generate US$90 billion to US$100 billion in sustainable revenues by 2030, according to a new report. The report, “Renewable Energy Manufacturing: Opportunities for Southeast Asia”, was published by the Asian Development Bank ...

Vientiane Times/Asia News Network

UN Warns Thousands Trafficked into Online Crime in SE Asia

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND — Hundreds of thousands of people are being coerced in Southeast Asia by criminal gangs into carrying out online scams, often under the threat of torture, the United Nations said Tuesday. Many have been trafficked into working in online criminality and face serious violations such ...

Cambodian Leader U-Turns on Rare Dolphin Conservation Law

PHNOM PENH — Cambodian leader Hun Sen on Thursday cancelled a law he created just two months ago to protect critically endangered Mekong dolphins as the mammals continue to die from illegal fishing activities. The population of Irrawaddy dolphins in the river Mekong has dwindled from 200, ...

AFP

New Thai government must show more responsibility with the Mekong

Around this time of year when the rainy season begins, people living on the banks of the Mekong River along the Thai-Lao border always feel a little less stressed because rising water levels mean more fish and food to support their survival. Until the mid-1990s, these ...

Titipol Phakdeewanich

Mekong Delta creating favorable conditions to attract investment

Statistics from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) show that out of 47 million tonnes of straw per year, only 20 percent is used as straw mushroom beds, cattle feed, cushion for fruit transportation. The rest is either burnt (20 million tonnes such each year ...

SGGP

Thai investment in Laos hydropower reveals dire disconnect in the Mekong

Over the past year, the pace of hydropower development along the mainstream of the Mekong River in Laos has picked up, fuelled by long-term funding agreements. Chinese and Thai hydropower project investors have been signing Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), which usually cover a 30-year period, ...

Ming Li Yong

PM addresses Mekong Delta's environment crisis

The Mekong Delta is seeing land subsidence faster than the sea level rise and is at risk of sinking, PM Pham Minh Chinh said as he visited the region on Saturday. The rate of land subsidence in the delta, the nation’s agriculture hub, is 3-4 times ...

An Binh, Ngoc Tai

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