News
Cambodian dam a ‘disaster’ for local communities, rights group says
The Lower Sesan 2 hydroelectric scheme was completed in northeast Cambodia in 2018. The reservoir flooded 300 square kilometers (116 square miles) upstream of the confluence of the Sesan and Srepok rivers, two tributaries of the Mekong. Villages, places of worship, ancestral burial grounds and ...
Carolyn Cowan
Asean sees jump in new Covid cases and deaths
Asean countries confirmed 95,081 new cases, higher than Wednesday’s 82,265, while deaths rose to 2,786 from the previous day’s 2,300. The number of Covid-19 cases crossed 9.04 million across the region with 198,480 deaths Philippines reported 14,895 new cases and 258 deaths on Thursday, bringing cumulative cases ...
The Nation
Mekong talks not inclusive
Arriving late is always better than never. So, after years of witnessing the ecology of the Mekong River being choked by the development of hydro-powered dams, communities in this region can have some hope after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the Mekong ...
Editorial
MoIT proposes two solutions to resolve rice congestion in Mekong Delta
The office of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), on the afternoon of August 16, informed that its leader had signed an official dispatch to the Prime Minister, reporting on the consumption of paddy and commodity rice in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic in the ...
SGGP
Thailand Starts Factory Worker Vaccine Drive to Protect Exports
Thailand has launched a pilot program to test, vaccinate and isolate factory workers to limit Covid-related disruptions to its export-driven manufacturing industry, one of the few bright spots in an economy crushed by the virus. The “Factory Sandbox” initiative aims to protect 3 million jobs and ...
Randy Thanthong-Knight
ASEAN, Mekong River Commission to convene water security dialogue
ASEAN and the Mekong River Commission will hold a Water Security Dialogue to address the region’s emerging challenges on water security. A first of its kind, the dialogue is slated for Aug. 19 and 20, hosted online by the Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat, in cooperation ...
Minh Nga
Air pollution cuts Hanoian lifespan by 2.5 years: study
Life expectancy among Hanoians is reduced by 2.49 years on average due to exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), a recent study indicates. “Research on the impact of air pollution caused by PM2.5 dust on public health in Hanoi in 2019” by the Hanoi-based non-profit organization ...
Minh Nga
ILO forecasts slow jobs recovery in ASEAN region
Working hours in the ASEAN region are projected to only partially recover in 2021 and 2022 according to new research by the International Labour Organization (ILO). COVID-19 and the ASEAN labour market: Impact and policy response highlights the heavy impact of the pandemic on ASEAN economies ...
KPL
China has thousands of hydropower projects it doesn’t want
China is trying to wean its massive economy off coal and fossil fuels to meet its ambitious goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2060. So why is it trying to shut down as many as 40,000 hydropower plants? The answer lies deep in the nation’s troubled ...
Bloomberg
Droughts shrink hydropower, pose risk to global push to clean energy
Severe droughts are drying up rivers and reservoirs vital for the production of zero-emissions hydropower in several countries around the globe, in some cases leading governments to rely more heavily on fossil fuels. The emerging problems with hydropower production in places like the United States, China ...
Sharon Bernstein and Jake Spring, David Stanway