News
Floods cause mass buffalo starvation at Thale Noi park in southern Thailand
More than 200 dead water buffaloes have been found floating today at the Thale Noi Waterfowl Park in the southern Thai province of Pattalung. Prolonged flooding in the region had destroyed the grasses that the buffalo rely on for food. Without it, they starved to ...
Petch Petpailin
Omkoi villagers file lawsuit to revoke coal mine EIA
50 residents of Kaboedin village, Omkoi district, Chiang Mai, filed a lawsuit with the Chiang Mai Administrative Court on Monday (4 April) to revoke an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for a coal mine project sited near their community. On Monday morning, community members marched from the ...
Prachatai
US lawmakers urge Thai govt to drop restrictive provisions in NGO bill
Two U.S. lawmakers are urging Thailand to drop provisions of a draft bill restricting NGOs, saying it would harm civil society and negatively impact the delivery of humanitarian assistance to neighboring Myanmar. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s government is seeking to pass a controversial bill regulating not-for-profit ...
Nontarat Phaicharoen and Subel Rai Bhandari
OPINION: Thai agriculture needs reform from ground up
Thailand’s government badly wants the middle-income country to achieve advanced economy status. But it will fail unless it raises agricultural productivity and upskills rural workers for jobs in more productive sectors. This will demand hitherto unseen political commitment. For decades, political leaders have paid lip service ...
Craig Keating
Thai tourism elephants are ‘far better off’ in forests: Q&A with photographer Adam Oswell
An Asian elephant supports itself on one leg, completely submerged in garish electric-blue water, while a keeper tugs painfully at its ear. The photograph shows bubbles rising from its trunk as it offers a stick of sugarcane toward a crowd of onlookers on the other ...
Carolyn Cowan
Chasing climate-ready glutinous rice for food security in Thailand and Laos
Origin of glutinous rice There are three groups of glutinous rice-based on grain sizes, small (japonica), medium (upland), and long slender (indica) grains. The origin of glutinous rice has become a hot topic for discussion by evolutionists who speculate that glutinous rice has two roots. Glutinous ...
Apichart Vanavichit
Tiger and bear rescue spotlights captive wildlife tourism woes in Thailand
The future of Phuket Zoo was uncertain long before the COVID-19 pandemic closed Thailand’s borders to foreign tourists. Animal rights campaigners had frequently raised concerns over conditions at the facility, and visitor numbers were dwindling. Now, after two years of near-zero income, the zoo has ...
Carolyn Cowan
Thai authorities demolish resorts in parks, but struggle to prosecute encroachers
Since October 2020, Thailand’s national parks authority has demolished or ordered the demolition of more than 20 luxury mansions, resorts and tourist hotels illegally built in national parks throughout the country’s Western Forest Complex, a globally significant biodiversity conservation corridor. Among the properties already demolished are ...
Kannikar Petchkaew
Malaysian PM visits Thailand to discuss border reopening, deep-south conflict
Malaysian PM Ismail Sabri Yakob is undertaking his first official visit to Thailand today as his nation’s prime minister. During his 3 day visit, he’ll be meeting with his Thai counterpart, PM Prayut Chan-o-cha, to discuss bilateral cooperation, vaccines, and the reopening of the countries’ shared ...
Benar News
Vietnamese Refugees in Thailand Facing Delays for UN ID Cards
Vietnamese refugees in Thailand are facing delays in renewing identity cards issued by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Bangkok, and the pandemic-related suspension of processing has exposed many to the possibility of arrest by Thai authorities. Tran Van Long, 64, originally from ...
An Hai