News
Finding opportunity in Asia’s net-zero transition
The Asia-Pacific region is witnessing a surge in climate action, with nearly all countries in the region committing to achieving net-zero emissions, albeit with varying timeframes and specifics for implementation. One of the primary driving forces behind this growing momentum for climate action is the economic benefits it ...
Muyi Yang
Democratising data for more inclusive governance to strengthen conservation in the Mekong Basin
From 14-16 March 2023, the Sustainable Infrastructure Partnership, which aims to promote the stability, peace, prosperity, and sustainable development of the Mekong sub-region, hosted the Mekong Research Symposium in Chiang Rai, Thailand. The event brought together researchers, civil society organisations (CSOs), donors, and international non-governmental ...
IUCN
Jobs in green economy in hot demand as S’pore looks to become carbon services hub
As Singapore looks to establish itself as a carbon services and trading hub, jobs in the green economy to help businesses decarbonise and implement their net-zero strategies are now in hot demand. Firms looking to hire foreigners for certain roles in this sector will find it ...
Cheryl Tan
Airstrikes Kill Dozens in Central Myanmar
Dozens of people in coup-hit Myanmar’s central region were killed in airstrikes Tuesday, according to local media reports and a witness contacted by AFP. The country has been in chaos and its economy in tatters since the military seized power in February 2021. The death toll from ...
Agence France-Presse
Myanmar crisis cited as a challenge to regional efforts to save Mekong River
Myanmar’s ongoing crisis was raised as a possible hindrance to regional cooperation to save the Mekong River, as other countries along the important waterway pledged on Wednesday to strengthen collaboration in efforts to conserve the water resource. At the quadrennial Mekong River Commission (MRC) Summit in ...
Tan Hui Yee
Pointing out culprits of Mekong’s problems is not our mission: MRC Secretariat CEO
The 4th Mekong River Commission Summit, held in Vientiane on 4-5 April 2023, saw heads of state and ministers from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam come together to discuss the sustainable development of Southeast Asia’s greatest river. At its conclusion, the four countries signed the ‘Vientiane Declaration’, in ...
Aron White, thethirdpole.net
Region told to rev up decarbonisation
Southeast Asia needs to accelerate decarbonisation of its global value chains (GVCs) as the region could face up to a 30% loss of GDP annually by 2100 due to climate change, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Speaking at a conference in Bali, ADB deputy ...
Sirinnaree Ongsakul
Don’t jump to conclusions over data on distressed Mekong River, says China official
A Chinese official in a Mekong River intergovernmental body has warned against jumping to conclusions about data on the distressed waterway, saying that politics may get in the way of closer cooperation between upstream and downstream countries along the waterway. “Some parties start with preconceptions, and ...
Tan Hui Yee/The Straits Times
Robust river governance key to restoring Mekong River vitality in face of dams
Niwat Roykaew, an environmental activist based in Chiang Rai province in northern Thailand, described the Mekong as a naga, a mythical water serpent and symbol of fertility that brings abundance to the entire region. The river, which flows across the borders of six countries, supports a vast ...
Carolyn Cowan
As hydropower dams quell the Mekong’s life force, what are the costs?
The Mekong River carves a vast aquatic lifeline through Asia. Rising in glacial streams high in the Tibetan plateau, the river morphs as it tumbles south through rocky ravines, steep-sided valleys and expansive flooded forests to the South China Sea. Its influence is immense: over ...
Carolyn Cowan
