News
Myanmar’s environmental record was weak but improving. Then came the coup
It started with the water changing color. Soon after that, the fish began to die. When the villagers bathed, they became itchy and covered in sores like an allergic reaction. Later, women and farm animals in the area started having miscarriages at an unusually high ...
Andrew Nachemson
Lands Grabs and Other Destructive Environmental Practices in Cambodia Test the International Criminal Court
Three leading climate and human rights nonprofits have asked the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in the Hague to pursue rampant “land grabbing” by the government of Cambodia and its commerce partners as a crime against humanity under the court’s jurisdiction. In an open letter ...
Katie Surma
Mekong-Lancang Cooperation records achievements
The Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC) was established on 23 March 2016. This year marks the Fifth Anniversary of MLC, which comprises of six member countries, namely Lao PDR, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Viet Nam and China with the objective of promoting and enhancing socio-economic development on the ...
H.E. Saleumxay Kommasith, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Lao PDR
Volatile Mekong threatens birds’ nest
Just 50 metres from the Mekong, in the shadow of a discarded plastic cup, a lone chick sits camouflaged on the sand. It is a newly hatched small pratincole in Bueng Kan province, northeast Thailand. “I recorded 15 nests on the beach, smaller numbers compared with previous ...
Tyler Roney
China’s rare earth supplies disrupted by Myanmar tumult
Fears are growing of a global shortage of rare earth minerals used in the manufacture of high-tech devices as unrest in Myanmar following the February 1 coup disrupts exports to China. Chinese companies started complaining about delays in shipments of the minerals since mid-March, reportedly due to ...
DOMINIC OO
Five Bright Spots in the Mekong
For many years the warning signs flashed the same message: the Mekong River, Southeast Asia’s main waterway, was headed toward environmental disaster. The 2,700-mile-long ribbon of water, scientists cautioned, could not withstand the onslaught of dam construction, overfishing, and pollution. Yet somehow the river that ...
Stefan Lovgren
Laos Only ASEAN Country With Zero Covid Deaths
Laos has become the only country in ASEAN with zero deaths attributed to the Covid-19 coronavirus. Until last week, Cambodia and Laos had each recorded zero deaths from the Coronavirus, despite differing strategies for Covid prevention and control. Cambodia suffered its first death from Covid-19 last Thursday ...
Latsamy Phonevilay
Quang Nam to convert forests into hydropower plant, urban area
Nearly 34 ha of planted forests in Quang Nam are to be cleared for the construction of the Song Tranh 4 hydropower plant. Photo by VnExpress/Dac Thanh. Central Quang Nam Province has approved the conversion of nearly 35 hectares of forests into a hydropower plant and ...
Dac Thanh
Invasive caterpillar threatens Mekong Delta coconut ‘kingdom’
Some 150 hectares (370 acres) of coconut groves in Ben Tre Province have been damaged by a caterpillar species endemic to India and Sri Lanka. In mid-March trunks of dead coconut trees could be seen scattered along either side of National Highway 60 in Chau Thanh ...
Hoang Nam
New report reviews China's 5-year cooperation with Mekong countries
The Blue Book of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) 2020 was released Tuesday in southwest China, marking the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the LMC mechanism. The mechanism was launched by six countries — China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam — in 2016. It derives ...
