News

Over the past several weeks, parts of Southeast Asia have been pummeled by severe storms. Widespread flooding across the region, especially in Vietnam, left hundreds of thousands of residents temporarily displaced. In Vietnam alone, at least 90,000 people were forced from their homes during the first several weeks ...

IFC’s pandemic response is focused on reaching the most vulnerable people in developing countries. Of the US$8 billion in IFC COVID-19 fast-track financing approved by the IFC Board in March 2020, US$4 billion has been committed to date, of which close to half is expected to benefit people ...

Myanmar has been preparing for the return of hundreds of thousands of workers – some 650,000 are in Thailand alone – and one of the key tasks was to set up quarantine facilities for those returning migrants. Sandi Swe, who has been working in a ...

More people in the Mekong Delta are planting trees and building embankments made of natural materials to prevent erosion along rivers and canals.   The delta, which has a dense river and canal network, has faced increasing erosion along rivers and canals in recent years because of human activity and climate change. In Hau ...

The Thai Rice Exporters Association recently revised its estimation of Thai rice exports this year to five million tonnes, the lowest in 20 years, from a previous projection of 6.5 million tonnes. In contrast, India’s Rice Exporters Association estimates the country’s rice exports will jump by ...

Nguyen Thanh Quang is looking forward to resuming his morning habit of cycling around his neighborhood in Hanoi’s Dong Da District. He had been staying at home all day after uncollected trash piled up on several streets, the resultant stink exacerbating the capital’s long-standing air pollution ...

Construction of the controversial Luang Prabang Dam on the Mekong River, near the ancient Lao capital of the same name, is making rapid headway, according to Lao energy officials. Access roads, including a 14-kilometer spur to the dam from a nearby highway and a road that ...

Rescuers in Vietnam are searching villages for dozens of people missing after a typhoon described by officials as the most powerful to hit Vietnam in 20 years triggered landslides, killing at least 35 people. The state-run Vietnam News Agency reported Thursday that nearly two dozen people ...

Despite Myanmar’s growing coronavirus caseload and continuing unrest in some areas, early voting began Thursday for the November 8 general election, which involves nearly 100 political parties and contests for the upper and lower houses of the national, state and regional governments. Early voters include citizens ...

While welcoming China’s decision to share hydrological data with Mekong nations, experts said the next step would be to expand the information shared and to make this data accessible to citizens and communities who most need it. The Mekong River Commission (MRC) and China’s Water Resource ...