News

The jade gemstones that generate billions of dollars a year in Myanmar — the world’s biggest exporter of the stone — are beloved in China, where they can sell for more than gold. But they are a symbol of tragedy and suffering for the people who ...

The Mekong River Commission (MRC) released new guidelines yesterday assessing the risks of hydropower development through an assessment of five major themes. This is the third volume of Hydropower Mitigation Guidelines, and the themes include river hydrology and downstream flows, geomorphology and sediments, water quality, fisheries ...

Two events happened last month that went largely unnoticed by most of the mainstream media in Southeast Asia. One was the third Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) Leaders’ Meeting between China and the five Mekong members of Asean — Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The other ...

Jum’s words tumble out over the phone, his voice growing ever more frantic. Between sobs, he says he’s trapped on a Malaysian plantation run by government owned Felda, one of the world’s largest palm oil companies. His boss confiscated and then lost his Indonesian passport, he ...

Thailand’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on Friday said that sea grass, coral reefs and undersea rock formations in Thailand’s four southern coastal provinces are now legally protected. The ministry warned that violators found to disrupt the protected sea treasures will face one-year in prison ...

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) co-hosted an event on September 24 to release the independent Review of Ten Years of Implementing the Law on Gender Equality. In her remarks, Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi ...

The Mekong Delta region should take proactive measures to protect fruit orchards in the 2020 – 21 dry season as severe saltwater intrusion in rivers is forecast in the coming months, experts have said. The measures should include zoning areas for each type of fruit, securing irrigation water and providing extra care ...

Ministers from South Korea, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam will meet virtually today at the 10th Mekong-Republic of Korea (ROK) Foreign Ministers meeting. Today’s ministerial meeting will evaluate the development of Mekong-ROK relations since the establishment of the 2019 Mekong-ROK Summit. The Summit elevated relations from ...

Over the past few months, the Irrigation Department and the House Committee Review of Integrated River Basin Management have been heavily promoting an inter-basin water diversion scheme. Planned projects will divert water across Thailand, incorporating international river basins, including the Mekong and Salween, to address ...

“Water rises so fast and drops so fast because the water doesn’t flow naturally. It has huge impacts on us. It’s hard to catch any fish, and the fish cannot lay eggs,” says Prayoon Saen-ae, 62, head of a local fishermen group in Chiang Khan ...