News
Thailand to junk three kinds of plastic by end of this year
End of this year, Thailand will be free from three types of plastic – microbeads, cap seals and oxo-degradable plastics – and from four other types of single-use plastics by 2022, according to a road map that got the Cabinet’s initial nod on Tuesday. The Plastic ...
Environmental, sea, island protection campaign to launch in Bac Lieu
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, in coordination with the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu, will launch a sea and island week, as well as an action month for environmental protection on June 1. The sea and island week, to last from June 1-8, ...
Timber Company in Cambodia Continues to Collect Wood From Protected Forest Areas
A timber company in Cambodia is ignoring environmental protection laws by transporting felled trees by night from protected forests in the country, activists said on Monday. The Oeun Sovann Company, operating out of Kampong Thom province, has not been punished or stopped from ignoring conservation laws, ...
Interview: China’s Mekong Dam-building Mindset ‘Exported Downstream’ to Cambodia and Laos

The Mekong River extends for thousands of miles through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, supporting more than 65 million people who depend on it for food, transportation, and commerce. But development, mostly led by China, threatens to upset the delicate balance between local ...
China-Laos Railway opens new horizons for fruit growers in Southwest China’s Yunnan
As the section of the China-Laos Railway that is within Chinese territory, the Yuxi-Mohan railway will serve as a significant link for China to reach land-locked Laos. In addition to helping promote the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA), the railway will also greatly benefit the local economy and ...
Zhang Dan in Yuxi
Myanmar: Signatories Of NCA Meet, Lofty Ideas But No Clout – Analysis
The ten signatories to the National Cease fire Agreement started a five-day meeting at Chiang Mai from May 14-18 to discuss about the agreement and how to move the peace process forward. It looks that having been brought into the “bag”, the smaller groups which have ...
Dr. S.Chandrasekharan
Feature: Mekong river binds regional countries, peoples together as lifeblood of Southeast Asia
Narongchai, a volunteer tour boat guide on the Mekong river in northeast Thailand’s Nakhon Phanom, has been doing this job for 16 years. “The Mekong is our mother river, binding everyone in the basin,” said Narongchai, describing the cross-border river part of his life. “The water ...
Guo Xinhui
Experienced team sustainably developing Lao mining
Entrepreneurs and business owners in Laos are now able to utilise the vast expertise of Ortus Mining Laos to develop mining projects. Ortus Mining Laos, a subsidiary of Ortus Mining Capital, told Vientiane Times recently that they are focused on the development of mineral concessions in ...
World Bank to provide $1 billion in assistance, Ministry says
The World Bank will approve the disbursement of $1 billion to Cambodia to develop priority sectors in the next five years, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The announcement was made by a World Bank delegation during a recent meeting with Acting Minister of ...
Chea Vannak
A Chinese Special Economic Zone is deepening conflict in Myanmar’s Rakhine State
Resource-rich Ramree Island, on the coast of Myanmar’s Rakhine State, has remained on the sidelines of recent violence as fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA) continues to intensify. But the Myanmar government’s relations with the AA are now increasingly shaped by pressure from ...
Skylar Lindsay