News
‘A major concern’: plantation-driven deforestation ramps up in Borneo
Borneo, home to animals like orangutans, rhinos, elephants, and proboscis monkeys is also host to some of the fastest plantation expansion in the world. Now, a new study published on September 9 in Nature’s open access journal Scientific Reports examines how much of this expansion has been happening ...
How to increase REDD+ benefits to indigenous peoples and other traditional forest communities
To meet the target of limiting global warming to 2-degrees-Celsius established in the Paris Climate Agreement, it is crucial to curb tropical deforestation and encourage the reforestation of tropical forests that have already been cut down. Not only is tropical deforestation and forest degradation the source ...
New economic models sought for sustainable development
The Asian Productivity Organization has called upon global economies to explore and adopt new business models to achieve Green Productivity and long-term business sustainability for a low-carbon future. The APO, having 20-memebr economies, including Bangladesh, made the call referring to the ‘Bangkok Outcome Document’ based on ...
Emergency response in SE Asia gets a fund boost
Emergency response across South-East Asia got a shot in the arm with the 11 countries in the region establishing a fund to build preparedness for natural disasters and health emergencies. The fund aims to make health systems in the region, which is among the most disaster-prone ...
Mekong River level cause for concern in Nong Khai
The Nong Khai water monitoring office under the Department of Water Resources has reported the latest height of the Mekong River at 8 meters and 63 centimeters, up by over 1 meter from the same time on September 7 and only 3.57 meters below its ...
Push for more investment in CLMV
Despite the strong economic growth of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, very few Thai companies have sought to capitalise on their economies, say government and industry officials. The Industry Ministry’s Department of Industry Promotion found only a few large enterprises such as PTT Plc, the ...
Campaign to educate public on digital data protection amid growing cybercrimes
Authorities are preparing campaigns to educate the public and undertake other precautionary measures to curb fast-growing financial cybercrimes amid increasing digital transactions. Thailand now has more than 23 million digital banking accounts. Korkij Danchaivichit, deputy secretary-general of the National Broadcasting and Telecom Commission, said the agency will ...
Recycled waste-to-fertilizer plants left idle, investors flee
A series of plants making fertilizer from domestic waste have been built in recent years with ODA capital. And a lot of them, capitalized at tens or hundreds of billions of dong have been left idle. In late 2012, the Hai Duong fertilizer plant was put ...
Lenders come out of the dark
More than a year into a government-backed campaign to clamp down on unlicensed lenders, nearly 130 small lenders operating under the radar have come into the fold, officials said on September 8. The Ministry of Economy and Finance and the National Bank of Cambodia launched a ...
Vietnam should not invest in steel
Former Minister of Planning and Investment, Professor Nguyen Mai, speaks to the Tuoi tre newspaper, suggesting that HSG should focus on the manufacture of high grade alloy rather than steel. Recently, the Hoa Sen Joint Stock Group made public a super project for steel production in ...
