News
Myanmar: Hydropower and the cost of life
Suicide rates and poverty are on the rise among rice farmers displaced by Myanmar’s Paunglaung Dam. The change of government is expected to spur foreign investment into the country, contributing to its rapid development. But among the myriad issues facing the country, including decades-long civil wars, the ...
Thailand gets upgraded in US TIP report
According to a statement released by the US embassy in Bangkok, the Tier 2 Watch List ranking indicates that the Thai government made significant efforts to eliminate trafficking during the rating period, but still does not fully meet the minimum standards for doing so. The State ...
Mother nature activists released
The Koh Kong Provincial Court in Cambodia decided to suspend a year and a half sentence handed down to three activists from environmental NGO Mother Nature who have been in prison since last August – longer than the legal limit for pre-trial detention. The three ...
Foreign investors acquire 36 percent stake in Vietnam's power firm
As Vietnam works to promote renewable energy, its power sector is becoming increasingly attractive to foreign investors. In the latest deal, the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, has bought a 16 percent stake in Gia Lai Electricity JSC, a major hydropower ...
Health ministry warns of a spike in dengue
Large outbreaks of the mosquito-borne virus happen every three to five years. In February, the National Malaria Center observed that dengue cases reported in January were similar to those recorded in 2007 and 2012, when the country last saw dengue epidemics. Dr. Sovann said the ministry ...
ILO says factory conditions improving
The International Labor Organization said conditions in Cambodia’s garment factories have improved since it resumed identifying labor infractions at specific factories two years ago but noted significant ongoing problems in a report released on 1 July. The latest Synthesis Report, produced by the ILO’s Better Factories ...
Mineral exploitation pollutes towns, harms people's health
Mineral exploiters reap major benefits, but local residents living near the mines suffer as ore exploitation has negative consequences.On June 16, a red mud reservoir containing waste sludge from the titanium exploitation project of Tan Quang Cuong Company in Binh Thuan province broke down, leaving ...
Seizure of large quantities of illegal timber continues
With a crackdown announced on the illegal timber trade—and a proposed nationwide logging ban by the end of the fiscal year in March 2017—seizures of illegally cut logs have exceeded 10,000 tons in the first quarter from April to June. Myo Min, director of the Forestry ...
Farmers urge region government to restart Southwest New City project
A farmers group is pressing local authorities to resurrect the controversial Southwest New City project. Though the three companies selected to build the new city were ready to proceed on the basis of approval from the outgoing Yangon Region government, the incoming National League for ...
Prey Lang still logged: community
Continued widespread logging in the Prey Lang forest is evidence that the government’s recent push to have more than 400,000 hectares of land protected is toothless, according to activists as well as a Prey Lang Community Network report released on 29 June. The report’s purpose was ...
