VOA
New Reports Point to Dams 'Stressing' Cambodia's Mekong River Fisheries
Kong Kim, a fisherman in Cambodia’s northeast, is worried about the next few years. “I am concerned that there will be no fish in the future,” the 62-year-old told VOA Khmer earlier this week. “Fish are now less and less.” Once he could fish the Mekong River ...
Sun Narin
Dramatic Drop Evident in Internet Rights for Myanmar, Belarus
Belarus and Myanmar registered a significant decline in global internet freedom ratings following political turmoil in which authorities in the two countries arrested journalists and blocked access to the internet. In its annual Freedom on the Net report, the global nonprofit Freedom House found digital rights had declined globally for ...
VOA News
China Joins Lower Mekong River Countries to Study Impacts of Climate Change, Dams
China and the countries of the lower Mekong River are teaming up for their largest joint study yet of the impacts climate change and hydropower dams are having on one of Asia’s great waterways, and how to cope with the growing threats from floods and ...
Zsombor Peter
China Opens Rail Line, Trade Route to Indian Ocean Through Myanmar
China last month inaugurated a new trade route via ship, road and rail running through Myanmar in keeping with Beijing’s dogged building spree across the Southeast Asian country to reach the Indian Ocean and points west. Analysts say it is one more strand in the ever-expanding ...
Zsombor Peter
Damming of the Mekong: Thai Villagers Lament a River in Crisis
Large numbers of people here in the dry northeast region of Thailand bordering Laos and Cambodia, a region known as Isaan, are facing the consequences of changes in the natural rhythms of the Mekong River wrought by the construction in recent years of dams upstream ...
Vijitra Duangdee
Mekong Dams Bring Hardship to Thai Villagers
The Mekong is one of the world’s great rivers — a 5,000-kilometer waterway threading from China through Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. However, dams have subverted the ecosystem, bringing drought during the monsoon season and high waters when it should be dry. That has forever changed ...
US Urges Preservation of ‘Incredible Biodiversity’ in Cambodian Forest
The U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh says it is concerned about deforestation in the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary, where five environmental activists were detained for documenting illegal logging in February. Ambassador Patrick W. Murphy and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Cambodia Mission Director Veena Reddy ...
Sun Narin
Laos Issues New Decree on Dams Aimed at Minimizing Harm
The government of Laos issued new guidelines for managing hydropower dams aimed at minimizing water shortages and flooding, state media reported on Thursday, amid debate on how its hydropower boom has altered the vital Mekong River. The new decree, effective March 4, requires all hydropower operators ...
Reuters
Myanmar Press Council Members Resign Over Military Directives
Half of Myanmar Press Council’s members resigned last week, saying they are unable to protect press freedom, uphold media ethics, or protect the safety of fellow journalists. The 15 resignations on the press council come in response to directives issued by Myanmar’s military to news outlets ...
Nyan Win Aung
Asia Pacific Leaders Make Joint Appeal for Free, Fair Trade
Asia Pacific leaders set aside differences Friday with their first joint communique in three years, calling for free and predictable trade to help a global economy laid low by the coronavirus pandemic. Leaders of the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), which included U.S. President Donald Trump ...
Reuters