News
Last chance to see: paddling through time on the Mekong
Humility is a rare commodity in the era of the smartphone, selfies and carefully–coiffed digital personas. Gratitude, too, is unusual in the modern world where a sense of entitlement seems all pervasive. Despite most of us being aware enough to acknowledge that all human beings ...
New funding programme to help improve ecosystems in Borikhamxay
The Wildlife Conservation Society Laos Programme will work closely with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to protect and conserve the unique and important species, habitats, and ecosystems in Borikhamxay province. An agreement on the Integrated Ecosystem and Wildlife Management Programme Phase 3 was signed ...
Gov’t mulls Japan-led facility for aquatic research

A committee will be established to look into the construction of a 5-hectare Japan-funded aquatic centre to facilitate the study of more than 600 species of freshwater fish from the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers, Prime Minister Hun Sen said on November 25. “I have ...
Small-scale farming threatens rainforests in Sumatra

Rainforest cover in the Indonesian archipelago has since declined rapidly in recent years giving way to large-scale plantations of rubber and oil palm. A recent study published in Nature Communications finds that small-scale farming can be just as damaging to biodiversity as the plantations, since ...
Military training areas can be important wildlife refuges: new study

Bombs and biodiversity can go hand in hand, a new study has found. Military training areas — used for the training of armed forces — can maintain biodiversity and even support species threatened with extinction, despite years of repeated bombing, fires and other disturbances, scientists ...
Takeo pigs hit by outbreak of PRRS

A Takeo village’s pigs have been hit with an outbreak of a disease described by a senior Agriculture Ministry official as more economically damaging to Cambodian pig farmers than foot and mouth disease. The outbreak of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome in Tram Kak district’s ...
Ministry plans wildlife corridors to boost Cambodia's biodiversity

Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment gathered a network of government and civil society representatives on November 8 to begin planning the creation of a biodiversity conservation corridor that would make it easier for wildlife to thrive. Biodiversity corridors connect isolated conservation areas with strips of vegetation to ...
Irrawaddy dolphins functionally extinct in Laos: Survey

The population of critically endangered Mekong River Dolphins – Irrawaddy Dolphins – in the Cheuteal trans-boundary pool between southern Laos and northern Cambodia has shrunk by 50 percent this year and the population is functionally extinct in Laos. World Wildlife Fund survey teams from Laos and ...
Authorities bolster efforts to stem illegal wildlife trade

Despite concerted efforts by officials to end the illegal wildlife trade through regular inspections at markets throughout the country, the trade continues to flourish. To reduce illegal wildlife trading in Laos, especially in the main towns, the authorities have asked various agencies to join the ...
