News
Hundreds of newly discovered species under threat in Southeast Asia’s Mekong region
Nearly 400 species only just discovered in Asia’s Greater Mekong region could soon become extinct due to loss of habitat caused by human activity, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) warned in a report published Monday. The discoveries – including an orchid that looks like a “Muppet ...
Kathleen Magramo
Where does the Greater Mekong’s illegal timber go?
After forests are logged, felled trees are typically sent to sawmills, where they’re processed into boards, or lumber. It’s in this processed form that wood typically enters the international commodity supply chain. But not all lumber is created equal. In the Greater Mekong region, high-quality hardwoods ...
Sheryl Lee Tian Tong
The Greater Mekong region: A hotspot of wildlife and crime
Did you know that illegal logging can be five times as lucrative as selling the world’s most well-known soda? In 2020, the Coca-Cola company reported $33 billion in revenue. The global illegal timber trade, in comparison, generates up to $152 billion a year — accounting for up ...
Sheryl Lee Tian Tong
Beijing sets sights on mighty Mekong as passage to South China Sea
Ninety-seven kilometers of rocks in Thai waters stand between Beijing and dominance over the Mekong, a mighty river that feeds millions as it threads south from the Tibetan Plateau through five countries before emptying into the South China Sea. China has long wanted to dredge the ...
Aidan Jones
Civic groups call for reviews into Mekong River dam projects
Civic groups on Sunday lodged a petition calling for governments of countries along the Mekong River to review upcoming dam projects. The petition was on Sunday submitted to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) by the Mekong Conservation Network in the North during a forum held in ...
Wassayos Ngamkham
Greater Mekong region tries to stop devastation
The Greater Mekong region, once the world’s most densely forested area, has lost a third of its natural forest cover and will lose another third by 2030 unless action is taken immediately, according to a new World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report. Keep reading ...
Rohingya population displacement: Concern for spread of drug-resistant malaria?
The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region in south-eastern Bangladesh is neighbouring to the Greater Mekong region, currently flagged for the spread of resistance to the widely used antimalarial drug ‘artemisinin.’ Artemisinin-resistance means that at present the most widely used drug may not work against the ...
MN
Crocodile lizard is one of 115 new species found in Greater Mekong
A snail-eating turtle found in a food market and a bat with a horseshoe-shaped face are among 115 new species discovered in the Greater Mekong region. A report from the conservation charity WWF reveals that three new mammals, 11 amphibians, two fish, 11 reptiles and 88 ...
The Guardian Reporter
