News

A win for Kru Ti and the Mekong River

Over the past 20 years, Niwat Roykaew, a teacher, activist and founder of the Chiang Khong Conservation Group in Chiang Rai province has been campaigning to bolster the grassroots movement he initiated to protect the Mekong River, a crucial lifeline for countries in the Mekong ...

PASKORN JUMLONGRACH

We need new weapons against packaging waste

Last month, researchers found microplastics — small, microscopic pieces of plastic fragments — within human lungs for the first time. This comes on the heels of news that microplastics were found in human blood, which may travel around the body and enter organs. Microplastics find their ...

SIMON BALDWIN

Thailand taps rice, sugar biomass to wean itself from fossil fuels

Thailand has launched a full-fledged effort to adopt biomass as a major future energy source, a drive that has received a boost from companies looking for relief from skyrocketing fossil fuel prices. Thailand took up the bio-circular-green economic model a year ago as a way to ...

YOHEI MURAMATSU, Nikkei staff writer

Agriculture Ministry issues water plan as rainy season looms

Farmers should also store as much rainwater as possible and use it efficiently, said Agriculture Minister Chalermchai Sree-on on Monday.  “We cannot tell how many storms will hit Thailand this year, but we have ordered RID to prepare personnel and drainage equipment to deal with upcoming ...

The Nation

One million free cannabis plants handed out from next month: Anutin

From June 9, people in Thailand will be able to grow “as many cannabis plants” as they like in their own homes, according to Anutin. The cannabis grown must be of medical grade and used for medicinal purposes only. Official registration is not required for growing ...

The Nation

Community Rights in the Mekong Sustainability Management

Drastic ecological change of the Mekong is linked with hydropower development. Water fluctuation due to operation of upstream dams is indicating by the fish species and their stocks declined. We visited two communities located along the Mekong River. The first community is in Chiang Khan District, ...

From India’s highs to Thailand’s lows, Asia’s weather is hitting extremes

The final days of April saw further unbearable temperatures recorded in India and Pakistan. Temperatures peaked at 49C in Jacobabad, Pakistan on 30 April, with a high of 47.2C observed in Banda, India. The Indian Meteorological Department confirmed that average temperatures in April were the highest ...

Matt Andrews (Metdesk)

Future Remains Cloudy for Exiled Myanmar Journalists in Thailand

It has been more than a year since Myanmar’s military seized power in a putsch that sent thousands fleeing the country. Among them were scores of media professionals who took up refuge here in Thailand. Some have since moved on or resettled elsewhere, but others stayed ...

Teeranai Charuvastra

Officials worried about low number of Irrawadday dolphins in Thailand

Thai officials are worried about the low number of dolphins of a particular breed in Thailand. Despite campaigns in past years to preserve Irrawaddy dolphins, only 14 of them were found in Songkhla Lake, and 89 in the Mekong River, according to a 2020 survey. Natural ...

Tara Abhasakun

Rice and the Climate Crisis: Thai rice farmers struggle against climate-driven challenges

It has been another difficult harvest for Manas Takfaeng. This farmer has seen plenty of seasons in his years in the fields. But now as his retirement looms closer, watching another crop suffer is hard to comprehend. The 67-year-old is an ordinary small-hold rice grower whose family ...

Jack Board

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