Disasters and emergency response
Urgent plans needed to adapt to climate change, rising sea levels
The historic drought this year affected 45,000 hectares of rice and crops, causing a loss of VND8.114 trillion in total. The drought and saline intrusion caused 2 million people to lack water for daily use, 1.75 million people to lose their livelihood, and put hundreds ...
Sagaing authorities start gold mine clampdown
Sagaing Region authorities in Myanmar are launching a crackdown on small-scale gold mines that, they say, contribute to environmental degradation. But concern is growing that larger companies, which are licensed at the level of the Union government, may be allowed to continue operating. Sagaing Region was ...
Sukhumbhand blamed as Bangkok reels under floods
Rains have plunged the Bangkok governor in fresh political difficulties as heavy downpour over the past few days inundated many areas in the capital and its suburbs once again raising doubts about his flood management. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration will invest more than Bt51 billion on ...
Rice production expected to not meet targets
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Laos has estimated farmers around the country to produce 4.2 million tonnes of rice this year; 600,000 tonnes of which is expected to be dry season rice, 3.4 million tonnes of wet season rice, and another 200,000 tonnes ...
Ministry promotes more water efficient crops
Taking precautions against drought, the Ministry of Agriculture is encouraging farmers to stop growing summer paddy in areas where water is scarce, according to deputy minister U Tun Win. Though the previous government wanted farmers to prioritise growing paddy, with water reservoirs near empty in several ...
No authority to prevent new Mekong River projects: MRC
The Mekong River Commission does not have the authority to stop projects even if they have trans-boundary effects, delegates to the fourth Green Mekong Forum said on 13 June, while the Thai Irrigation Department presented a water diversion project to fight poverty. If the MRC member states – ...
Heavy downpours continue to batter Arakan State
Heavy rain and severe flooding continue to devastate parts of Arakan State, a spokesperson for the Arakan State Government, told The Irrawaddy on 13 June. Arakan State’s Ministry of Social Welfare and Ministry of Electric Power, Industry, and Roads and Communications reportedly intend to visit flood-affected ...
CARDI raises climate change concerns in report
A report from the Cambodia Agriculture Research and Development Institute, a semi-autonomous organisation, showed that 83 per cent of farmers surveyed in Kampong Speu, Kampot and Kampong Cham provinces had noticed the effects of climate change. Farmers in the three provinces emphasised that climate change reduced ...
Business operators lack faith in local economy
Investors have expressed a lack of confidence in Thailand’s economy because of a decline in exports, the drought-induced expected slowdown in domestic consumption, and the sluggish global economy. Somkiat Anuras, vice chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber’s Business Confidence Index was only ...
Drought relief campaign over: PM
The government’s emergency campaign to distribute water to some 2.5 million people affected by drought is over, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen declared on 25 May, though for development partners and humanitarian groups, drought relief efforts continue. Humanitarian and disaster reduction manager for Save the Children ...
