Environment and natural resources
Climate change
The Mekong Delta in Vietnam is sinking. Can sediment save it?
In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, home to about 17 million people, large areas of land have been poldered for the cultivation of crops such as rice and shrimp. At the moment, the delta is on average less than a meter above sea level. But due to ...
Wageningen University
Scientists step up hunt for ‘Asian unicorn’, one of world’s rarest animals
Weighing 80-100kg and sporting long straight horns, white spots on its face and large facial scent glands, the saola does not sound like an animal that would be hard to spot. But it was not until 1992 that this elusive creature was discovered, becoming the first ...
Veronika Perková
Cambodia one of just 49 countries to submit climate strategy to UN
Cambodia on December 30 submitted its egy (LTS4CN) to the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) , according ...
Ry Sochan
Trouble on the Mekong
Two reports released last month by The Mekong River Commission (MRC), an inter-governmental organisation that works with the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam to jointly manage the river’s resources, serve as a crucial health check on the state of Southeast Asia’s longest river ...
MARK TILLY
Ben Tre develops forests in climate change response
The People’s Committee of southern Ben Tre province has issued a plan to carry out a project on coastal forest protection and development in adaptation with climate change and green growth promotion for the 2021-2030 period. Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Minh Canh said the ...
VNA
Ambitious steps to go carbon neutral
To the surprise of many, Thailand announced at the recent COP26 climate summit in Glasgow that it would increase its long-term ambition on climate action — pledging to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 and to achieve an economy with net-zero GHG emissions by or before ...
PETER DU PONT
Another poor wet season endangers Cambodia’s biggest lake and its people
Climate change, unsustainable and illegal fishing and the proliferation of hydropower dams on rivers that feed Tonle Sap threaten the livelihoods of over one million Cambodians. Sarun Nong, a fisher on Koh Krabey, a small island in Cambodia’s Tonle Sap lake, takes another look at the fishing net ...
By Ate Hoekstra, The Third Pole
Vietnam reconsiders methane-emitting rice amid climate crisis
At the United Nations COP26 summit in Scotland, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh joined 109 countries in pledging to reduce methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030. To meet the commitment, the Southeast Asian nation will need to look at rice – one of the ...
Govi Snell
Climate change adaptation compromised, Mekong Delta faces manmade disaster
Anthropogenic drivers in the Mekong Delta will limit opportunities to adapt to climate change even as it dominates threats to the region in coming years, a new report warns. The Mekong Delta has long historical experience of dealing with water- and climate-related factors which can threaten ...
Viet Anh
As Warming and Drought Increase, A New Case for Ending Big Dams
As the hydroelectric dam industry tries to reposition itself as a climate change solution, more and more evidence shows that climate change actually undermines the case for hydro dams. Gone are the days when hydropower was considered the predominant engine of the world economy, leading a ...
JACQUES LESLIE
