Environment and natural resources
Cambodia’s sanctuaries under threat
Cambodia’s Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary is symbolic of the country’s poor forestry management. Around 2,000 square kilometres (sq km) – around three times the size of Singapore – is lost to illegal logging in Cambodia every year where wildlife sanctuaries – despite their name – ...
Jason Thomas
Dolphin species thought extinct in Vietnam caught in Mekong Delta
An Irrawaddy dolphin, not seen in decades in Vietnam, was caught by a fisherman in the southern province of Ben Tre on Wednesday. Phan Van Thai, 49, and his wife were fishing on the Co Chien River in Cho Lach District when they heard a loud ...
Phan Anh, Hoang Nam, Cuu Long
Activist ‘victim’ of NCPO’s forest policy
Nittaya vows to keep fighting for land rights as Court slaps her with four months in jail, Bt40,000 in fines. THE APPEALS Court yesterday upheld a guilty verdict and jail term against a land-rights activist over forest encroachment. But in the eyes of many, Nittaya ...
Chularat Saengpassa
Bangkok is sinking fast
For the more or less 10 million people living in Thailand’s capital city of Bangkok, flooding is a common and recurring phenomenon. This is partly due to the city’s geographic location at the southern end of the Chao Phraya River Basin, as well as its ...
Jason Thomas
Study examines forest loss in Mekong region
Dramatic forest degradation and loss in the Greater Mekong region have both their causes and potential solutions rooted in forest governance, according to a recent publication by researchers from the Center for People and Forests (RECOFTC), the University of British Columbia, and WWF. (The full ...
Karen Mo
A clean-up campaign for Yangon’s air pollution
THE SHWEDAGON Pagoda was our first stop on a mission to gather data on air quality in various locations across Yangon, which began one Sunday morning in late March. The air quality in the commercial capital seemed to have deteriorated throughout the hot season, and we ...
Zaw Win Htet and Eaint Thet Su
Can community research help address the Mekong water crisis?
The transboundary water crisis in the Lower Mekong Basin has been lingering for almost two decades without any certainty that it will be resolved soon. There have been many attempts at tackling this issue, including forming a regional governance body to facilitate policymaking conversations. However, ...
Teerapong Pomun and Naimah Talib
Mekong district seeks to expand giant barb farming
Giồng Riềng District in Kiên Giang Province is expanding a breeding model for cá hô, or the giant barb, that offers farmers high incomes. Several farmers have been breeding giant barbs in ponds and using commercially produced feed for them under a pilot model in the district’s ...
Press Release: The EU and Vietnam implement and Agreement on combating illegal logging and promoting trade in legal timber
On May 8th, 2019, the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Viet Nam and Viet Nam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development held a joint meeting to announce the completion of the process of approval and ratification of a Voluntary Partnership Agreement on Forest ...
Fighting climate change with bamboo
The world has 11 years left, as reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to beef up its efforts to reduce global temperatures before it crosses the threshold leading to climate catastrophe. While ASEAN countries have expressed their joint commitment through national pledges to take ...