Environment and natural resources
Asia’s Environmental Apocalypse 2019?
This year’s environmental news kicked off in grisly fashion: a Vietnamese poaching gang recording one of its members straddling and punching a snared and presumably dead tiger (the Thai authorities say they have caught the perpetrators) in one of Thailand’s protected areas. Thailand has always seemed, to ...
Thousands of Protesters Call For Termination of Dam Project in Myanmar’s Kachin State
About 10,000 people in northern Myanmar’s Kachin state staged a massive protest Thursday against the controversial Chinese-backed Myitsone Dam and recent calls by China for the suspended project to resume. Kachin activists, leaders from Kachin political parties, religious leaders, local civil society groups, Buddhist monks, ...
UK to help build flood resilience in Vietnam
The effects of climate change pose a direct threat to lives and livelihoods of people living in Vietnam, from death and injury to damaged or destroyed homes, businesses, transport links, power supplies and agricultural land. So academics from the University of Southampton, the University of ...
The Hidden Environmental Toll of Mining the World’s Sand
By far the largest mining endeavor globally is digging up sand, mainly for the concrete that goes into buildings. But this little-noticed and largely unregulated activity has serious costs — damaging rivers, wreaking havoc on coastal ecosystems, and even wiping away entire islands. In Cambodia, researching ...
Protecting our food by protecting our farmers
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projected that global warming is likely to reach 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2030. This is projected to bring about changes in the climate and natural systems, including changes in the frequency and intensity of weather ...
Chinese company consults locals over Mekong blasting
Communities say the company hasn’t considered the social and environmental impacts of proposed changes to the river, reports Andrew Stone. Keep reading ...
Current threats and future hopes for the greater Mekong’s mangroves
Critical to the health of rivers, shorelines and forests globally, today only 150,000 square kilometers (57,900 square miles) of mangroves remain, down from 320,000 square kilometers (123,550 square miles) 50 years ago. Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar are home to the largest mangrove forests in the Greater ...
Forum to talk climate-resilient development in Mekong Delta
The Prime Minister has agreed in principle the organisation of the forum on sustainable and climate-resilient development of the Mekong Delta in October 2019. The leader has asked the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to coordinate with the Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development, Planning ...
Saline intrusion threatens Mekong Delta
Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region could suffer serious salt intrusion by the end of this month, according to the Southern Irrigation Institute. Saltwater could penetrate 40 to 50km inland, the institute said. Keep reading ...
Thai police bust animal trafficking gang
Thai police seized more than 1,600 bear claws and other animal parts in central Thailand’s Ayutthaya Province. Three suspects, including one Lao national and two from Vietnam were nabbed during the operation, according to reports. Keep reading ...