Environment and natural resources
Fish kill in Huayxai attributed to hazardous chemicals
Lao authorities confirmed that fish found floating dead in the Nam Ngao river in Huayxai district, Bokeo province died as a result of poisonous chemicals contaminating the river. Officials confirmed the findings after samples of the dead fish were brought for analysis last week. The ...
Sihanoukville dredging eyed
Ministry of Environment officials on February 22 said an inspection team will be deployed to investigate the recently halted sand-dredging operation for the development of the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port’s new multipurpose terminal, which has affected local families. Danh Serey, director of the ministry’s environmental impact assessment ...
Breweries shut down for flouting guidelines
Two breweries in the Mandalay industrial zone were temporarily shut down after they were found to have exceeded the specified wastewater disposal rate, said U Thant Zin Tun, assistant director of the Mandalay regional environmental conservation department. There are four breweries in the industrial zone, ...
Laos still faces chemical management issues
Laos is currently facing a variety of chemical management issues due to a shortage of a full set of regulations, adequate knowledge, the proper equipment and a satisfactory budget. At the 11th Regional Chemicals Management Forum held on February 21 in Vientiane, Deputy Director General of ...
Global hydropower boom will add to climate change
From the Amazon Basin to boreal forests, and from the Mekong to the Himalayan foothills, rivers worldwide are being targeted for major new dams in a global hydropower boom that also aims to supply drinking water to exploding human populations and to facilitate navigation on ...
Hà Tĩnh denies Formosa pollution link
Authorities in central Hà Tĩnh Province denied the connection between Formosa’s waste water discharge and the reddish streak appeared on water edge near the province’s Sơn Dương wharf. A joint force between local authorities and the Institute of Environmental Technology yesterday afternoon announced their testing ...
What happens when the soy and palm oil boom ends?
Over the past thirty years demand and production of oils crops like oil palm and soybeans has boomed across the tropics thanks to rising incomes, macroeconomic changes and government policies, and substitution effects. This rapid expansion has in some places taken a heavy toll on ...
Endangered bull killed in park in Central Highlands
A seven-year-old male Bos Gaurus bull, an endangered species listed in Group IB in Việt Nam’s Red Book, was killed in a protected area in Chư Mom Ray National Park last Friday. Đào Xuân Thủy, deputy director of the park’s management board, said the bull, ...
Pak Beng inquiry sought
Environment Ministry official Eang Sophalleth said on February 20 that he has made a request to the Mekong River Commission that Laos adequately investigate the potential impacts of the proposed Pak Beng hydropower dam ahead of a meeting this week. State news agency AKP on February ...
Three fish species known as ‘sea monsters’ in danger of extinction
Ca ho (Catlocarpio siamensis), vo co (Pangaius sannitwongsei) and tra dau (Pangasianodon gigas) living in the Mekong Delta are all large-size fish which can reach 300 kilos in weight and three meters in length. They are all in danger of extinction. As they have enormous ...
