Environment and natural resources
Ministry issues measures meant to counter wildfires
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries on January 30 signed off on a list of seven measures intended to guard against forest fires, although details on implementation remained scarce on January 31 and observers said they expected little to come of the new document. The ...
Poverty Reduction Fund reports five years of success
Despite poverty reduction activities achieving real success over the past few years, the improvement of behaviour patterns in poor communities in remote areas should continue to be monitored. The lessons learnt from the implementation of poverty reduction projects were discussed at a meeting held in ...
Thap Lan: Thailand's unsung forest gemk under threat, but still abrim with life
On the trail of a conservation group conducting a wildlife monitoring survey, we stop the 4×4 on the road and walk along the red earth to check on camera traps. Wildlife rangers from Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation and international conservationists ...
Deforestation-free commodities represent a major investment opportunity: report
It’s estimated that about 10 percent of global emissions comes from deforestation — meaning we could make considerable progress toward halting climate change simply by keeping what remains of the world’s forests standing. Agricultural commodities — especially beef, palm oil, soy, and pulp and paper ...
Coastal erosion threatens Bình Thuận Province
Extreme weather conditions resulting in a complex tide phenomenon, landslides and sea erosion are threatening coastal areas in central Bình Thuận Province, authority officials and local people have said. Mai Kiều, director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said this week that ...
Hin Nam Nor submission to UNESCO next year
The final master plan of Hin Nam Nor National Protected Area in Khammuan province for submission to the World Heritage list will be sent to UNESCO early next year for assessment. An official for the Hin Nam Nor National Protected Area, who asked not to ...
Pak Beng Hydropower project looks set to move forward
The construction of the Pak Beng Hydropower Project is expected to begin at the end of this year after reaching agreement among Lower Mekong countries. A group of technical officials from the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Lao National Mekong Committee Secretariat and media organisations ...
Vietnamese luxury wooden furniture makers feel pain of regulations and deforestation
A mere 45 minutes northeast of Vietnam’s bustling capital city of Hanoi is the carpentry town of Đồng Kỳ, where conversations take place above the incessant din of electric saws cutting wood. A thin layer of sawdust coats every surface, and after a few hours ...
Xieng Khuang promoting native cattle exports
Xieng Khuang province plans to expand the breeding of native cattle for domestic and overseas sales with the province already exporting almost 10,000 head per year. The province has promoted health programmes with vaccinations to protect local breeds from diseases and ensured that sufficient pasture ...
Mekong Delta shifts strategy, takes advantage of benefits of flooding
In the past, Mekong Delta residents, striving to produce as much rice as possible, built closed embankments to prevent floods and cultivate third crops. But now they need floods to preserve water to fight drought and saline intrusion. Le Anh Tuan, deputy head of the Climate ...