Environment and natural resources

Deforestation and greater risk of flooding set off environmental alarms in Vietnam

The recent, devastating floods highlight the fragility of the country’s natural environment. Deforestation, expanded farming, timber harvesting, and hydroelectric dams are the main culprits. In four years, 7,300 hectares of forest have been lost. So far, about 800 large, medium and small plants have been ...

Nguyn Hung

Japan donates $3 million to fight marine plastic waste

The Japanese government will provide a $3 million grant to help Cambodia fight marine plastic pollution and promote a responsible cycle of using, reusing and recycling all forms of plastic waste. The grant will fund an anti-waste project to be implemented by the Ministry of Environment, ...

Nov Sivutha

Fight for the Mekong gathers pace

More than 20 years ago, when two Chiang Rai-based environmentalists, Niwat Roikaew and Somkiat Kuenwongsa, learned that the Chinese government were blasting rapids in the upper Mekong River from Yunnan to Myanmar and Laos to clear the way for large commercial vessels, they started worrying. Back ...

PASSAKORN JUMLONGRACH

Can Tho, EU forge cooperation in climate change response

Leaders of the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho and the EU Delegation to Vietnam on November 23 shared a hope for multilateral cooperation in climate change response. At a reception for the EU Delegation, Tran Viet Truong, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, said Can ...

VNA

Thailand Brings NASA Air Quality Data Down to Earth

For decades, NASA has used the vantage point of space, combined with airborne and ground-based field campaigns, to decipher the impact of air pollution and help other agencies protect people when unhealthy air threatens the places they live, work, and play. Now, government agencies in Thailand are harnessing the power ...

Molly Porter

Vietnam Revises Environmental Protection Law But Enforcement a Concern

Vietnam’s National Assembly Tuesday amended the country’s environmental protection law to give communities a bigger role in conservation and impose responsibilities on corporations, but critics say monitoring mechanisms in the country are not adequate to enforce it. Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the Revised Law on Environmental Protection, ...

RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Translated by Huy Le. Written in English by Eugene Whong

Vietnam enhances cooperation to reduce biodiversity loss

The Vietnamese Government has committed to joining hands with governments in the region and the world to reduce biodiversity loss by 2030 for sustainable development. Deputy head of the Vietnam Environment Administration’s Biodiversity Conservation Agency and head of Vietnam’s ASEAN working group on biodiversity preservation, Hoang ...

VNA

Is Thailand prepared for the carbon war?

The result of the US presidential election was clear, and means that Joe Biden will be sworn in on January 20, 2021. Most observers agree that a Biden presidency will ease tensions in the US-China trade war triggered by his predecessor Donald Trump, helping stabilise the ...

Asia News Network

We are the answer to Vietnam's drastic plastic problem

I have been saving more than $100 each month by cooking my own meals and not buying takeaways or deliveries. But saving money was not my initial motivation. It was to cut down on the use of plastic as much as possible. “When I pour your coffee ...

Luu Dinh Long

Severe storms show how dams, displacement magnify climate impacts in Laos

As a wave of storms drives flooding across Southeast Asia, a community in northern Laos displaced by a hydropower dam says their new homes are no longer safe due to the threat of landslides. Over 12,000 people have been relocated to allow for the construction of seven dams on the ...

Editorial

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