Environment and natural resources

In the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, where the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers meet, workers are putting the final touches on the grandstand for Bon Om Touk, the annual water festival which begins this weekend. It’s a huge party—the country pretty much shuts down for ...

For more than two decades, communities in Southeast Asia have been facing threats from the expansion of hydropower development. Dams have been justified by the governments of Southeast Asian countries as the main development agenda, which would generate large amounts of income and contribute to ...

On October 29, Laos unveiled a new dam in the country’s north. The 1.3-gigawatt Xayaburi dam sits on the Mekong River, which flows the length of the country. Laos plans to build nearly a hundred like it by 2020—many with direct funding and support from ...

HO CHI MINH CITY – It’s not quite the first thing on everyone’s minds in the booming financial center of Vietnam, but everyone kind of knows it might happen: Global sea levels pushed up by climate change threatens to flood the city by the year ...

A new Luang Prabang Film Festival initiative has asked five Southeast Asian directors to focus on the vital river’s future. Five Southeast Asian directors will present their visions — and fears — for the future of the Mekong river, one of Asia’s most vital waterways, through ...

The Mekong River Commission Tuesday acknowledged that climate change played a role in this year’s widely varying water levels on the Mekong, but said that dam construction was the main culprit in sharp water level increases and decreases, emphasizing a need for data-sharing between countries. The ...

About 200 people representing civil society, academics, the private sector, governments and development partners have gathered in Laos for the Mekong River Commission’s regional forum. Today, participants discussed the Lao-proposed Luang Prabang hydropower project and An Pich Hatda, chief executive officer of the MRC Secretariat, ...

The Cambodian Youth Network yesterday said hundreds of hectares of forest land in the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary have been illegally cleared in Stung Treng and Preah Vihear provinces. In a report released yesterday, CYN said it conducted an investigation from July 13 to August 12 ...

The government is accelerating efforts to boost farmers’ yields to meet national food security strategy and production targets by 2020 in response to global climate change. Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Dr Lien Thikeo made the statement during a recent address to mark World Food Day. He ...

With 80 percent of the region surrounded by water, ASEAN regularly faces water-related disasters such as floods, cyclones and storms – which are heightened by climate change. Greenhouse gases (GHG) are progressively warming the environment, and melting ice sheets and glaciers are increasing the volume of ...