Environment and natural resources
Environment and natural resources policy and administration
How Asean’s Covid-19 recovery measures are missing opportunities for a green future
More than a year after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency, the – a region with a combined GDP of US$9.34 trillion and a population of more than 650 million – has not recovered from the global economic tumult ...
Melinda Martinus and Sharon Seah
Cleaning up our act
For Southeast Asian countries, the meaning of regional connectivity and integration goes beyond their vision of development and economic progress. Interconnectedness also applies when discussing disasters and environmental degradation. One example is transboundary haze, the top-of-mind term for the raging forest fires on Sumatra or Kalimantan ...
ISMIRA LUTFIA TISNADIBRATA
Thailand aims at pandemic risks by fighting wildlife trade
Thailand is ramping up efforts to curb trade in wildlife to help reduce the risk of future pandemics, officials said Thursday, though it was unclear whether that would mean an end to all such sales in the wildlife trafficking hub. The government intends to make Thailand ...
ELAINE KURTENBACH
Gaur dies of old age in Vietnam nature reserve
A 700-kilogram gaur was found dead Sunday at the Dong Nai Culture and Nature Reserve in southern Vietnam. The reserve said the male ox had died of old age. But it is not clear how old it was. On April 9 forest rangers found the animal showing ...
Nguyen Quy
All Thai factories ordered to go ‘green’ by 2025
All Thai factories should have Green Industry certification by 2025, according to a deadline set by Industry Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit on Tuesday. Suriya ordered the Department of Industrial Works (DIW) to push all 71,130 industrial plants across the country to achieve Green Industry standards developed by ...
UNESCO Requests New Impact Assessment for Luang Prabang Dam
UNESCO has requested a new assessment for a large-scale Lao Mekong River dam located near a World Heritage Site, fearing that the dam’s potential impact could put the site at risk. According to UNESCO, the town of Luang Prabang is “an outstanding example of the fusion ...
RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Lao PDR and World Bank sign $42 deal to reduce emissions from deforestation
The Lao PDR and the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) have signed an agreement to provide up to $42 million between now and 2025 to support the country’s efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). A ceremony today marked the launch of this ...
Cambodia’s weather forecast for this year made – hotter days and early rains
The Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology (MOWRAM) has forecast that the temperature could rise to about 39 degrees Celsius during the 2021 dry season while the rainy season will come in the first week of May. Cambodia’s weather will be influenced by the ENSO phenomena, ...
Kingdom meets climate deadline
The government has successfully submitted Cambodia’s updated National Determined Contribution (NDC) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and earned praise as more than half of the world’s countries failed to do so by year’s end. The Kingdom’s 158-page NDC was submitted before the ...
Niem Chheng
Analysis: Years in the making, Vietnam’s Mekong Delta policy takes the long view
Vietnam’s Mekong Delta is approximately the same size as the Netherlands — about 41,000 square kilometers (16,000 square miles) — and is home to 17 million people, very nearly the same population as the Netherlands. Perhaps that made dialogue easier. Unlike many foreign experts, the Dutch ...
David Brown