Environment and natural resources
69m people breathed toxic smoke from 2015 Indonesian fires: study
Sixty-nine million people were exposed to toxic haze as a result of last year’s devastating wildfires in Indonesia, a new study has found. Little is known about the health impacts of Indonesia’s annual fires, which spread uncontrollably because the country’s vast peat swamp zones have ...
Military training areas can be important wildlife refuges: new study
Bombs and biodiversity can go hand in hand, a new study has found. Military training areas — used for the training of armed forces — can maintain biodiversity and even support species threatened with extinction, despite years of repeated bombing, fires and other disturbances, scientists ...
Irrigation systems all pumped up for dry season agriculture
Irrigation systems will be able to supply water to about 180,000 hectares of crops this dry season, even though some systems are in need of repair. About 120,000 hectares of the irrigated land will be given over to rice, while other crops will be cultivated ...
Pak Moon dam’s committee resigns en masse
Committee members are Professor Prakob Virotekoot, Mrs Sunee Chairos, Mr Detrat Sookkamnerd, Mr Chavalit Witthayanont, Mr Anant Harnpanichpant, Mr Chalotorn Kansantisookmongkol and Mr Pornchai Tantiwittayapitak. In a statement issued on November 17, the committee said that in the past 20 years, the construction and operations ...
Third international wildlife trade conference opens in Hanoi
The third International Wildlife Trade Conference opened in Hanoi on November 17 with the participation of 47 countries, the European Union, 7 international organisations and over 40 inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations. Vietnam’s Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh; Laos’ Deputy Prime Minister Sonxay Siphandone; the UK’s ...
China continues to court on Myitsone project ahead of commission presser
As the commission tasked with reviewing hydropower projects along the upper reaches of the Ayeyarwady River submitted its first report to the president this past week, Chinese state media has assured its nation of the ongoing “friendly and cooperative” Sino-Myanmar relationship. The China News article, ...
Environment Ministry to halt river dumping
Environment Ministry spokesman Sao Sopheap said on November 17 that residents of Derm Sleng village in Chbar Ampov would not be allowed to continue disposing of their trash into the Tonle Sap river, with his ministry asking City Hall officials to end the practice. Yesterday, ...
Khon Kaen farmers race to harvest paddy as over-capacity dam threatens flooding
Farmers along the Chi River in the Northeast are rushing to harvest rice crops as Ubolratana Dam discharges more water to free up capacity. Farmers were told to be prepared for the possible flooding of paddy fields as they are ready to harvest because Ubolratana ...
Takeo pigs hit by outbreak of PRRS
A Takeo village’s pigs have been hit with an outbreak of a disease described by a senior Agriculture Ministry official as more economically damaging to Cambodian pig farmers than foot and mouth disease. The outbreak of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome in Tram Kak district’s ...
HCMC draws up plan to deal with hazardous waste treatment
The HCMC Department of Natural Resources and Environment has granted more than 5,000 registry books to the owners of hazardous waste sources. Official reports show the amount of hazardous waste has been increasing steadily year after year, from 250 tons per day in 2011 to ...
