Environment and natural resources
China’s last wild river carries conflicting environmental hopes
Three great rivers rush through parallel canyons in the mountains of southwest China on their way to the coastal plains of Asia. At least 10 dams have been built on two of them, the Mekong and the Yangtze. The third remains wild: the remote, raging ...
Son Tra Nature Reserve biodiversity threatened
Overlapping efforts and poor management among agencies pose serious threats to biodiversity in the Son Tra Nature Reserve, a biologist said during a dialogue on protecting the red-shanked douc langur. The Da Nang-based reserve is home to 300 red-shanked douc langurs, which are critically endangered and ...
Local fishers still reporting catches at Don Sahong
Local fishers around Don Sahong Hydropower Project area in Khong district, Champassak province said their fish catches have only decreased slightly this year as the project has improved fish passage for upstream and downstream migration. One fisherman in Don Sahong village, Mr Viengxay explained that recently ...
Rice production expected to not meet targets
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Laos has estimated farmers around the country to produce 4.2 million tonnes of rice this year; 600,000 tonnes of which is expected to be dry season rice, 3.4 million tonnes of wet season rice, and another 200,000 tonnes ...
Laos's Attapeu seizes 9,000 cubic metres of illegal lumber
More than 9,000 cubic metres of illegal timber has been seized in southern Attapeu province since late last year, according to a report by the provincial authorities. Timber traders have reportedly been attempting to export timber through the province, despite an export ban imposed by the ...
Pattaya sea water quality gets 'poor' grade
The sea water along the busy central Pattaya beaches in Thailand is of poor quality and could endanger human and marine life, Regional Environmental Office has said. According to Thanapong Rattanawutthinun, of the Chon Buri provincial office of Natural Resources and Environment who also attended ...
In Mon State expanding quarries threaten farms
The number of quarries in Mon State is quickly increasing and locals say authorities fail to regulate their environmental impact on farmlands. On a recent afternoon in May, the farmers of Ohn Titbin Village Tract were tending to their betel nut and rubber plantations when a ...
Damming the Nam Tha in Northern Laos
The Nam Tha, or Tha River, begins in northern Laos near the Lao-China border and runs southwest to join the Mekong just south of Huay Xay on the Lao-Thai border. In October 2014, I traveled by motorcycle and longtail boat up the Nam Tha, starting ...
Government declares closing of natural forests
Up to 2.25 million hectares of natural forests in the Central Highlands are not allowed to be open to commercial projects, said Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. The Government leader announced the closing of natural forests at conference in Dak Lak province’s Buon Ma Thuot city ...
Gov’t signs off on Koh Rong protected habitat
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries signed an agreement late last week designating more than 400 square kilometres as a protected marine management area around the islands, located 20 kilometres off the coast of Sihanoukville in a bid to save the Koh Rong Archipelago’s coral ...