Environment and natural resources
Waste Summit Cambodia 2020 talks turning waste into cash
The Waste Summit Cambodia 2020 began on Monday and will run till Friday, covering a range of topics including using waste for financial benefit, the importance of waste separation, creating energy from waste and the circular economy ideology. This year’s summit is being held under the ...
Tom Starkey
Vietnam to use carbon-pricing tools in effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions
Vietnam, as one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, is set to develop a roadmap to implement market-based carbon pricing tools as part of its effort to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Nguyen Tuan Quang, deputy director of the Climate Change Department under the Ministry of ...
VNA
Vietnam agrees to World Bank deal to stop forest loss
Vietnam is set to receive tens of millions of dollars to help it keep a promise not to cut down trees, part of a controversial World Bank program that critics say does not produce its intended effect — carbon emission reductions. The Southeast Asian nation has ...
LIEN HOANG
Sebastian Strangio on China in the Mekong region
With far-reaching implications for the upcoming elections in Myanmar and with the US tentatively wading into river governance, the Mekong region has become a contentious staging ground for China’s wider goals in Southeast Asia. Sebastian Strangio’s new book In the Dragon’s Shadow: Southeast Asia in the Chinese Century draws ...
Tyler Roney
Deforestation Hotspots Causing Wildlife Losses in Southeast Asia
Every two years, the World Wide Fund for Nature publishes a report that sums up the state of the world’s wildlife based on the monitoring of its projects around the world. The latest WWF report, titled the “Living Planet Report,” describes stunning declines in biodiversity caused ...
A commentary by Dan Southerland
Extreme weather highlights Southeast Asia’s vulnerability to climate change
Over the past several weeks, parts of Southeast Asia have been pummeled by severe storms. Widespread flooding across the region, especially in Vietnam, left hundreds of thousands of residents temporarily displaced. In Vietnam alone, at least 90,000 people were forced from their homes during the first several weeks ...
Zachary Frye
Mekong Delta localities plant trees, build natural embankments to prevent erosion
More people in the Mekong Delta are planting trees and building embankments made of natural materials to prevent erosion along rivers and canals. The delta, which has a dense river and canal network, has faced increasing erosion along rivers and canals in recent years because of human activity and climate change. In Hau ...
VNA
With someone taking out the trash, Hanoians breathe a sigh of relief
Nguyen Thanh Quang is looking forward to resuming his morning habit of cycling around his neighborhood in Hanoi’s Dong Da District. He had been staying at home all day after uncollected trash piled up on several streets, the resultant stink exacerbating the capital’s long-standing air pollution ...
Long Nguyen
After Mekong Data Deal, Experts Call for More Upstream Information, Transparency
While welcoming China’s decision to share hydrological data with Mekong nations, experts said the next step would be to expand the information shared and to make this data accessible to citizens and communities who most need it. The Mekong River Commission (MRC) and China’s Water Resource ...
Aun Chhengpor/VOA Khmer
Cabinet okays Mekong MOUs
The cabinet has approved two draft memorandums of understanding (MOU) that will set in motion the effective management of water resources for countries connected to the Mekong River, says the Office of National Water Resources (ONWR). The MOUs will establish international cooperation under the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation ...
MONGKOL BANGPRAPA