Environment and natural resources
Pollution and waste
Haze reaches southern Thailand, rises beyond safety levels
The haze from forest fires in Indonesia has reached southern Thailand, with smoke from the dust particles rising above safety levels in Songkhla province’s Hat Yai district. Songhkla Governor Songpol Sawasditham on 5 October set up a war room to combat the impact of the haze ...
Pollution from coal-fired power plants kills 4,300 Vietnamese every year: study
Diseases linked to pollution caused by a fast growing network of coal-fired power plants kill around 4,300 people in Vietnam each year, according to a new estimate by scientists. A study released at a conference in Hanoi on 29 September claims that once all planned power projects become ...
Mekong dwellers struggle to adapt to tides of change
Since its founding, the inhabitants of Can Tho city have sold their wares atop the water, which has become a tourist spectacle. This has been the way of life for as long as any resident here can remember, but things are changing. In recent years, local communities ...
Southern farmers bring dead fish to province office to protest pollution
Fish farmers in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau on 7 August brought hundreds of kilograms of dead fish to the government office, accusing seafood processors of polluting a local river. The move came one day after they protested with dead fish in front of the ...
Coal-caked home shows danger of Vietnam’s cheap power
After Quang Ninh province’s worst torrential rains in four decades, residents still face lingering danger. Toxic run-off from an open-pit coal mine left a trail of contamination, from local streams to the emerald waters of Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site whose islets attract more than 1 ...
Study links polluted air in China to 1.6 million deaths a year
Outdoor air pollution contributes to the deaths of an estimated 1.6 million people in China every year, or about 4,400 people a day, according to a newly released scientific paper. The paper maps the geographic sources of China’s toxic air and concludes that much of the smog that ...
South Korean companies plan major waste treatment plant for Mekong Delta
A South Korean syndicate has proposed to build a major waste treatment plant to solve an urgent demand in the Mekong Delta where thousands of tons of waste are being discharged every day. The proposal was made by three companies in a meeting with local officials ...
Rayong fishermen mark two years since oil spill
Small fishermen in Rayong have called on Thailand’s biggest petrochemical company to do more to rehabilitate oil-spill impacted sites along the province’s coastline, saying they still are living with the after effects of a spill two years ago. Keep reading ...
Pollution from copper mining in Northern Laos destroying local livelihoods
A company operating a copper mine in northern Laos’ Oudomxay province is polluting the local environment and destroying the livelihoods of residents, according to villagers, who have called for officials to investigate the firm. A resident of Sawang village, in Oudomxay’s Namo district, told RFA’s Lao ...
Da Nang threatens to close Coca-Cola plant amid sewage complaints: report
Da Nang government, Vietnam, has threatened to shut down the factory of Coca-Cola if it is found to have violated environmental rules, according to media reports. Keep reading ...
