News
Myanmar’s electricity woes fueling mangrove deforestation in Arakan State
Deforestation of mangroves has increased in Arakan State as a result of power cuts, according to local mangrove conservationists. Since late last year, Myanmar has experienced frequent blackouts, which worsened in February and continued into the monsoon season despite the fact that hydropower is the country’s ...
Development Media Group
Vietnam’s coal consumption to surge in 2025-35
Vietnam will ramp up coal imports in the 2025-2035 period as coal consumption is forecast to reach its peak between 2030 and 2035, according to a draft plan for the Vietnamese coal industry development recently released by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Statistics from the ...
The Saigon Times
New climate policy fails to sway critics
The government is setting out major bureaucratic changes with the introduction of the Climate Change Act and the founding of the Department of Climate Change, which will be the new legal tool and central agency to oversee the country’s climate actions. Speaking at the Thailand Climate ...
PRATCH RUJIVANAROM
7 north-eastern provinces bracing for Mekong River overflows until Thursday
Thailand’s National Water Command Centre is advising people living near the banks of the Mekong River in seven north-eastern provinces to brace for sudden overflows from today (Sunday) until Thursday. The centre said that heavy rain, triggered by Tropical Depression Mulan on August 11th and 12th in the ...
Thai PBS World
SARS-related viruses infect thousands in Asia every year: Study
About 66,000 people in Southeast Asia are infected each year with SARS-related coronaviruses, and nearly 500 million people live near habitats where bat hosts of those viruses are found, according to a new study. The research, published by Nature Communications on Wednesday, said viral transmission from ...
Al Jazeera
Warning of ecological disaster over Malaysia forest plantations
When Sia Beng Hok goes to check his rubber and batai (Moluccan albizia) trees, he makes sure he has a rifle on the backseat of his four-wheel drive. His plantations – all 5,000 hectares (19sq miles) of them – sit on forest reserve land in Kelantan ...
Yao-Hua Law
Severance pay remains a struggle for Southeast Asian workers
Garment workers at Thailand’s Brilliant Alliance factory were granted leave, only to learn their employer had shut down when they returned to their worksite in early March 2021. “Everyone was abandoned and never went back to work, there was nothing from the company about compensation,” said ...
JACK BROOK
Cambodia’s small-scale hydropower offers potential and risk
The stiff, rusted grate forming a metal ramp scraped its stone anchor and bent under Lounh Samnang’s weight as he clambered onto the small-scale dam he operates and maintains. Water rushed from the reservoir and gurgled through the dam’s turbine before flowing down O’Porng Morn Kraom, a ...
ANTON L. DELGADO AND NASA DIP
Mangroves in the Mekong Delta: growing opportunities or going under?
The Mekong Delta is home to the largest expanse of mangroves in Viet Nam but is also highly vulnerable to the twin effects of the climate crisis and coastal development, given its proximity to Ho Chi Minh City. The Delta is facing a high risk of ...
PHAM THU THUY
Baby boom: the endangered wildlife revival at Cambodia's Angkor Wat
The melodic songs from families of endangered monkeys ring out over the jungle near Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temple complex — a sign of ecological rejuvenation decades after hunting decimated wildlife at the site. The first pair of rare pileated gibbons were released in 2013 as part ...
Agence France-Presse (AFP)