News

Clear-cutting forests may provide short-term monetary gains, but the true costs of mass deforestation could be steep.  The novel coronavirus that has caused the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is believed to be zoonotic, meaning it first spread from animals to humans. Not only is that a common ...

Food Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, the World Food Programme (WFP) are cooperating with the Lao Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to draft a response plan and provide direct assistance to farmers continuing to produce food for their communities. FAO, WFP now are completing ...

Hydropower projects must not affect people’s lives in riparian countries negatively, Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Thursday. Le Thi Thu Hang was responding to a query about Laos’s plan to build another dam on the Mekong River at an online press meet. “The development of hydropower projects ...

ish writhe frantically in the shallow pool, as their schoolmates stranded on the exposed sandbar breathe their last. It is November, the end of the monsoon season, yet the water in the Mekong river is perilously low. On this stretch, in north-eastern Thailand, the bank is ...

Before lockdowns, curfews, and safe distancing, Thodsapone Kitta would go door to door, visiting low-income families in Thailand’s northern Nan province, a poor, mountainous region home to hill tribes and rural farmers where people are vulnerable to trafficking. For Thodsapone, a member of The Freedom Story, ...

The Mekong is one of the world’s great rivers. At the centre of this system is the flood pulse – a seasonal cycling of water that sees flow in the Mekong swell in response to the monsoon transporting water, nutrients and sediments from the headwaters ...

The pandemic is likely to make life worse for Thai fishermen as well as Vietnamese and Cambodian farmers. Restrictions resulting from the virus could limit food supply. The food security of 60 million people in the lower part of the Mekong River is in danger. The ...

Thai residents living in eight northeastern provinces along the Mekong River are opposed to Laos’ plans to construct a new hydropower dam on the Mekong River over fears it will threaten the river system, where seasonal flooding supports fisheries and regional agriculture. The protest comes as ...

The draft law on public demonstrations in Vietnam, which has been planned for nine years now, will not be submitted to the parliament for discussion in its upcoming session. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved a request by the Ministry of Public Security to postpone ...

Birds are a valuable part of our ecosystems. They forage for insects and fish, pollinate flowers and fertilise the soil. Some need protecting from extinction, when their habitats change or come under threat. World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) is an international day that draws attention to ...