News

In late January, Cambodia’s Prime Minister, Hun Sen, made a televised statement about the spread of misinformation regarding the COVID-19 virus outbreak originating from Wuhan, China. He also threatened to “kick out” reporters or officials seen wearing a face mask. He said that the real illness ...

To say the global novel coronavirus pandemic is causing chaos and affecting lives in real and tangible ways is certainly no understatement. But one impact that has not received significant attention is how its spread is hurting the efforts of governments to combat transnational organized crime ...

Thailand will seek talks with Myanmar and Laos to lend strength to the fight against haze and smog pollution, according to Jatuporn Buruspat, the natural resources and environment permanent secretary. The government will seek cooperation from Myanmar and Laos authorities to jointly deal with the seasonal ...

Thailand has lifted its ban to close four ports at the Mekong River to allow essential goods to be shipped to and from China as Thailand is currently facing the COVID-19 outbreak. The four ports, including cargo terminals and border crossing, were closed since March 21 ...

On March 14, International Day of Action for Rivers, 23 countries’ indigenous, together with  thousands of river stewards, defenders, and allies called for the protection of their rivers and rights to manage them,  with hundreds more joined in via social media and digital outreach. “We cannot ...

The Ban Ladhan Mekong River Super Major Bridge on Wednesday (April 1) achieved its main section closure over the Mekong River, and thus, major engineering works on both cross-Mekong bridges along the railway have been completed. According to the Laos-China Railway (LCRC), a joint venture in ...

Experts in Cambodia have welcomed the government’s recent halt on hydropower development on the Mekong River until 2030, but called on the government to focus on renewable energies.  The spokesman for the Ministry of Mines and Energy’s General Department, Victor Jona, told VOA on Tuesday that ...

Plastic waste in the world’s oceans is raising international alarm. Recent research shows that 90 % of the plastic that ends up in the oceans is delivered by just 10 river systems. The Mekong River that winds through Southeast Asia is one of them. The ...

Hydropower dams on the Mekong River are expected to reduce Vietnam’s GDP by 0.3 percentage points due to their impact on fisheries and agriculture. A paper titled “Impacts of Mainstream Hydropower Dams on Fisheries and Agriculture in Lower Mekong Basin” on the open access journal Sustainability published by ...

Last week, China conducted another iteration of its joint patrols with three riparian countries in the Mekong River. The development spotlighted one aspect of Beijing’s continued effort to advance collaboration in the Mekong subregion and Southeast Asia more generally. As I have noted before, as China ...