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Myitsone Dam project is well known for its controversial impact on Myanmar’s political landscape, as it involves on and off pressure from China to restart the project in line with the signed contract as soon as possible. But what is less prominent is the controversy over ...

A pipeline stretching from central to north-east Thailand promises to “promote Thailand as an energy hub in the region” and “increase energy security”, according to the Ministry of Energy. Construction began in mid-2019, despite local communities objecting that the largely Chinese-financed project could worsen flooding ...

Thailand has been hit with what may be its worst drought in 40 years, pummelling sugar production in one of the world’s biggest exporters of the sweetener. Sugar output may tumble about 30% to 9 million-10 million tonnes, while cane output is forecast to fall below ...

In a momentous win for the Mekong River, this week the Thai Cabinet formally called for cancellation of the Lancang-Mekong Navigation Channel Improvement Project, popularly known as the Mekong “rapids-blasting” project.The cabinet decision is the culmination of decades of campaigning by Thai Mekong communities and ...

Rights groups and researchers have welcomed Thailand’s decision to cancel a Beijing-backed project to dredge and blow open a shallow and rocky stretch of the Mekong River along the Thai-Lao border. The move is a rare victory for groups and communities fighting to save Southeast Asia’s ...

In late 2012, a fire threatened to engulf the community forest of Huai Hin Kao village in Nong Khai’s Pho Tak district. Twenty local men followed the village chief’s call to help tackle the flames that came dangerously close to the community. “I learned afterwards that ...

On a wide bank of the Mekong River, yellow markers and visits by surveyors show preparations underway to build Laos’ third and largest dam on Southeast Asia’s most vital waterway. About an hour downstream, in the laid-back tourist centre of Luang Prabang, the dam’s developers heard ...

 Lao government officials completed a three-week training course on advanced Geographic Information Systems, which was implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to enable them to undertake climate mapping and zoning. The training course, funded by the Global Environment Facility, covered spatial analysis, geo-databases, network ...

The central province of Quảng Trị had over 110,000ha of forests for production as of early this month, 22,000ha of which have received Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) forest management certifications. Quảng Trị is one of the top localities nationwide in terms of forestation certified by the FSC. ...

Twelve special economic zones (SEZs) established across the country have attracted investment of almost US$5.7 billion and created thousands of jobs for local people, a report this week showed. The zones’ developers have invested US$4.28 billion, individual companies invested US$1.36 billion, and the Lao government has ...