News

Unraveling the Mystery of Laos U-Turn from Renewables to Coal to Power the Battery of Southeast Asia

After years of hydropower supercharging Laos’ successful ambition to become the key power exporter in the region, Laos’ energy export market has taken a surprising turn towards coal. According to most international analysis from Carbon Tracker to Bloomberg, carbon is dying. Yet in Laos, energy carbon production went ...

Kannikar Petchkaew

Building Resilience across Southeast Asia

Climate change and myths about natural disasters Because we are powerless to prevent natural disasters from occurring, catastrophes become extraordinary experiences that must be learned, understood, and lived with as a normal part of daily life. When calamities strike, there is a chance of injury, death, crop ...

Wanwalee Inpin

Greater Mekong primates struggle to cling on amid persistent threats: Report

When scientists described the Popa langur (Trachypithecus popa) as a species new to science in 2020, it was already staring extinction in the face. Fewer than 260 of the fluffy gray leaf-eating monkeys are estimated to remain across four precariously isolated patches of forest on Myanmar’s central ...

Carolyn Cowan

Time for America to Play Offense in China’s Backyard

As the Biden administration begins its second year in office, it is evident that its focus on the Indo-Pacific and geopolitical competition against China remains uneven. There are two small but strategically important countries that have been all but ignored by the administration so far: ...

Derek Grossman

Illegal job seekers caught in Kanchanaburi, Chiang Mai

Border patrols on Sunday arrested a total of 126 Myanmar people who illegally crossed the border into Kanchanaburi and Chiang Mai provinces. In Kanchanaburi, 38 men and 38 women were found by a patrol of the Surasee Task Force hiding in bushes beside a pineapple plantation ...

PIYARAT CHONGCHAROEN AND PANUMET TANRAKSA

Saying no to illegal wild meat

A traveller kills a wild animal and posts its photo on social media with the caption: “How should I cook this red junglefowl?” Social media posts about hunting and cooking wild animals are becoming popular among young travellers. People might assume that a person who hunts ...

SUWITCHA CHAIYONG

India vows close cooperation with Cambodia as ASEAN chair

India has pledged to work closely with Cambodia, the 2022 chair of ASEAN, in addressing issues of common concerns including the Myanmar crisis. The pledge was made during a telephone conversation between Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Prak Sokhonn and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam ...

Ry Sochan / Phnom Penh Post

Striking casino workers stand against crackdown

Chhim Sithar knew she would be arrested when she arrived at the site of a protest organised by employees of the NagaWorld casino.  Police violently grabbed and arrested the union leader when she attempted to join the demonstration by striking workers in Phnom Penh on 4 ...

JACK BROOK

The Mekong Delta in Vietnam is sinking. Can sediment save it?

In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, home to about 17 million people, large areas of land have been poldered for the cultivation of crops such as rice and shrimp. At the moment, the delta is on average less than a meter above sea level. But due to ...

Wageningen University

Mekong group urges better water management collaboration as record drought persists

The inter-governmental Mekong River Commission (MRC) on Thursday called on China and mainland Southeast Asian countries to better coordinate management of Mekong hydropower dams and reservoirs after three years of record low flows and extra dry conditions. The Mekong River’s flow dropped to the lowest levels ...

Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um; Editing by Martin Petty

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