News
UN Calls for End to ‘Punitive Measures’ Used Against Cambodian Environmental Activists
United Nations human rights and environmental officials called on Wednesday for an end to Cambodian authorities’ use of “punitive measures” against protectors of the country’s environment, following the arrests this month of four young environmental activists. The four activists, members of the Cambodian environmental protection group ...
Reported by RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Mekong River group urges more data sharing on hydropower operations
The inter-governmental Mekong River Commission (MRC) has urged China and Southeast Asian countries to share more data on hydropower operations that can contribute to abnormal rises and falls in water levels on the vital waterway. The changes in water levels have affected navigation, river ecosystems and ...
Reuters/dv
Deadly Myanmar mine disaster caused by poor planning, say data sleuths
A detailed analysis of satellite and remote-sensing data has uncovered poor conditions at the Wai Khar jade mine in northern Myanmar, where a landslide last July killed more than 170 people. The international team of authors behind the study1 — the first to rigorously document a mining accident ...
Andrew Silver
Low dry season flows in Mekong drive down Cambodia’s Tonle Sap, countries urged to improve basin-wide management
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat has urged the wider exchange of data and information as part of recommendations to improve water resource management in the Lower Mekong Basin, in a bulletin released today. The 18-page Situation Report encourages MRC Member Countries and Dialogue Partners to share ...
Deforestation of endangered wildlife habitat continues to surge in southern Myanmar
Tanintharyi, Myanmar’s portion of the spit of land that splits the Gulf of Thailand from the Andaman Sea, is still swathed in old growth rainforest home to a unique medley of animals and plants – some of which are endangered and found nowhere else on ...
Morgan Erickson-Davis
Forest loss in mountains of Southeast Asia accelerates at ‘shocking’ pace
Southeast Asia is home to roughly half of the world’s tropical mountain forests. These highland ecosystems support massive carbon stores and tremendous biodiversity, including a host of species that occur nowhere else on the planet. But new evidence suggests these havens are in grave danger. ...
Carolyn Cowan
Sweden supports Cambodia towards a circular economy
On 28 June, the Cambodian National Council for Sustainable Development of the Ministry of Environment launched the implementation of the National Strategic Plan and Action Plan for a circular economy with financial support from Sweden, Japan, and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The strategy includes ...
Mette Larsen
Japan Shifts Toward Clean Energy in Southeast Asia as China Stokes up Coal
Japan has launched a $10 billion fund to promote clean energy in Southeast Asia, amid growing signs that the world’s third-largest economy is shifting away from the investments in coal-fired power generation still heavily promoted by its key strategic rival for regional influence – China. The Asia ...
COVID-19 Cases Surge in Southeast Asian Countries, as Officials Call for Renewed Attention to Prevention
With COVID-19 infections and deaths rising in Myanmar and its neighbors, deposed national leader Aung San Suu Kyi has called on citizens in the military-ruled country to strictly observe all precautions aimed at preventing the pandemic’s spread, her lawyers said on Monday. Following a court hearing ...
Reported by RFA’s Myanmar, Lao, Vietnamese, and Khmer Services. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane, Max Avary, Viet Ha, and Sok Ry Sum. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Luang Prabang Dam a threat to World Heritage?
The Lao government is intent on building a dam on the Mekong just upstream of the country’s old royal capital. Despite the project having undergone design work, environmental impact assessment and a prior consultation process managed by the Mekong River Commission (MRC), no impact assessment ...
PHILIP HIRSCH
