News

Citizen scientists tackle Mekong environmental challenges

The Greater Mekong, a transnational region in Southeast Asia, spans six countries: China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. The region is home to more than 325 million people and, while it has survived the trauma of wars, it now faces mounting environmental threats from ...

JAMES BORTON And TANAPON PHENRAT

Laos to sell Vietnam its wind power with help from Mitsubishi

The facility will have power generation capacity of 600 megawatts, making it one of the largest onshore wind farms in Southeast Asia, reported Nikkei Asia. It is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars. A Mitsubishi subsidiary will take a 20% stake in a joint ...

Vietnam introduces nationwide code of conduct for social media

Vietnam introduced national guidelines on social media behaviour on Friday which encourage people to post positive content about the Southeast Asian country and require state employees to report “conflicting information” to their superiors. The code prohibits posts which violate the law and “affect the interests of ...

Phuong Nguyen, James Pearson

Mekong river rising steadily

The level of the Mekong river is rising steadily in this northeastern province, between 30 centimetres and one metre per day, following heavy rain during the past week. On Wednesday morning, the river was 6m deep and about 6m below the spill-over point. After an inspection on ...

PATTANAPONG SRIPIACHAI

Cleaning up our act

For Southeast Asian countries, the meaning of regional connectivity and integration goes beyond their vision of development and economic progress. Interconnectedness also applies when discussing disasters and environmental degradation. One example is transboundary haze, the top-of-mind term for the raging forest fires on Sumatra or Kalimantan ...

ISMIRA LUTFIA TISNADIBRATA

Interview: Pou Sothirak on protecting the Mekong and powering Cambodia

Previously secretary of state at the Foreign Affairs Ministry for the Cambodian government, Pou Sothirak is executive director of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace. He is a tireless campaigner for the ecology and communities of the Lower Mekong and particularly Tonle Sap, Southeast ...

Tyler Roney

Irrigation dams threaten Thailand’s tiger forests, say conservationists

A plan to construct seven dams in one of mainland Southeast Asia’s last intact forest systems could cause widespread habitat loss and sever important wildlife corridors, activists warn. The Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai (DPKY) Forest Complex is a vast and biodiverse region that spans six provinces in ...

Carolyn Cowan

Justice Delayed For Jailed Activists, RFA Journalists in Cambodia

Family members and colleagues of detained labor and border activist Rong Chhun and youth activist Sar Kanika said they are disappointed that the Phnom Penh Municipal Court denied their bail requests following a hearing on Tuesday. The two activists did not appear at their hearings because ...

RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

Hundreds of Families Forced to Move for Lao Coal Plant Expansion

Authorities in northwestern Laos are forcing hundreds of families to relocate to make way for the expansion of a lignite power plant, setting the stage for a dispute over compensation with residents who say they will be shortchanged by the communist government’s ambitious development plans. A ...

RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

Vietnam takes action to clean out ocean environs

Estimates predict that without prompt government action, between 0.28 and 0.73 million tonnes of plastic will flow into Vietnam’s seas each year, causing tremendous economic, social, and environmental damage. Conscious of this issue, the Vietnamese government passed the Law on Environmental Protection in November 2020 ...

VIR

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