News

Myanmar’s military regime will hold further timber auctions on June 23 and 24 as it seeks to raise hard currency to fund its coup. Myanma Timber Enterprise (MTE), the state-run entity which controls Myanmar’s timber sales, held three separate auctions in late May in which nearly ...

As dam-building projects continue to proliferate along Southeast Asia’s vital Mekong River, experts in a recent online discussion panel agreed that the area is fast becoming overloaded with them, dredging up far-reaching issues ranging from international friction and industry “water grabs” to widespread ecological disasters ...

The ongoing Covid-19 lockdown in Laos has been extended till June 19, according to a notice issued by the Prime Minister’s Office on Friday. The notice outlines a gradual loosening of lockdown measures, with certain strict measures to remain in place. Travel within localities that have not ...

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport has transformed the Hands of Hope Community – an NGO-run autism school in Takhmo commune’s Prek Samrong village in Kandal province’s Takhmao town – into a public high school for the academic year 2020-2021 onwards. According to the ministry’s ...

Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh joined students at the Faculty of Architecture, Lao National University, to plant 90 rosewood trees to mark National Arbour Day on June 1. This is a part of the government’s plans to plant 35 million trees over 36,950 hectares this year and ...

Cambodia has millions of sugar palms dotting the countryside and the multi-purpose tree is a national icon. Another lesser-known type of palm tree – the talipot palm – is not as common in Cambodia and has had less obvious uses traditionally for agriculture or industry. Now, ...

Cambodia’s government has granted permission for a new special economic zone (SEZ) and coal-fired power plant within the lush Botum Sakor National Park in coastal Koh Kong province. The SEZ would create another loosely regulated industrial area within a biodiverse primary forest. Late last year, Koh ...

A new study by TRAFFIC, a group that monitors the illegal trade in wildlife, has found thousands of animal parts and products – from pangolin scales to ivory and bear bile – for sale in five countries in mainland Southeast Asia, underlining the region’s struggle ...

An illegal company that was not identified was stopped by authorities from filling in a protected flooded forest area in Banteay Meanchey province. Some villagers in Preah Netr Preah district’s Rohal commune said that in less than one year, 300 hectares were cleared and filled and ...

To the untrained eye discerning between evergreen and deciduous tree mosaics of the Andaman archipelago can be tough in the wet season but the patches clearly stand out in the dry season in the volcanic ridge-arc islands. In the dry season between January and April, ...