Radio Free Asia
Vietnamese Environmental Activist Gets 6 Years for Facebook Posts
A detained Vietnamese shrimp farmer and environmental activist was sentenced to six years in prison and five years’ probation Wednesday for writing politically charged posts on Facebook. Nguyen Ngoc Anh had been arrested on August 30, 2018 in Ben Tre province on charges of making, storing, ...
EU Kicks Off Fact-Finding Mission to Determine Cambodia’s Eligibility For Preferential Trade Status
The European Union kicked off a five-day fact-finding mission in Cambodia on Monday to determine whether it should continue to benefit from a tax-free EU trade scheme, based on the state of human rights and democracy in the Southeast Asian nation. In February, the EU announced ...
Lao Authorities Allow Chinese Firm to Plant on Land Promised to Dam Collapse Survivors
A Chinese-backed firm is growing bananas on land promised by the government of Laos as compensation to survivors of a 2018 dam collapse that that has been described as the country’s worst flooding in decades, RFA’s Lao Service has learned. The disaster occurred last July, when ...
Timber Company in Cambodia Continues to Collect Wood From Protected Forest Areas
A timber company in Cambodia is ignoring environmental protection laws by transporting felled trees by night from protected forests in the country, activists said on Monday. The Oeun Sovann Company, operating out of Kampong Thom province, has not been punished or stopped from ignoring conservation laws, ...
Interview: China’s Mekong Dam-building Mindset ‘Exported Downstream’ to Cambodia and Laos
The Mekong River extends for thousands of miles through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, supporting more than 65 million people who depend on it for food, transportation, and commerce. But development, mostly led by China, threatens to upset the delicate balance between local ...
Cambodia’s Dam Troubles, Power Woes Seen as Arguments For More Solar Energy Use
When the lights literally went out in many parts of Cambodia in February and stayed off in some areas during the following months, people immediately pointed their fingers at Prime Minister Hun Sen. They accused the mercurial autocrat who has ruled the country for more than ...
Lao Villagers Refuse to Yield Land for SEZ, Now Contend With Access Road
At least 140 families from eight villages in the Khong district of southwestern Laos’ Champasak province are refusing to sell their land or relocate to make way for a special economic zone planned for their area. Despite this, developers have begun the hasty construction of an ...
Lao Villagers Displaced by Nam Theun 2 Dam Say They Still Need Help
Lao villagers moved by government order from their homes 10 years ago to make way for a showcase hydropower project have new houses, schools, and clinics in their resettlement areas, but are still left without access to fishing areas or adequate land to farm, sources ...
Laos’ Deputy Prime Minister Blames PNPC Dam Collapse on Poor Planning
Laos’ deputy prime minister has identified poor soil analysis for a fatal hydropower dam collapse, often described as the country’s worst flooding in decades. At a concluding environmental sector annual meeting early this month in Vientiane, Deputy Prime Minister Bounthong Chitmany, who also heads the ...
‘Commissions’ Required of Companies Bidding for Building Work in Flood-hit Lao Province
Construction firms bidding for approval to build permanent homes for flood victims in Laos must pay between 10 to 26 percent of the total cost of the project to local authorities if their bids are approved, sources in the country say. Government officials in Attapeu ...
