The ASEAN Post
Protecting our food by protecting our farmers
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projected that global warming is likely to reach 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2030. This is projected to bring about changes in the climate and natural systems, including changes in the frequency and intensity of weather ...
What’s at stake for the Mekong’s fishery
Originating in the Tibetan highlands and running through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Vietnam, the Mekong and its tributaries provide water, food and income for 60 million people. The longest river in Southeast Asia is home to the world’s largest inland fishery. It ...
ASEAN’s shifting attitudes towards LGBT rights
Last year, Taiwan’s apex court ruled that the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman under Taiwan’s civil law is against their constitution, which effectively means that Taiwan is the first country in Asia to legalise gay marriage. This year, ...
Is ASEAN close to abolishing the death penalty?
At a glance, many countries have effectively stopped practicing the death penalty despite it not being officially abolished. For example, although it is facing mounting criticisms over other human rights abuses such as the treatment of the Rohingya, Myanmar is considered “abolitionist de facto” – ...
Belt and Road buckles under own weight
Strategists in the West fear that China’s Belt and Road initiative (BRI) is a vast, well-laid and finely orchestrated plan to extend Chinese hegemony over much of the developing world. They should be afraid of something else: It’s nothing of the sort. Keep reading ...
A blockchain boost for the airline industry
Blockchain refers to a shared, public ledger of records or transactions that is open to inspection by every participant while not being subject to any form of central control. It is these very capabilities that align particularly well with the characteristics of the airline industry, according ...
Vietnam goes solar
With electricity demand in Vietnam growing 12 percent annually, the Vietnamese government has set a goal to generate 265 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity by 2020 and 570 billion kWh of electricity by 2030. This is to meet the surging demand for power resulting from ...
Lao dam failure creates hydroelectric woes
Hundreds still remain unaccounted for in the thick mud and flood waters of Attapeu and Champasak, two provinces in southern Lao PDR where the failure of an auxiliary dam sent a torrent of water gushing down on 13 villages downstream. Keep reading ...
Lao's controversial hydro ambitions
Mountainous and landlocked Lao PDR, known as the “Battery of Asia”, is building dozens of dams at breakneck speed so it can sell energy to power-hungry neighbours as a fast track out of poverty. But the communist country’s ambitious power plans are highly controversial. Keep reading ...
Trade war: Will ASEAN be next?
The United States (US) is not stopping with China; it has threatened or engaged in trade wars with Canada, Mexico and the European Union (EU). Could ASEAN member states also be on US President Donald Trump’s list of targets? Keep reading ...
