Phys.org
Cambodian leader orders Mekong safe zones to save rare dolphins
Cambodian premier Hun Sen on Monday ordered the creation of conservation zones on the Mekong river to protect critically endangered dolphins, after three were killed by fishing nets and lines last month. The Irrawaddy dolphins, known for their bulging foreheads and short beaks, once swam through ...
AFP
How hydropower dams impact the communities they're built in
Over the last two decades, almost 1,000 hydropower dams have been built around the globe. And while these dams provide many benefits to farmers, wildlife and the climate, the costs of their construction on local communities where they are built has largely been left out ...
Liz Schondelmayer, Michigan State University
The Mekong Delta in Vietnam is sinking. Can sediment save it?
In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, home to about 17 million people, large areas of land have been poldered for the cultivation of crops such as rice and shrimp. At the moment, the delta is on average less than a meter above sea level. But due to ...
Wageningen University
Study uncovers how big droughts in the Greater Mekong trigger carbon dioxide emission bursts
A study on big droughts in the Greater Mekong region revealed findings that can help reduce the carbon footprint of power systems while providing insights into better designed and more sustainable power plants. The study, titled “The Greater Mekong’s climate-water-energy nexus: how ENSO-triggered regional droughts affect ...
Singapore University of Technology and Design
Research has helped underpin the formation of a nature reserve in Vietnam
Research by the University of Leeds and Utrecht University has helped secure the highest government protection for internationally-important Vietnamese forests. Over the past five years, conservation organization Viet Nature, and its partners World Land Trust, IUCN National Committee of the Netherlands (IUCN NL), Birdlife International ...
Maartje Kouwen, Utrecht University
Illegal trade with terrestrial vertebrates in markets and households of Laos
It’s not a surprise to anyone that numerous vertebrate species are being sold at different wildlife markets, but at the moment there is still no comprehensive understanding of how much people are involved in those actions in Laos (Lao PDR), nor what the impact on ...
Pensoft Publishers
New study reveals attitudes towards climate migrants
A new study from an international team of researchers has looked at how residents in Vietnam and Kenya perceive those forced to migrate because of extreme climates. The research team, including Dr. Quynh Nguyen from The Australian National University (ANU) say climate-induced migration is becoming more ...
Jess Fagan, Australian National University
Researchers reconstruct drought variability from teak tree rings in Southern Myanmar
Teak (Tectona grandis) is a tropical, deciduous, broad-leaved tree species indigenous to Southeast Asia. Despite its high dendroclimatological potential, only a few studies have analyzed the relationships between teak ring-width and climate variability in Myanmar. In a study published in Geophysical Research Letters, researchers from Xishuangbanna Tropical ...
Zhang Nannan, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Dams in the upper Mekong River modify nutrient bioavailability downstream
The number of hydropower dams has increased dramatically in the last 100 years for energy supply, climate change mitigation, and economic development. However, recent studies have overwhelmingly stressed the negative consequences of dam construction. Notably, it is commonly assumed that reservoirs retain nutrients, and this ...
Science China Press
NASA space data can cut disaster response times, costs
According to a new study, emergency responders could cut costs and save time by using near-real-time satellite data along with other decision-making tools after a flooding disaster. In the first NASA study to calculate the value of using satellite data in disaster scenarios, researchers at NASA’s Goddard Space ...
Jessica Merzdorf