Industrial maize farming in Myanmar’s Shan State is devastating families and landscapes as well as fuelling ever-increasing levels of transboundary haze, generating urgent calls for serious changes to animal feed supply chains.
Posted inStory / Thailand
Forest evades WHC ‘in danger’ status
Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex has been spared from being put on the World Heritage in danger list. However, the World Heritage Committee (WHC) has asked Thailand to comply with recommendations made by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) at its July 23 meeting and refrain from building new dams in the forest complex.
Posted inStory / Laos
In Laos, a Dubious Dam Threatens Luang Prabang
A hydroelectric project could force UNESCO to delist the spectacular World Heritage Site.
Posted inStory / Story
Hyundai E&C to continue coal power project in Vietnam despite criticism
Seoul-based not-for-profit organization Solutions for Our Climate said the failure to scrap what was proclaimed to be Hyundai E&C’s final coal project “directly contradicts the company’s own ESG vision” and neutralizes the impact of Seoul’s pledge to end public overseas coal power financing in line with its carbon neutrality initiative.
Posted inStory / Thailand
Thailand launches wildlife campaign against ivory and tiger products
The wildlife trade monitoring network (TRAFFIC), Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation and the United Nations Development Program have jointly launched the ‘Mercy is Power’ campaign to fight the buying and owning of ivory and tiger amulets, ahead of World Tiger Day on 29 July 2021.
Posted inStory / Laos
New road and railway will draw more mainstream visitors, but will adventure seekers be put off?
Laos has always drawn seekers after rugged adventure, but new rail and road links will open the country up to mainstream visitors and, some hope, high-end ones In particular, more will come from China, and that could change some destinations, an industry insider says, but tourists ‘can still take the older routes’.
Posted inStory / Cambodia
China denies Mekong hacking
The Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh on July 22 firmly denied the accusation that four Chinese hackers from the Ministry of State Security had hacked and stolen Mekong data from a Cambodian ministry.
Posted inStory / Vietnam
Erosion incidents increase in An Giang, families move to safer areas
The Mekong Delta province of An Giang is facing an increase in erosion incidents along rivers and canals as authorities try to protect households living in erosion-prone areas.
Posted inOpinion / Thailand
National park or treasure?
This national park has been marred with notorious reports of conflicts between state park officials who resorted to heavy-handed measures to evict indigenous Karen villagers from the forest where they had settled for more than a century.
Posted inStory / Vietnam
A glimpse into Vietnam’s coconut kingdom
The Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre is well known as Vietnam’s coconut capital, where local farmers have been subsisting on coconut groves for generations.
Posted inStory / Myanmar
Myanmar junta implementing China’s BRI projects by stealth
Amid political upheaval, the COVID-19 crisis and ongoing fighting between the military and civilian resistance fighters and ethnic armed groups, the junta is quietly attempting to pave the way for the implementation in Myanmar of China’s strategic infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).