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VN green energy gets strong tail wind

Việt Nam is hoping to boost its renewable energy production, especially wind and solar energy, to more than 10.7 per cent of total generation by 2030, up from the previously planned 6 per cent.

It plans to increase the rate to at least 7 per cent by 2020, up from the previous target of 4.5 per cent.

The country now relies heavily on electricity from coal and hydropower.

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Myanmar director takes his film to Luang Prabang

The film is a powerful indictment of the country’s rogue crime and drug-infested jade mines, though at its core it is a human story of brothers reuniting and reconnecting, of attempting to define the inexplicable. Shot is Mandalay and Hpakant, Kachin State’s “city of jade”, the movie took two years to complete. Production was steeped in technical and cultural challenges, says Midi Z. The harsh physical environment, as well as cultural factors made production particularly difficult.

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The forest comes back, and so does the Central Highlands culture

Recently, the Central Highlands has been planned as the location for the largest hydroelectric center in the whole country. Along the major river systems of five regional provinces there are 11 large-scale hydropower plantsin operation, as well as 360 small and medium hydropower plants that have been planned and built. However, due to the impacts on the environment, local economy and society, some projects were suspended.

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The risks of diverting water

Thuong Kon Tum dam, which is built in the Dak Snghe River watershed, is one of the biggest hydropower projects in the basin of the Se San river. The effect of the dam is still questionable but it raises concerns about environmental impacts as the project will take more than 382ha of watershed protection forests in Kon Tum province and divert water into the Tra Khuc river in Quang Ngai province.

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Damming the Salween: what next for Southeast Asia’s last great free-flowing river?

It’s difficult to encapsulate, as an outsider, how significant the Salween is in the hearts, minds and identities of the ethnic communities who live in its watershed. “From the Land of Green Ghosts,” Pascal Khoo Htwe’s autobiographical account of life in conflict-ridden eastern Myanmar is flecked through with references to the “legendary River Salween,” the river he refers to as “an old friend or a lover.” Meeting with Salween riverine communities in Myanmar today, Pascal Khoo Htwe’s depiction of his relationship with the river burns strong – they still talk about it all the time.

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Sweden Pledges $5.3M to Mekong River Body

As bitter protests continue over ongoing Mekong River dam projects, Sweden has pledged $5.3 million to a controversial multinational body monitoring development in the basin.

The funding—to be disbursed over the next four years—will promote sustainable hydropower in the Mekong River basin, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) said in a press release.

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Darkness along the banks of “The river of light”

Hydropower development is always a trade-off between economic benefits and environmental issues. Human-beings’ intrusive intervention has been turning many rivers into dead flows. The fate of the 3S basin – the name of three rivers Sesan, Sekong and Srepok which run through the territories of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia before joining the Great Mekong – are drastically threatened by hydropower dams.

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Multi-Stakeholder Dialogues Matter

Extractives Industry (EI) activities in the Mekong Region have been controversial, causing environmental impacts and con icts between the private sector and affected communities. Although the mining and extractives sector in Cambodia is still relatively small, in recent years there have been a large number of exploration licenses granted to both local and international companies. Cambodia is on the verge of a major expansion of its EI. However, the legal framework governing mining in Cambodia is still undeveloped and concerns have been raised by communities that there is a lack of transparency in the licensing and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) processes.