Latest reports say the country’s plastic waste is now sitting at around 6,500 tonnes a day. To put that in context, it was 1,500 tonnes a day prior to the virus outbreak.
Category: Region
Selected environmental stories from media outlets in the Mekong region and beyond.
China’s weaponisation of water
Since the conquest of Tibet, which has the largest headwaters of major rivers flowing through South and South East Asia, China has unabashedly used water as a weapon, a geo-political tool for coercive diplomacy.
Survivors of PNPC Dam Collapse in Laos Flee Deteriorating Relocation Centers
Nearly two years after the worst dam collapse in Laos in decades, thousands of survivors have fled from temporary relocation centers as conditions in the centers go from bad to worse,
Suffering drought and salinity, Mekong Delta province desperate for freshwater lake
So far this year, drought and salt intrusion has damaged 43,000 hectares of rice fields and caused 80,000 families to lack water.
Us’ vs ‘them’: The politics dictating the rise and fall of the Mekong
Dams, economic interests and political power are just some of the factors contributing to the over-exploitation of the mighty Mekong. Can any of the competing transnational bodies halt the river’s decline?
The fate of Tonle Sap Lake is decided upriver
Even if natural flow conditions for the Mekong could be properly simulated, it wouldn’t address the loss of sediment and changes to fish migration patterns that are crucial to the ecology of places like Tonle Sap Lake.
Dugongs delight in tourist-free seas
The latest survey found the dugong population rose in Trang and formed the biggest school of dugongs in the country, comprising 185 out of a nationwide population of 261.
Southeast Asia’s hydropower boom grinds to a halt as COVID-19 stalls projects
The government of Laos has already ordered a temporary halt to all hydropower construction in the country, after a mining company worker tested positive for the virus.