The nearly-finished railway project that would connect landlocked Laos with China is facing construction delays due to manpower shortages resulting from the coronavirus crisis.
Category: Region
Selected environmental stories from media outlets in the Mekong region and beyond.
Saline intrusion in Mekong Delta likely to linger on
Saline intrusion in the Mekong Delta will likely remain at a high level until the end of April or early May.
LOCAL GOV’T LACKS MEANS TO TACKLE WILDFIRES RAGING IN NORTH, NGOS SAY
Local authorities are too underfunded and uncoordinated to deal with a massive outbreak of wildfires in the northern provinces of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, which already claimed the lives of five firefighters.
Yuam River dam diverts more than just flow
Close-knit Karen communities are now under threat, as Thailand’s US$2.2 billion plan to divert some 1.8 billion cubic metres of water annually from the Chao Phraya River to the Bhumibol Dam gets underway.
Cambodia accelerates fight against single-use plastics
Four months ago Cambodia unveiled plans to ban single-use plastics. Could it work? Five years ago a decree to penalize people for not managing urban garbage and solid waste has largely been ignored.
Myanmar shorebirds get four-fold expansion in protected wetland
The extension of the Gulf of Mottama Ramsar site is a major step forward in wetland conservation in Myanmar and Southeast Asia as a whole at It protects a vast area of coastline from harmful development.
Myanmar to face power shortages as emergency plants miss deadlines
Several VPower-backed power plants designed to reduce Myanmar’s power blackouts this summer have missed the government’s deadline, implying that the country is still short of 1070MW of energy than originally planned.