Laos is an example of the challenges that many developing nations face in balancing the need for growth and poverty reduction against a seemingly inexorable rise in inequality.
Category: Region
Selected environmental stories from media outlets in the Mekong region and beyond.
A Damaged Delta
Vietnam’s Mekong Delta is one of the world’s most at-risk areas from the effects of climate change, posing challenges both for its environment and population in years to come. Photos credit: Luke Duggleby
Community-based tourism and new livelihoods in Vietnam
Despite knowing the damage she was causing, Nguyen Thi Vang still walks through the coral reef in the Tam Hai sea to collect seaweed for her daily meals. “When I walk, I heard its broken sound and I feel painful,” said Nguyen.
Divers volunteer as ‘gardeners’ to restore dying corals in Thailand
Some conservationists, however, have now come to see tourism – and diving in particular – as the solution to the global coral-reef decline.
ToR for slate of transport projects set for fast track
With poll countdowns starting, the government has vowed to rev up planned infrastructure projects worth 300-400 billion baht within four months.
Chinese investors shift agriculture practices in North
Over the past two years, Chinese investors appear to have invaded provinces in the North, such as Chiang Rai and Phayao, to grow Cavendish bananas after the practice was banned in Laos.
Chinese gambling boom looms over Cambodia’s Kampot
Kampot is one of Cambodia’s cultural jewels, but as George Styllis writes, a flood of Chinese gambling money is making residents of this small sleepy town nervous.
Vietnam sees high-speed train flying high
he trans-Vietnam high-speed rail is back on the agenda, with officials saying it can compete with aeroplanes for business.
CLV leaders vow to speed up Triangle Area development
The three leaders will seek a budget package to develop the Triangle Area, mainly to improve the living standard of people in that area.
Myanmar signs $80m-loan agreement with ADB for GMS Corridor Towns Development Project
With aim to ensure urban development and developing infrastructures in Mawlamyine in Mon State and Hpa-an and Myawady in Kayin State.