NASA/ USAID NASA and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Monday launched SERVIR-Mekong, a joint project to strengthen regional environmental monitoring in five countries in the lower Mekong region of Southeast Asia. One of three SERVIR hubs now operating in developing regions of the world, the center is housed at the Asian Disaster Preparedness […]
Category: Region
Selected environmental stories from media outlets in the Mekong region and beyond.
NGOs, Volunteer Groups Take Pollution Fight into their Own Hands
Amid mounting concerns about environmental issues, a growing number of people in China are starting to take the fight against pollution into their own hands. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and volunteer groups focused on environmental protection have been sprouting up around the country over the past few years. Most are engaged in detection efforts and conducting their own research on industrial pollution that is often ignored by the government.
As the need for power surges, are small – or big – dams the answer?
To provide more clean energy, particularly in fast-growing Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the world needs more hydropower dams, energy experts say.
But a surge in building of big dams is also leading to poor people being displaced and losing rights to water – something that needs to be addressed if more dam projects go ahead, community leaders and researchers say.
Da Nang looks for more Japanese investment
VNS Viet Nam has become the second biggest destination for Japanese investors in ASEAN – after Thailand – with 1,463 members in the Federation of Japanese Chambers of Commerce and Industry in ASEAN (FJCCIA). A Tokai Viet Nam worker tests products at factory in Da Nang’s Hoa Khanh Industrial Zone. The company invested US$10 million […]
Rights Groups, Wife of Missing Lao Activist Renew Calls for Progress in Case
Somnet Inthapannha Human rights groups and the wife of a prominent civil rights leader who disappeared nearly three years ago have called on the Lao government to adequately investigate the incident and provide information about the case’s progress. Sombath Somphone went missing on Dec. 15, 2012, when police stopped him in his vehicle at a […]
New bridge opens to traffic in southern Vietnam, reshapes regional transport route
Toui Tre News The Ministry of Transport on Saturday opened the My Loi Bridge in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang in an effort to reshape the transport route in the southern region and cut the time to travel from the province’s Go Cong Town to neighboring Long An Province and Ho Chi Minh […]
Vietnam focuses on coastal eco-system, mangrove forest protection
The safeguard of coastal eco-system and mangrove forest in the Mekong Delta region will be given a push as phase two of the Integrated Coastal Management Programme (ICMP) recently kicked off in An Giang province.
Thai military forbids youth camp in Loei ore mine area
The Thai military in Isan, Thailand Northeast, prevented an environmental youth camp in an area with an ongoing mine conflict in Loei Province from taking place, saying that the event might affect national security.
Thailand’s power dilemma amid a climate of fear
In its push for coal-fired mega-projects, the Thai government risks turning its back on sufficiency-economy thinking and the need for ‘clean’ energy.
Police prevent villagers from showing documentary on controversial oil concessions
The police have prevented a local conservation group from showing a documentary film on controversial petroleum concessions in the region, saying it might breach the Copyright Act.