After years of hydropower supercharging Laos’ successful ambition to become the key power exporter in the region, Laos’ energy export market has taken a surprising turn … towards coal. According to most international analysis from Carbon Tracker to Bloomberg, carbon is dying. Yet in Laos, energy carbon production went from zero to half of all […]
Category: Eye Original
Battling the Haze: Fighting against a pandemic, pollution, and inequality.
Every morning Pu wakes up to the loud sounds of the city. Putting on her orange vest, she revves her motorbike and rides out to begin a long day of carrying passengers to their destinations with speed. She has become one with the motion of the Thai metropolis. But the city’s toxic air has not been […]
Mekong fishermen struggle to survive
As dawn breaks on the serene lake of Bình Thiên in An Giang Province, fisherman Đặng Hữu Đức instructs his 17-year-old son to cast a net into the clear water of the largest freshwater lake in Việt Nam’s Mekong Delta. To his son’s disappointment, when the net is hauled back it doesn’t contain many fish, unlike during Đức’s […]
Cambodia’s Mismatch of Solar Potential and Energy Harvesting
KAMPONG CHHNANG, CAMBODIA — Lorn Chanlita, 23, had long wished to run her own business of selling sugar cane juice to support her family. But her dream only became reality after her village was electrified by solar power early this year. Before solar, Chanlita used a generator to power light bulbs, fans, a TV and […]
Cambodia’s Fish Catch Numbers Don’t Add Up for Fishers
BATTAMBANG, CAMBODIA — When Puth Thavy was 20, the fisherman and his siblings used to come back to their village each day with three boatloads full of fish, or about 200 kilograms. Today they can barely fill a single boat. “Our fishing is so bad, I think it has decreased more than half,” said Thavy, […]
Struggling with mosquitoes (2): the future of dengue control
In Thailand, efforts to control Aedes mosquitoes and dengue fever have produced uneven results. Over the past few decades, the toll of the disease has diminished in some areas. In others, mosquito-borne infections remain high. To improve the situation, control measures are being reconsidered. Statistics indicate that the number of dengue cases each year ranges from […]
Struggling with mosquitoes (1): The past and present of dengue control in Thailand
Climate change is one of the factors contributing to the spread of Aedes mosquitoes and hastening the spread of the dengue virus.
Mekong Delta disappears under its residents’ feet
It took thousands of years for the Mekong Delta to come into existence. It might take humans just a few more decades to undo it.
What does the data tell us about electricity pricing in Laos?
Through a variety of data sources an evidence-based picture of electricity pricing and the electricity-generation business in Laos is revealed.
Kampong Speu: Palm sugar and a Cambodian tradition
Palm sugar has a strong bond with Cambodia and is the livelihood of farmers in Kampong Speu while showing its economic potential in the international market. Despite this significance, the issues of labor shortages and land development could lead to its disappearance.