Training Manual Helps Communities Improve Forest Governance and Livelihoods

The USAID Cambodia Supporting Forests and Biodiversity Project (USAID SFB), implemented by Winrock International improves conservation and governance of the Eastern Plains and Prey Lang Landscapes. To assist forest communities to improve governance and obtain equitable benefits from forest resources, USAID SFB developed this NTFP-Based Livelihoods Enterprise Development and Management Training Manual.

Another victim of illegal logging and forest crime?

The killing in Myanmar of a journalist who covered issues related to illegal logging in the country must be investigated thoroughly and all findings made public.

Soe Moe Tun was based in the Sagaing region, working with Eleven Media News in Myanmar. According to initial reports today (December 13), he was found with extensive head and facial injuries; local police have begun an investigation into his death.

Launch of Open Data Portal Brings Environment and Development Data to Myanmar

USAID-supported Mekong Partnership for the Environment (MPE) partners have launched an innovative data portal in Myanmar. Open Development Myanmar is now available to the public and will aggregate and promote key development and environmental data about Myanmar, especially data with potential regional significance. The platform is the Myanmar sub-site of the major regional open data platform, Open Development Mekong, which gathers and contextualizes objective data on development trends in the Mekong region.

Managing the Mekong’s Economy for Whom?

“Water is liquid capital” proclaims the lead-out of World Wide Fund for Nature’s new report “The Role of the Mekong in the Economy.” Released earlier this month at the 2016 Mekong Forum on Water, Food and Energy, the report’s findings stress that despite the Mekong’s central role to the economies of countries in the Lower Mekong Basin, river management decisions are not being coordinated with long term economic development, nor planning efforts. Unless decision makers start considering the connections between water choices and economic development, the region’s prosperity seems destined for trouble.

Myanmar Rivers Network calls suspensions of mega dam projects including resources

Myanmar Rivers Network has called for the suspension of construction on mega dam projects, a special economic zone and extraction of value-added mineral resources until a federal agreement is signed.

At a press conference at the Orchid Hotel on December 7, the network released a statement saying that the respective governments and companies must give full compensations to villagers who had been moved by force because of previous dam construction projects.

Environmental Protection by the Numbers: Vietnamese Journalists Learn to Use Data to Tell Stories

From 26-28 October 2016 in Hanoi, Vietnam, USAID-supported Mekong Partnership for the Environment (MPE) partners PanNature and Internews’ Earth Journalism Network trained Vietnamese journalists and local NGOs on how to better source, analyze and incorporate environmental data to tell compelling stories. The workshop aimed to build journalists’ skills in using data to understand and describe environmental issues – particularly in stories about the costs and benefits of regional development projects such as dams, mines and power plants.