Environment and land

The Mekong – Lancang Business Forum 2019, themed “Promoting Agribusiness and Investment in Processed Food Sector”, took place in Ho Chi Minh City on November 7. The event was co-organised by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Thai Ministry of Commerce and the Mekong Institute. Speaking ...

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said “there is no scientific basis” to the recent prediction that the Mekong Delta will be submerged in 30-50 years. The PM said Friday that a paper warning the Mekong Delta could be submerged underwater by 2050 lacks scientific backing. While admitting ...

Typically this time of the year in the Mekong Basin, the annual monsoon is beginning to taper off, the mighty river’s banks are spilling over and saturating the flood plain in Cambodia and Vietnam and the river is moving millions of tonnes of sediment alongside ...

In the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, where the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers meet, workers are putting the final touches on the grandstand for Bon Om Touk, the annual water festival which begins this weekend. It’s a huge party—the country pretty much shuts down for ...

For more than two decades, communities in Southeast Asia have been facing threats from the expansion of hydropower development. Dams have been justified by the governments of Southeast Asian countries as the main development agenda, which would generate large amounts of income and contribute to ...

On October 29, Laos unveiled a new dam in the country’s north. The 1.3-gigawatt Xayaburi dam sits on the Mekong River, which flows the length of the country. Laos plans to build nearly a hundred like it by 2020—many with direct funding and support from ...

HO CHI MINH CITY – It’s not quite the first thing on everyone’s minds in the booming financial center of Vietnam, but everyone kind of knows it might happen: Global sea levels pushed up by climate change threatens to flood the city by the year ...

A new Luang Prabang Film Festival initiative has asked five Southeast Asian directors to focus on the vital river’s future. Five Southeast Asian directors will present their visions — and fears — for the future of the Mekong river, one of Asia’s most vital waterways, through ...

The Mekong River Commission Tuesday acknowledged that climate change played a role in this year’s widely varying water levels on the Mekong, but said that dam construction was the main culprit in sharp water level increases and decreases, emphasizing a need for data-sharing between countries. The ...

Businesses from China, Thailand, Korea and Japan, including those from the power and logistics sectors, have said they are keen to invest in the Dawei Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Tanintharyi, which is near the Thai border. Investor interest in Dawei, which has yet to be ...