Environment and land
Southerners have new jobs thanks to rising levels of seawater

Sea water rise and saline intrusion have damaged crops this year, but they have offered opportunities for farmers to breed shrimp on rice fields. According to the Ca Mau provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, at first, when farmers began trying to breed shrimp, the ...
Outlook bright for Thai products in CLMV markets
Thai products enjoy competitive advantages and high opportunities in CLMV markets owing to consumer trust in good image and high quality. The rapidly growing consumer markets of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam – or CLMV – are becoming important places for exporters to pilot products ...
Poor local showing at Phnom Penh’s agro fair
Cambodia’s biggest agriculture industry event of the year received a cool response on its first day as turnout from local agro-businesses was low and overseas suppliers struggled to find potential buyers for the latest agricultural products. The Agriculture, Livestock and Aqua-fisheries Exposition was held at Phnom ...
Mesco closes in on gold licence

After an unexpectedly lengthy review, the Ministry of Environment has approved the environmental and social impact study of Indian mining firm Mesco Gold, clearing the last major hurdle for the company to receive a licence to operate the Kingdom’s first royalty-generating mine. “The Ministry of Environment ...
$120-million plant faces closure after mass fish deaths in Vietnam
The plant will only return to operations when environmental issues have been resolved. A soda ash manufacturer in the central province of Quang Nam has been reportedly killing fish for a year, and air and noise pollution caused by the plant has affected more than 400 ...
Monster sugar mill eats through sugarcane supply

Just three months since starting production, Cambodia’s largest sugar mill is sitting idle due to a shortage of its primary input sugarcane, a provincial Agriculture Ministry official said on August 7. Poeung Trida, director of the Preah Vihear Agricultural Department, said Rui Feng (Cambodia) International Company’s ...
Certification ‘key’ to better forest management
Laos and Indonesia’s keen efforts to certify their logging industries have paved the way for access to wider markets, better timber prices, and less deforestation and illegal logging. Six timber-processing businesses in Laos have been certified and five million hectares of plantation forest has been certified ...
Miles to go

Though foreign investment is soaring and GDP is expected to grow by at least 8% this year and next, both are from a tiny base. Before the army seized power, Myanmar had been one of the world’s leading rice exporters and one of Asia’s wealthiest ...
Laos, ASEAN take stocks to pursue goals on forest protection
Laos and other ASEAN member countries are pursuing efforts to meet common goals and address problems related to deforestation as well as promoting sustainable forest management. In his opening remarks at the 19th ASEAN Senior Officials on Forestry on August 4, Deputy Minister of Agriculture ...
Mining companies must repair environmental damage: official Print
More than 1000 jade mining companies will be forced by law to clean up their sites in Hpakant and Lone Khin mining areas in Kachin State once their permits have expired, the government says. U Win Htein, director general of the Department of Mines, under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, told The ...