Environment and land
Mekong dams 'a grave threat to river'
Experts are warning that the Lower Mekong Basin may soon face depleting fish stocks, further erosion of the coastline and rising salinity that will make rice fields uncultivable. The facts are stronger than ever,” said Marc Goichot, an expert on sustainable hydropower and river basin management, ...
Rice market gains momentum
The rice market is expected to continue gaining ground in export, as the Philippines plans to import a million tonnes in early 2016. The announcement comes on the back of winning previous bids to sell 450,000 tonnes of rice to the Philippines and a million ...
Japanese defense chief to visit Vietnam this week: report
Gen Nakatani, head of the Japan Defense Agency, will visit Vietnam from November 5-7 at the invitation of Minister of National Defense Phung Quang Thanh, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported. His Vietnam visit would follow the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) Plus, to be held from ...
ASEAN seeking solution to post-war unexploded bombs
An expert working group’s third conference on humanitarian mine action within the framework of the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM+) was held in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on 29 October. The event, organised by the Institute for International Relations under the Vietnamese Ministry ...
Illegal fishing busts up 150%: ministry
Cambodia’s fishing crime busts rose 150 per cent during the first nine months of 2015, compared with the same period last year, while anti-forestry crime actions dropped 13 per cent. Keep reading ...
Ratanakkiri official defends disputed land
A Ministry of Interior immigration official at the centre of a long-running land dispute in a gem mining district of Ratanakkiri spoke out for the first time on 29 October, just days after 200 villagers protested what they termed their illegal eviction. The villagers from Bakeo ...
Difficult rainy season ends
As a fickle rainy season that has seen areas of Cambodia plagued by drought draws to a close, the country’s rice production remains nearly on target, though food insecurity is still a problem for individual communities, according to the World Food Programme. The season’s slow start affected 234,695 ...
Lao forestry officials dismiss WWF report about illegal logging
Lao forestry officials dismissed a recent WWF report which exaggerated the scenario of illegal logging in Laos, a senior official in charge at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has confirmed. Deputy Director General of the Department of Forest Inspection under the Ministry of Agriculture and ...
From bombs to bracelets, this jewelry line is clearing land mines
“After the war, we live afraid of unexploded bombs, and we’re very careful when we go and do anything,” says Somechit Phouangsavat, an artisan from Ban Naphia, also known as War Spoon Village, in Laos. The 32-year-old works alongside 30 other artisans at Article 22, a company ...
Lat Krabang locals suffer canal stench
Desperate residents along Khlong Prawet Burirom have threatened to take their grievance over a severely polluted canal to the highest levels of government. Suchin Kummanee, head of the Sangkharacha community in Lat Krabang district along Khlong Prawet Burirom said almost 20,000 residents in 20 communities ...
