Environment and land
IN FOCUS: Livelihoods, environment on the line as Thailand pushes for new industrial park
The Thai government has thrown its weight behind a large industrial city project in a coastal area in southern Songkhla. But it is opposed by locals who fear a devastating impact on their hometown. CHANA, Thailand: For Khairiyah Rahmanyah, the sea is life. She was born and ...
Pichayada Promchertchoo
Autumn yellow takes possession of central Vietnam's Ru Cha mangrove forest
Two HCMC-based lensmen visited Thua Thien-Hue Province in early September to capture the beauty of Ru Cha mangrove forest turning yellow during the seasonal transition. Lying around 15 km from downtown Hue, Ru Cha is a tiny islet on Tam Giang Lagoon. The islet was formed ...
Huynh Phuong
Salinity intrusion threatens quarter of Mekong Delta orchards
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has warned that nearly a quarter of Mekong Delta orchard area could suffer from saltwater intrusion. The ministry stated Thursday at a conference around 80,550 ha or 23.2 percent of Mekong Delta orchards for the 2020-2021 harvest season would ...
Dang Khoa
Tonle Sap Bottleneck comparison - September 2019 vs 2020
Prior to 2020, the 2019 wet season was one of the driest on record. The annual reversal of the Tonle Sap in Cambodia was severely delayed in 2019 but low rainfall plus upstream dam regulation (mostly from China’s 11 mainstream Mekong dams) have totally erased ...
Brian Eyler
Dams in the upper Mekong river transform nutrient release downstream
Hydropower is the world’s largest source of energy generation. It is commonly assumed that hydropower reservoirs retain nutrients, and this nutrient reduction significantly reduces primary productivity, fishery catches and food security downstream. An international research team, including Prof. Jef Huisman from the University of Amsterdam, ...
Jef Huisman
Two Get Death as Dong Tam Violent Land Dispute Trial Ends in Vietnam
A court in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi on Monday sentenced two defendants to death, also handing down a life sentence and other sentences ranging from six years to 15-months’ probation, in the trial of 29 villagers over a deadly land-rights clash in January at the Dong ...
RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Translated by Huy Le. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Last Group of Families Displaced by Laos’ Nam Theun 1 Dam Accept Compensation
More than a hundred families in central Laos’ Bolikhamxay province who were displaced by the Nam Theun 1 dam have decided to accept compensation, putting an end to a standoff that lasted 17 months, sources in Laos told RFA. Disputes over compensation by displaced villagers have ...
RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Elephant shot dead, head ripped off ‘for ivory’ at Narathiwat national park
Sipo Waterfall National Park officials believe a carcass of a headless elephant that was found in the park in Narathiwat was the ghastly work of ivory traders. On September 14, park officials were notified of the appalling incident by the Ban Chue Ko village headman in ...
Vietnam to invest $1.8bn in Mekong seafood development
The Vietnamese province of Kien Giang intends to invest VND 43 trillion ($1.85 billion) in boosting seafood production in the Mekong Delta region, reports Vietnam Plus, citing the provincial department of agriculture and rural development. It wants to transform inefficient rice fields to the model of rice-shrimp production. Kien ...
Undercurrent News
Covid and the climate crisis in SE Asia
‘A global reset”, “a sick planet”, “health security” are huge, heavy phrases that have been swirling in the global psyche for most of this Covid-19-marked year. They speak of the “must-do-something” type of issues that weigh on the minds of people everywhere, including in Southeast ...
JOHANNA SON