Environment and land
Cambodia’s sanctuaries under threat
Cambodia’s Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary is symbolic of the country’s poor forestry management. Around 2,000 square kilometres (sq km) – around three times the size of Singapore – is lost to illegal logging in Cambodia every year where wildlife sanctuaries – despite their name – ...
Jason Thomas
Dolphin species thought extinct in Vietnam caught in Mekong Delta
An Irrawaddy dolphin, not seen in decades in Vietnam, was caught by a fisherman in the southern province of Ben Tre on Wednesday. Phan Van Thai, 49, and his wife were fishing on the Co Chien River in Cho Lach District when they heard a loud ...
Phan Anh, Hoang Nam, Cuu Long
Activist ‘victim’ of NCPO’s forest policy
Nittaya vows to keep fighting for land rights as Court slaps her with four months in jail, Bt40,000 in fines. THE APPEALS Court yesterday upheld a guilty verdict and jail term against a land-rights activist over forest encroachment. But in the eyes of many, Nittaya ...
Chularat Saengpassa
Bangkok is sinking fast
For the more or less 10 million people living in Thailand’s capital city of Bangkok, flooding is a common and recurring phenomenon. This is partly due to the city’s geographic location at the southern end of the Chao Phraya River Basin, as well as its ...
Jason Thomas
Study examines forest loss in Mekong region
Dramatic forest degradation and loss in the Greater Mekong region have both their causes and potential solutions rooted in forest governance, according to a recent publication by researchers from the Center for People and Forests (RECOFTC), the University of British Columbia, and WWF. (The full ...
Karen Mo
A clean-up campaign for Yangon’s air pollution
THE SHWEDAGON Pagoda was our first stop on a mission to gather data on air quality in various locations across Yangon, which began one Sunday morning in late March. The air quality in the commercial capital seemed to have deteriorated throughout the hot season, and we ...
Zaw Win Htet and Eaint Thet Su
Sugar mill polluter in chief of Mekong Delta river
Authorities in Hau Giang Province have identified a sugar mill as the culprit responsible for polluting a river so badly that its waters turned black. Preliminary inspection results show that the sugar mill of Long My Phat Sugarcane, Sugar and Ethanol Joint Stock Company constantly discharges a ...
Cuu Long
Victims pray for 500 homes seized and demolished in Ho Chi Minh City
The victims of land seizures in the Lộc Hưng Garden (Vườn Rau Lộc Hưng) area have been meeting every night since the start of the Marian month to recite the rosary and ask for the Virgin’s solace. Between 4 January and 11 May, the authorities in Ward 6 ...
Minh Trang
Can community research help address the Mekong water crisis?
The transboundary water crisis in the Lower Mekong Basin has been lingering for almost two decades without any certainty that it will be resolved soon. There have been many attempts at tackling this issue, including forming a regional governance body to facilitate policymaking conversations. However, ...
Teerapong Pomun and Naimah Talib
Mekong farmers make organic switch to improve business
More and more farmers and entrepreneurs in the Mekong Delta are realising that new organic farming models help increase their income. Since the 2017–18 winter-spring crop, the My Dong Agricultural Coop No2 (in Dong Thap province’s Thap Muoi district) has been collaborating with Rynan Smart Fertilisers ...