Environment and land
Indigenous groups, activists risk arrest to blockade logging in Malaysia
In their fight for the rights of peninsular Malaysia’s native people, the Orang Asli, an alliance of women are making waves in the country’s highly conservative society as they support the efforts of communities and activists trying to stop logging of the region’s forests. The ...
Trump failure to lead on climate doesn’t faze UN policymakers in Bonn
Kaisa Kosonen, a political advisor on climate action for Greenpeace in Germany is prepping for the mid-year United Nations climate conference in Bonn, running May 8-18. But she pauses to answer my question. Here’s the set up, I say: Under President Obama, the U.S. played ...
High feed prices cut into animal husbandry’s profits
Input material prices have decreased, but the price of animal feed remains unchanged, and, as a result, breeders have incurred heavy losses as the live pork price has dropped dramatically. Nguyen Thi Dung in Vinh Huu commune of Tien Giang province complained that the live pork ...
Deadlock as PTT hit by big claim over oil spill
Thai firm alleges Indonesia refuses to settle after years of dispute and Bt70 billion suit filed in Court. The Indonesian government and Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production plc are locked in a multi-billion-baht legal dispute over alleged environmental and other damages resulting from the massive 2009 Montara ...
15 mining projects see concessions revoked
Fifteen mining operations have had their concessions revoked after investors failed to implement their projects as agreed after they were granted concessions by the government. Speaking at the ongoing ordinary session of the National Assembly last week, Minister of Energy and Mines Dr Khammany Inthirath ...
Four mining licences put up for bids
The Ministry of Mines and Energy has publicly announced that companies can bid for four mining exploration permits in both Kratie and Kampot provinces, marking the first time since the ministry was formed in 2013 to issue fresh licences for private companies to investigate mineral ...
Logging trucks seized in Ratanakkiri
Authorities intercepted four trucks carrying 81 pieces of illegal luxury timber at a checkpoint in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadav district last Friday, District Military Police Commader Sok Min said on May 7. “The trucks and timber were hidden in the rubber plantation of a company located ...
After 50 years, Asian Development Bank looks ahead
The Asian Development Bank set out its strategy for the next decade during the launch of its 50th annual meeting in Japan over the weekend, while also recognising the challenges that remain for the 300 million people still living in poverty in Asia. Addressing the ...
RSPO freezes palm oil company’s operations in Papua
The world’s biggest sustainable palm oil association has frozen the operations of one of its most prominent members on concessions in Indonesia because of failures to meet its standards on new planting. The Complaints Panel of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil issued a stop-work order ...
Will Vietnam become a scrap steel power?
Vietnamese steel manufacturers are importing more and more scrap steel for domestic production, as this is the easiest and most profitable way to make steel. According to Bui Van Muu from the Metallurgy and Material Technology Faculty of the Hanoi University of Technology, the steel production ...
