Environment and land
China's lack of cooperation causing problems for Vietnam's water resources programming
The lack of cooperation from China and its erratic methods of water storage and discharge has placed Vietnam in a passive mode when using water from the Red River. Tong Ngoc Thanh, director of the National Center for Water Resources Planning and Investigation, said at a ...
Oil firm ready to push ahead with offshore drilling
Singapore-listed oil and gas firm KrisEnergy Ltd is moving closer to finalising its deal with the Cambodian government that will pave the way for extraction from the Block A offshore oil field once negotiations over a technical strategy and fiscal regime have been finalised. Tanya Pang, ...
Drones will prove vital to land and wildlife conservation in Southeast Asia
The Sumatran orangutan is one of the world’s most high-profile critically endangered species. Only 6,000 are left, and the Bornean orangutan doesn’t fare much better. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that no more than 69,000 of the latter remain. Saving these animals from extinction requires innovative solutions from ...
EU asks gov’t to cancel Mondulkiri border crossing plan
The EU has called on the government to kill plans for a controversial border checkpoint in the Mondulkiri Protected Forest that has drawn the ire of conservationists since it was first mooted two years ago. At a meeting with Interior Minister Sar Kheng on August 9, ...
Vietnam dealbook: Malaysia’s Mitra Energy, Thai Union strike M&As
Malaysia’s Southeast Asia-focused oil and gas group Mitra Energy has reached a sales and purchase agreement with Japan’s Teikoku Oil to acquire a 30 per cent interest in Vietnam’s oilfields in the Nam Con Son basin. Meanwhile, Songkla Canning, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Thai Union ...
Many more species at risk from Southeast Asia tree plantations, study finds
As more of Southeast Asia’s forests are cleared for tree plantations, a study finds that 42 percent of mammal, bird and amphibian species endemic to the region’s forests face a higher risk of extinction from habitat loss than previously thought. Many of the species inhabit ...
Vietnam's fast economic growth is quietly slipping, but no one cares
In central Ho Chi Minh City, financial hub of the fast-growing Vietnamese economy, 20-somethings with designer hairdos jump out of polished black sedans to pack the coffeehouses on every block and fill restaurants serving sushi and chicken in passion fruit sauce. It’s odd then that ...
ADB sells $1.3 billion in global green bonds to spur climate financing
The Asian Development Bank has raised $1.3 billion to help finance climate change mitigation and adaptation projects with the issue of dual-tranche 3-year and 10-year green bonds, following its inaugural green bond issue in 2015. Last year, ADB announced that it will double its annual climate ...
Govt seeks contractor to repair environmental impact of jade mining
A tender was put out on 1 August to draw up the Environmental Management Plan to repair damages caused by the jade mining in Lonekhin and Hpakant in Kachin State, Myanmar.Keep reading ...
Offices of Mekong River Commission decamp to Laos
The Mekong River Commission’s secretariat in Phnom Penh – one of two for the group, charged with managing the river’s sustainable development – is being shuttered in favour of a single office in Vientiane, a decision that has provoked widespread concern among current and former ...
