Environment and land
China protests to Myanmar after landmine injures official
China said on 5 January it had lodged a protest with Myanmar after one of its border officials was blown up by a landmine after going to investigate an earlier explosion close to the frontier with the Kokang region of Shan State. A spokesperson for the Chinese ...
Authorities move to clear squatters from town water supply
Pyin Oo Lwin officials are cracking down on forest dwellers squatting near a road construction site alongside the city’s only water supply. The township’s Department of Environmental Conservation and Forestry blamed the squatters around Lake Thit Ta Pin Taung for causing forest degradation by lighting forest ...
Downward spiral persists in exports of Lao coffee amid world price slump
The volume of coffee exports from Laos has decreased continually over the past couple of years due to a slump in coffee prices on the world market. Total coffee exports in 2014 reached 26,000 tonnes at an estimated value of US$60 million (Bt16.6 billion), which fell ...
Thailand plans 2m more tonnes of G-to-G rice sales
The Thai government aims to sell over 2 million tonnes of rice this year on a government-to-government (G-to-G) basis. But it admits a renewed attempt to sell rice to Iran may hit a snag because of escalating political conflict in the Middle East. Chutima Bunyapraphasara, Commerce Ministry permanent ...
Devastated farmers blame polluting factories for tons of dead fish on southern river
Officials are still awaiting test results but fish farmers believe that untreated waste discharged by factories along the Dong Nai River had killed a large number of fish in just one night. A total of 241 families in Dong Nai Province said they woke up on ...
Rice warehouses are put back on the table in talks with China
Cambodia’s Ministry of Commerce announced last week a $400 million proposal by three Chinese firms to build state-run rice warehousing facilities to increase the Kingdom’s storage capacity. Lacking such capacity has been a longstanding issue that sector experts say has in part hampered ambitions of reaching the ...
Vietnam army concessions are ‘unconstitutional’
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy has levelled further criticism at the Vietnamese army’s alleged control of 40,000 hectares of economic land concessions (ELCs) in Ratanakkiri province, claiming that the grants are in violation of the Cambodian constitution. Transferred over 2011 and 2012 to Vietnamese companies Veasna Investment, ...
Chinese vessel sank fishing boat in Vietnamese waters: authorities
Border guards in Quang Tri Province have confirmed that a Chinese steel fishing vessel rammed and sank a Vietnamese fishing boat off Quang Tri, VTC News reported. Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Huy Tho of the Quang Tri Border Guard Command said the sinking occurred around 40 ...
What is the value of the Mekong river?
Putting a value on the Mekong River and measuring the impact it has on the gross domestic product (GDP) of downstream countries has for a long time been a strategic target of bureaucrats and non-governmental organizations seeking to measure and protect the world’s twelfth longest ...
Laos-Japan economic zone to benefit local community
The new specific economic zone (SEZ) being developed through cooperation between Laos and Japan should bring economic and other benefits to the government, local administrations and people by being a model on transparency of investment. Relevant officials made the comments about the project recently on the ...
