Another project, the Sanakham Dam, is scheduled to move ahead despite local villagers’ complaints.
Category: Region
Selected environmental stories from media outlets in the Mekong region and beyond.
Farmers warned they need to adapt
With results showing that under combined stressors of climate change and land-use change, the research team suggested the duration of agriculture droughts of a 10-year return period will increase by 50% and the severity of droughts will increase by more than 150%.
ADB gives $82M for roads
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved an $82 million loan to improve approximately 48km of national and provincial roads in Prey Veng and Kandal provinces to boost economic development along the Greater Mekong Subregion’s (GMS) southern economic corridor.
CSOs after the coup: Operations squeezed, funding crunched
Civil society organisations proliferated with government encouragement after the transition to democracy got underway in 2011 but are struggling under a regime that is squeezing the life out of civic space.
Vietnam to minimise new coal-fired power plants
The draft PDP VIII called for increased coal-fired power supplies. in response to expert criticism, however, the MoIT now state it won’t allow any new coal-fired projects and would instead replace them with more environmentally-friendly liquefied natural gas sources.
CCCS stakeholders commit zero-carbon recovery and climate change
International stakeholders such as the US, Australian, and British Embassies in Cambodia have come strongly in support of the commitment and will cooperate to achieve carbon neutrality or “net-zero” emissions with the next few decades.
Bangkok on alert as 70,000 homes flood in Thailand
In the past, farmland and rice paddies in low-lying areas absorbed flood water but the city’s expansion has led much converted to real estate. The city’s flood prevention masterplan, involving underground reservoirs and tunnels, has not been fully built because of problems acquiring land, according to local media.
All hands on deck to preserve ecosystems in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta
The Mekong Delta region accounts for 12 per cent of the country’s area and nearly 20 per cent of its population. Rapid, unplanned economic development, unchecked population growth and climate change continually put pressure on these ecosystems, which have been reduced in size and degraded.
Managing plastic as a valuable resource will help address marine pollution, Promote a circular economy in Vietnam
The IFC-World Bank report, Market Study for Vietnam – Plastics Circularity Opportunities and Barriers, finds only 33 percent of the total 3.9 million tons of the commonly used plastics disposed per year in Vietnam are recovered and recycled. The study estimates that 75 percent of the material value of the plastics-equivalent to $2.2 billion to $2.9 billion per year is lost to the economy.