The policy “has the strong potential to kill off any meaningful level of future foreign investment in mineral exploration.”
Category: Region
Selected environmental stories from media outlets in the Mekong region and beyond.
Mekong River Commission Annual Report 2019
Extreme low flows, extensive flooding of different communities, increasing number of droughts–among signs that the Mekong region is facing increasing risk from extreme weather events says new report.
Solar Rules Weaken Vietnam’s Love-Hate Relationship to Coal
Government efforts to shift from feed-in-tariffs to a competitive bidding mechanism for solar PV [photovoltaics] could be applied for other types of renewable energy.
New strategy to address Mekong wide challenges near finishing line
A draft Mekong basin development strategy to respond to critical environmental and social pressures from ongoing and planned developments and climate change gets greenlight from MRC.
Lao Villager Held in Detention Three Months After Land Protest in Vientiane
Rights groups say the illegal appropriations violate basic human rights and that such land grabs are a major cause of social tensions in Laos and in neighboring countries in Southeast Asia.
NESDC partners to set up sustainable future cities
Planning agency has spent 9.5 million baht to hire Chulalongkorn University to conduct a feasibility study and SFC development plan for Lampang and Kanchanaburi municipalities.
Air quality in Hanoi during the pandemic
The three-week social distancing also provided researchers with an unprecedented natural experiment setting to investigate the trade-off between economic activities and air quality.
FAO sees Mekong as biggest source of global inland fish catch
In its latest report on inland fisheries, FAO has ranked the Mekong Basin as the world’s most important hydrologic region or river basin for freshwater fish catches.
Sweden cancels aid to Cambodia, shifting focus to civil society
The Swedish government announced today it will cease providing development assistance, starting from July 1, and will redirect its focus to human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
Post-virus shift can boost renewables
Covid-19 seems to be accelerating the adoption of several pre-pandemic trends like digitalisation and robotics. Perhaps decarbonisation can be another.