Category: Region
Selected environmental stories from media outlets in the Mekong region and beyond.
Pray and protect: faith saves forests of Cambodia
Khoeum Saray is among a dozen or so monks managing a project that is hailed as a model for conservation in a nation with one of the world’s fastest rates of deforestation.
Solar power shines in Myanmar
Myanmar’s launch of its first commercial solar plant last month is a step in the right direction for a country that has yet to provide more than half of its citizens with proper access to electricity.
Cambodia’s electric Chinese aid and investment affair
Royal Group displaced Lowe Se San dam-affected villagers for a fraction of what a similar resettlement would have cost in China. Villagers suffered while Royal Group exploited its close ties with the regime to profit enormously.
War and business: Kachin’s ‘frontline’ hydropower dam
Despite Myanmar’s dire need for power, a US$250 million hydropower plant on the front lines of the Kachin conflict has been largely idle since the day it opened in 2011.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s Myanmar dam dilemma with China
In 2011, construction work on the Myitsone dam project in Myanmar’s restive Kachin state was halted after large protests. China is now lobbying hard for the work to resume, but local people are still not convinced they will ever see benefits.
Thailand urged not to buy power from Lao dam
The Thai government must suspend plans to buy electricity from the Thai-built Xayaburi dam in Lao, conservationists said Friday, as water levels along the kingdom’s section of Mekong river plummet to near-record lows.
Severe Drought in Mekong Region Reduces Rice Planting in Laos
Lao farmers have planted rice on less than half the country’s cultivable land this year because of a persistent drought in the Mekong River region.