Nam Ngiep 1 dam is the second major Lao hydropower project conceived for the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT). EGAT’s first, Nam Thuen 2 has been riddled with social and environmental problems, and Nam Ngiep 1 is shaping up no differently.
Category: Region
Selected environmental stories from media outlets in the Mekong region and beyond.
Seaside Coal Power in Myanmar
With a population of just over 200,000, Myeik is home to mostly fishermen and rubber and coconut plantation workers. The area, however, is not on Myanmar’s national power grid, a key motivation for the project.
Thai Industry Pushes into Myanmar
It’s unprecedented: the largest industrial estate and deep sea port complex conceived in Southeast Asia. It’s controversial: trampling pristine shorelines; felling valuable forests and orchards; paving highways through remote mountain passes and uprooting ethnic minorities all along the way.
Fish Shortage Stirs Ethnic Rivalry
Chea Takihiro and Igor Kossov The Vietnamese fishing families are gone. Their boats began disappearing from the banks of the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers near Phnom Penh a few months ago, according to Cham fishing families still living in the area. By the weekend none were left, Cham fishermen told Khmer Times. The ethnic […]
Cambodian dam proceeds despite opposition over fish, ousted villagers
The Cambodian government has begun relocating some 5,000 villagers away from the flood site of the Lower Sesan 2 dam. The controversial project in the country’s northeast province of Stung Treng is sited less than a mile below the confluence of the Sesan and Srepok rivers, two of the mighty Mekong’s most significant tributaries.
Ban Pong: A Story of a Solid Community
Two hundred years ago, the ancestors of the Ban Pong people came to the area to try to develop the land, during a time where land titles did not exist. They had lived in peace until the government issued a land titling policy in the 1990s.
Central Mekong Delta Region Connectivity Project: Semiannual Environmental Monitoring Report (July-December 2014)
Environmental monitoring reports describe the environmental issues or mitigation measures of a project.
Asia’s ‘infrastructure gap’ threatens to hamper growth
Looking out at bumper-to-bumper Monday morning traffic crawling along the Philippine capital’s main avenue, taxi driver Ranilo Banez shook his head in frustration.
Time is Now for ASEAN to Push Toward Environmental Crime Accountability
What really happened in Tianjin is the result of a creeping environmental disaster unfolding across the globe, particularly in Southeast Asia, and it reflects the magnitude of the challenge that the leaders of the 10 ASEAN nations face as they seek to balance both economic growth and natural resource protection.
Vietnam sets up Steering Committee for industrialisation strategy
The Prime Minister has decided to establish a Steering Committee for Vietnam’s industrialisation strategy as part of a cooperation agreement with Japan by 2020, with a vision to 2030.