Without strong community forest governance, carbon credits will continue to separate Thai people from their forests
Category: Eye Original
Mekong Eye’s original stories contributed by local journalists, partners, and grantees of the Internews’ Earth Journalism Network.
Myanmar’s war on nature
How four years of Myanmar’s brutal civil war is destroying land and natural resources
Laos eyes a tourism boom in hydro dam area
As communities rebuild their lives, the dam’s operators look to transform the area into a tourist destination
Plastic is choking the Mekong River
Plastic is now ubiquitous in the Mekong, Asia’s Mother of Rivers, and experts and local people are struggling to contain the risks to human health, biodiversity and livelihoods
Charcoal trade fuels deforestation in northern Myanmar
War, economic challenges, and dwindling markets have pushed traditional tea farmers in northern Shan State into deforestation-linked charcoal production
Fruits of spoil: Laos’ forests disappearing as fruit farms flourish
The country’s improved railway connectivity facilitates fruit exports to China but has also sparked a boom in foreign-owned banana and durian farms, leading to forest clearance
CATTLE HUSTLE
Live cattle are part of the bustling border trade in the Mekong region, relying on smuggling channels to deliver meat to consumers’ plates. But this comes at the cost of public health and threatens the entire meat supply chain
Isaan battles desertification amid climate crisis
As Thai farmers fight to survive climate change, more funding and help from wealthy countries is desperately needed
Viet Nam’s rivers are running out of sediment
Decades of building hydropower dams and sand mining have almost depleted Viet Nam’s rivers of sediment. Coastal residents and downstream farmers are bearing the brunt
Myanmar’s neglected soil crisis
Political turmoil, expanding extractive industries, and diminishing focus on sustainable agriculture are accelerating soil degradation across the country