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
Category: Eye Original
Mekong Eye’s original stories contributed by local journalists, partners, and grantees of the Internews’ Earth Journalism Network.
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
Indigenous peoples urge inclusion in biodiversity actions
While COP16 concluded with a promising new body to support indigenous peoples, their exclusion from national conservation efforts remains a challenge
COP 16: Thai fishing community pleads for conservation funding
While governments discuss funds to protect biodiversity, indigenous and local communities point out their proven conservation work needs to be eligible for grants
Can incinerators solve Viet Nam’s waste crisis?
As landfills struggle to cope, Viet Nam is turning to waste-to-energy plants as a potential solution – but could they introduce new challenges?
Myanmar’s prized coastal wetlands under threat from escalating war
Conservation work grinds to a halt as Rakhine’s protected wetlands area gets caught up in the ongoing conflict
The vanishing fertility of Viet Nam’s Mekong Delta
Once known for its fertile lands and abundant resources, the Mekong Delta now faces a harsh reality – exhausted soil and farmers.