Environment and natural resources
Water resources
Government touts success in water management efforts
With the drought season officially over, the absence of any drought declarations throughout the period is being cited as evidence of gains made in addressing flood and drought issues. Also being acknowledged are efforts to make water more available for household consumption.Continue watching ...
Groundwater: Making the invisible visible
Climate change is causing global temperatures to rise, putting our most visible sources of water at risk. From Spain to parts of the African continent, droughts are being experienced at unprecedented levels. Madagascar last year faced a food crisis that left 1.3 million people facing ...
Bangkok Post Reporter
Villagers slam EIA report on Yuam water project
A group of ethnic villagers who oppose a plan to divert water from the Yuam River to Bhumibol dam is planning to submit a protest letter to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.They say the project’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report lacks transparency and the project will ...
Apinya Wipatayotin
How China’s cooperation with Mekong countries can overcome a trust deficit
First proposed at the 17th Asean-China Summit in 2014 by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) mechanism aims to enhance economic cooperation, environmental protection efforts and transboundary water governance between the countries along the river’s length, namely China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and ...
Disparity worsens ocean pollution
Ocean plastic pollution is threatening humanity and Thailand cannot escape the blame as one of the world’s worst marine polluters. Although the government has pledged to tackle marine pollution, one thing is certain. Success is out of reach if the state authorities fail to engage ...
Bangkok Post Reporter
ESCAP And Partners Launch Science-based E-learning Course To Tackle Marine Plastic Litter In Cities
Today, on World Oceans Day, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and partners are launching an e-learning course to help reduce the impact of plastic pollution. As part of the Closing the Loop project, the course, entitled Cities ...
‘Water Grabbing’ On The Mekong – Analysis
As dam-building projects continue to proliferate along Southeast Asia’s vital Mekong River, experts in a recent online discussion panel agreed that the area is fast becoming overloaded with them, dredging up far-reaching issues ranging from international friction and industry “water grabs” to widespread ecological disasters ...
Why Asean needs to care about Mekong issues like it did with haze
The Mekong river, which runs through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, is the beating heart of mainland Southeast Asia, sustaining the livelihoods of around 66 million people. Yet the river is running dry, with its water levels at their lowest in 100 years. ...
'Nothing about the Mekong is normal now’: Anger along Southeast Asia’s great river as water levels become unpredictable
Thailand: From a distance, it is hard to make sense of the small patches of green emerging from the cracking mud flats of the Mekong River. They are not oases, nor sprouts of river grass along dusty channels where water normally flows; they are golf greens.Recently, ...
Feel the people’s power flow
Amid the jubilation, there was a brief moment of uneasiness. Last September, during a ceremony to award the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Equator Prize held at the Boon Rueang wetland forest in Chiang Rai province, participants noticed the ground was much drier than it ...