Mekong Eye
Southeast Asian forest loss much greater than expected, with negative implications for climate
Researchers using satellite imaging have found much greater than expected deforestation since 2000 in the highlands of Southeast Asia, a critically important world ecosystem. The findings are important because they raise questions about key assumptions made in projections of global climate change as well as ...
John Sullivan
Migrants face changing climate
The arrival of May once reminded Lin Na that the first rain of the year was on its way. The ground in her small village of Prey Veng province in southern Cambodia would start to soften, dampened by rainfall. This time each year, she would ...
Paritta Wangkiat
Deluge of electronic waste turning Thailand into ‘world’s rubbish dump’
At a deserted factory outside Bangkok, skyscrapers made from vast blocks of crushed printers, Xbox components and TVs tower over black rivers of smashed-up computer screens.This is a tiny fraction of the estimated 50m tonnes of electronic waste created just in the EU every year, ...
Hannah Ellis-Peterson
Project to boost conservation
The Mekong River Commission and the Japan International Cooperation Agency have launched a joint study on forest conservation and river basin management in the lower Mekong aimed at improving management and environmental conservation of the area.Keep reading ...
Chea Vannak
Thailand Proposes New Fund for Southeast Asian Sub-Region
Thailand has proposed starting a new Southeast Asian fund to boost sources of financing for transportation infrastructure and other projects in five Mekong River basin countries.Keep reading ...
How to promote natural capital investments in the GMS
Natural capital has been a key contributor to the Greater Mekong Subregion’s rapid economic growth over the past 3 decades or so. However, the subregion’s key natural capital stocks are in a state of decline. This is evident by the degradation of arable land; considerable ...
Pavit Ramachandran
Restoring Maya Bay: Closure not enough
Starting this month, the tiny and stunningly scenic Maya Bay off Thailand’s Andaman coast, made famous by Leonardo DiCaprio’s 2000 film The Beach, is closed to visitors. Two decades of being Thailand’s top tourist attraction has overwhelmed the island’s ecology.Keep reading ...
Pennapa Hongthong
Farming in transition: How smallholder farms in the Mekong could thrive amid a changing landscape
Much of a smallholder farmer’s resources are already found in the farm. The key is knowing how to efficiently use and recycle these resources so that nothing is ever wasted and that everything goes back into the system. Farmers in the Mekong are getting help ...
China eyes its next prize – the Mekong
Beijing’s islands-building in the South China Sea and their militarisation, replete with surface-to-air missiles, is near complete. With guile, threat, and coercion, China can now seize control of one of the main transport arteries of Southeast Asia, making a mockery of international laws and norms.Keep ...
Elliot Brennan
Thailand plans regional infrastructure fund
Thailand plans to take the lead in creating a regional fund with its neighbours, including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, to back infrastructure and other development projects.Arthayudh Srisamoot, deputy permanent secretary of Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha is expected ...