A FEW good collaborators

Lehigh University – Suppose you're a farmer cultivating crops in a major river basin. You rely on water from the river to irrigate your fields. But you're not the only one who depends on what is literally a liquid asset flowing through your landscape. The local utility company uses the river to provide electricity through hydropower. The county taps the river for municipal water. A variety Read More…

Efforts needed to preserve wetlands

Viet Nam News – Wetlands play a major role in preserving biodiversity and fighting climate change in Việt Nam, but the country is yet to establish firm strategies on how to preserve them. There are about 10 million hectares of wetlands in Việt Nam spreading across eight ecological zones, including the Red River Delta and Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta. They are classified into two types: Read More…

MRC monitors the flooding situation in Southern Laos closely

Mekong River Commission – The Mekong River Commission is monitoring closely the situation unfolding since 24 July on the flooding in Attapeu Province in southern Lao PDR due to the incident with the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy Hydropower Project. According to notification document by the Lao government to the MRC, the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy project is located on Xe-Pian and Xe-Namnoy rivers in Champasak Read More…

Illegal fishing cases see decline

Khmer Times – Illegal fishing cases slumped by about 12 percent in the first half of this year compared with the same period last year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries said in a report released yesterday. There were 1,447 cases of illegal fishing in the six months, down by 206 cases on last year. Of the 1,447 cases, 1,369 were in fresh water and 78 in the sea. In the Read More…

The dying rivers of ASEAN

Asean Post – With the Asian Games fast approaching, scheduled to be held from 18 August to 2 September 2018, officials in the Indonesian capital where the games are going to be hosted are scrambling in an all-out effort to prepare the host cities. Sporting venues in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta, Palembang, Bandung, Bogor, Bekasi and Subang are receiving their final touches, concrete river Read More…

Mekong region faces even greater forest losses, WWF warns

Asia Times – The Greater Mekong region – Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Yunnan in southern China – was once the world’s most densely forested area. But it has lost a third of its natural forest cover and could lose a further 15-30 million hectares by 2030 unless serious action is taken immediately, a top environmental group has warned. The region has experienced Read More…

Saving fish, inspiring sustainability

Khmer Times – To celebrate the National Fish Day, ministry officials, members of the USAID and Young Eco Ambassadors held different activities on June 1, all aiming to raise awareness on the importance of fish in the kingdom and promote sustainable fishing practices to keep rivers and lakes healthy and productive. Young Eco Ambassadors set out on an educational trip to Pursat and Kampong Read More…

Critically Endangered Giant Fish on Menu at Luxury Restaurants

National Geographic – From the outside Nha Hang Lang Nghe, in Danang, looks like any other respectable restaurant in Vietnam. Tables are invitingly laid out in the shade of a lush garden, and festive traditional art lines attractive brick walls. Families laugh over hot pots, and businessmen clink glasses. Yet the veneer of wholesome normality masks a dark truth: Critically Read More…

National Fish Day spawns conservation hopes

Khmer Times – National Fish Day was marked yesterday in Siem Reap province, where more than one million fish were released into the river which forms the moat of Angkor Wat temple. Government officials and conservation experts applauded developments in fisheries sector and called for greater conservation at the event, the 16th of its kind. Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Read More…

Irrawaddy dolphin found dead

Phnom Penh Post – A critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphin was found dead, floating along a stretch of the Mekong River in Kratie’s Chet Boreid district on Wednesday. The cause of the mammal’s death was determined as bruising caused by an illegal fishing net. The carcass was found in the Anlong Kampi area of the Mekong, where the freshwater dolphin primarily lives, according to Read More…