The region has been heavily reliant on the readily available supplies of forest timber, non-timber forest products and minerals to boost their economies. Various organizations and government agencies are responsible for over-seeing this usage and management, and how they respond to current environmental concerns. ...

What is mitigation? The impacts of climate change are undeniable. Mitigation and adaptation actions must be taken to address these consequences. So, clarifying what mitigation and adaptation actually means is necessary. Flooding on the Mekong River floodplain, Thailand and Laos. Photo by NASA Johnson, Flickr. Uploaded ...

COVID-19 in the Mekong The novel coronavirus has triggered a global response of extreme measures. The immediate changes are countable. As of April 15, 2020, over 2 million cases of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) have been counted globally, with over 100,000 confirmed deaths. Tech tools to ...

SDG 17 – “Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development” – is made up of 19 targets and 25 indicators. It covers the elements making up means of implementation: finance (17.1-17.5), technology (17.6-17.8), capacity-building (17.9), trade (17.10-17.12), and systemic ...

Watersheds are impacted by many factors, through interaction with both natural elements and human activity in the area. The trees and plants in forests not only tap into the water within the soil, but they also affect the quality and composition of the soil itself, ...

SDG 1 – “End poverty in all its forms everywhere” – is made up of seven targets and 14 indicators. It covers not only income-based measures of poverty (1.1, 1.2) but also other dimensions (1.2), including access to social protection (1.3) and basic services (1.4), ...

Introduction Rivers and lakes are two types of surface water. In Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam (or the Lower Mekong Countries), the majority of surface water is organized into large river systems that network into streams, lakes, ponds and wetlands, and flow into deltas. It ...

SDG 7 – “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” – has a monitoring framework with five targets and six indicators. These will be used to monitor progress toward achieving global sustainable energy access as part of the 2030 Agenda. ...

With its vast, complex network of tributaries, the Mekong river system has been identified as a valuable source of hydroelectricity generation from as early as the 1960s. Today, the Lower Mekong Basin is a key site for large-scale hydropower dam development,1 and it is estimated ...

The Lower Mekong region is home to some of the world’s most dynamic cities. Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Yangon all have populations in excess of 5 million and are still growing. Phnom Penh and Vientiane are smaller but their growth has been ...

SDG 11 – “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” – is made up of 10 targets and 15 indicators. It covers aspects of safe and accessible urban spaces and services such as housing (SDG 11.1), transport (SDG 11.2) and green spaces ...

Disasters The five countries of the Lower Mekong make up one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world. Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam are frequently affected by natural disasters, primarily floods, tsunamis, storms and drought. Other potential risks include earthquakes, fires, pandemics, landslides, ...

Climate change adaptation is understood as the actions undertaken by communities to cope with actual or predicted impacts of  climate change.114 The actions may either reduce the level of harm or maximize the positive outcomes from climate change.115 Adaptaton differs from mitigation, which means taking action ...

When water seeps into the earth after a rain or flood it fills the spaces between the rocks and soil particles providing moisture for plants and percolating into larger spaces called aquifers.  Groundwater naturally flows to the surface again as springs and wetlands. ...

In September 2015, the UN General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda). This contained 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), intended to drive action in critically important areas to the year 2030. These goals have been broken down into 169 targets ...

SDG 3 – “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages” – has a monitoring framework made up of 13 targets and 26 indicators. It covers maternal (3.1) and newborn/children’s health (3.2), communicable (3.3) and non-communicable diseases (3.4), substance abuse (3.5), traffic ...

The last 35 years have seen significant warming of the earth’s atmosphere. This is closely linked to human activity, in particular an increase in the industrial emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. Climate change has already resulted in an increased intensity ...

SDG 14 aims to “Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development”246 and covers a wide range of human interactions with the oceans. In July 2017, the UN confirmed its strong commitment to implement SDG 14 by adopting a universal ...