The latest reports from the Lower Mekong Basin are cause for growing concern that another period of drought will succeed that of 2019, affecting Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Expected rainfall from late May through June and July has not arrived, and the level of ...

SDG 4 – “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” – is made up of a global monitoring framework of 10 targets and, starting in 2020, 12 indicators. Education is considered a fundamental human right1 and a core enabler ...

The National Assembly (NA) has ended its mid-year session after endorsing four resolutions that create a legal framework under which the government and relevant authorities will carry out their duties over the next six months. Assembly President Mrs Pany Yathotou on Thursday officially closed the 9th ...

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 ...

China stepped up its vaccine diplomacy on Monday with Premier Li Keqiang promising five Southeast Asian partners priority access to a  coronavirus  vaccine while also pledging to share water control information for flood-hit nations along the Mekong River. Li made the remarks at a videoconference of the Lancang-Mekong ...

USAID and NASA have launched “SERVIR-Mekong,” promoting satellite imagery to help the Lower Mekong predict and cope with natural disasters and increase resilience to the negative effects of climate change. ...

On March 23, 2016, the first LMC Leaders’ Meeting was successfully held in Sanya, Hainan. In the spirit of a “shared river, shared future”, leaders of China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam jointly announced the launch of the LMC – a new type of ...

Chinese dams aren’t the problem causing droughts for downstream nations along the Mekong River – they are part of the solution – says a Chinese study released in July. The study is an attempt to pour water on claims by a rival US-backed investigation that blamed dams ...

Over 305,000 people went overseas for work during 2019 according to the data from the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population. Monthly numbers of workers going abroad from January to November 2019 are 23,235 in January, 22,523 in February, 22,534 in March, 20,766 in April, 30,326 ...

The Mekong Institute will host the 2017 Mekong Forum in Khon Kaen, Thailand on July 14, 2017, with the theme for the event  as “New geo-economics: Reshaping the future of the GMS?” Read their release and call for participants below, or at the 2017 Mekong Forum website.—“New geo-economics: ...

In this our first Political Ecology in Asia Seminar, coinciding with the International Conference on New Research in International Development, Human Rights, and International Relations at a Time of Disruption, we focus on the issue of social justice and air pollution. The discussion will examine ...

On January 12, the United States and Vietnam co-hosted the first Friends of the Mekong Policy Dialogue under the new Mekong-U.S. Partnership.  In his remarks, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Ambassador Atul Keshap emphasized that the United States ...

Mekong residents demand transboundary impacts addressed. The first dam built on the Lower Mekong, Xayaburi, has commenced its commercial operation today with a big splash of advertising on almost every newspaper’s wraps in Thailand, convincing the public that it is in harmony with the nature. Its executive, ...

Globalization means transnational marriages and intimacies become increasingly viable options for women and men. Patcharin Lapanun explores the marriages of Thai women with *farang* men,  and complicates conventional views about materiality and intimacy in these settings.The sentiments and life stories of women and men engaging in ...

A monkey with ghostly white circles around its eyes is among 224 new species listed in the World Wildlife Fund’s latest update on the greater Mekong region. The conservation group’s report, released Wednesday, highlights the need to protect the rich biodiversity and habitats in the region, which ...

In June of this year, the FAO’s annual State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture report ranked the Mekong Basin as the world’s most productive freshwater fishery, accounting for over 15% of global annual freshwater fish catch. Meanwhile, WWF Researchers estimate that the contribution actually accounts ...

Many believe that the Rohingya have been a part of Myanmar well before the British colonists arrived and have been an integral part of the country ever since. They have been mostly concentrated in the Rakhine region of the country and have been subjected to ...

You are invited to join the Roundtable Discussion on OPEN DATA FOR ANTI-CORRUPTION, to be organized this Saturday, June 15th, 2019, during 09:00 – 16:00 hrs at Thailand Institute of Justice (TIJ), 15th Fl., Witthayu Road, Bangkok. Let’s join and exchange your opinion among experts and practitioners, ...

China and its five Southeast Asian neighbours along the Lancang-Mekong River have agreed to focus on security cooperation, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said. “We will resolutely combat cross-border crime in the [region], especially cyber fraud and gambling,” Wang said after the annual Lancang-Mekong Cooperation foreign ministers’ meeting with ...

China’s decision to hold back the Mekong River’s water flow at a hydropower dam for close to a month will disrupt fisheries and local livelihoods along the waterway that is a lifeline for 60 million people, watchers and activists have warned. The Chinese water resources ministry ...