Environment and natural resources

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. ...

The annual toxic haze season in over, and now that the public has into forgotten about it, there’s another health hazard — known as Covid-19 — to worry about.The pandemic is expected to begin petering out months (or at worst, a year) after the world ...

The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a THB6.056 billion subsidy for sugarcane farmers who cut fresh cane for sugar factories instead of burning them, in a bid to reduce air pollution caused by the burning of plantations, deputy government spokesperson Ratchada Thanadirek said.The move was proposed ...

“They are burning and smelting electronic stuff again,” says Sarawut Phoomnok, as he walks down a narrow dirt path through a cassava field. The sun is setting, and Sarawut’s eyes are fixed on a billowing smokestack rising above a factory a few hundred metres away. ...

A new Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC)-For-Trade project, in collaboration with the United Nations (UN) Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) Programme’s initiative for the Lower Mekong, will promote trade and sustainable forest management (SFM) and at ...

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, ...

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 ...

The main opposition Pheu Thai Party has accused Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha of preventing MPs discussing a clean air bill in parliament by having it declared finance-related legislation.Wattanarak Amnansoradet, chairman of Pheu Thai’s environment and natural resources committee, said it was a pity that Gen ...

According to the State of Global Air 2020 Report, around 32,000 premature deaths in Thailand, back in 2019, have been attributed to air pollution. The report cites the PM2.5 pollution particles as the main culprit as particles in that size range are the most likely ...

More than 80 participants representing the Thai government, academia, non-governmental organisations and the private sector convened at Bangkok’s Pullman Hotel for the launch of the Green Climate Fund (GCF)-financed programme titled “Increasing resilience to climate change impacts in marine and coastal areas along the Gulf ...