By Merle David Kellerhals Jr. Staff Writer for U.S. Department of State Washington — The United States will spend approximately $187 million on projects to help four nations of the Lower Mekong River basin lessen the impact of climate change on water resources, food security and the health and livelihoods of nearly 60 million people. [...]
IUCN LAO PDR has stepped up the protection of its wetlands by joining the Ramsar Convention. IUCN played a key role in the recent accession of Lao PDR to the international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilisation of wetlands. IUCN has worked with the Government of Lao PDR on the process of accession to [...]
From Washington DC On July 22, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Foreign Ministers of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam met in Hanoi, Vietnam within the framework of the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI), to highlight the growing cooperation between the United States and the Lower Mekong countries in key areas of common concern. [...]
WILL BAXTER for The Phnom Penh Post NEW government figures indicate up to 150,000 people living along the Mekong and Bassac rivers are consuming water from wells laced with arsenic, a poison that can cause skin and other cancers after prolonged exposure. The figures, prepared by the Department of Water Supply at the Ministry of [...]
VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam’s two biggest seafood-export earners are on opposite sides of the coin, as some shrimp processors have been forced to run at one-third capacity, while a focus on quality has boosted tra fish exports. Shrimp and tra fish made up nearly 70% of Vietnamese seafood exports last year. Exports have been growing [...]
EarthTimes Vientiane, Laos - The Lao government earned 600,000 dollars off the Nam Theun II hydropower plant last month, its first revenue from the ecologically controversial project, project sources said Tuesday. According to a joint report issued by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, two of the main sponsors of the 2-billion-dollar project, [...]
Nhan Dan News The Mekong Delta region exported more than 300,000 tonnes of tra fish in the first half of this year, earning over US$640 million. With these figures, the region has attained over 50% of this year’s target, obtaining a 19.4% rise in quantity and 11.6% increase in value despite a slump in world [...]
by Aude Genet for AFP QUE DIEN, Vietnam (AFP) – The rivers that should nourish his thirsty rice paddies are too salty, and the rains are late this year. Dang Roi does not know if he will be able to salvage anything from this spring’s crop. Vietnam is the world’s second-biggest rice exporter and the [...]
By Chularat Saengpassa and Pongphon Sarnsamak for The Nation A recent report from the Mekong River Commission revealed that 12 dams in Lower Mekong River would cause serious problems for the two million people living downstream in Laos, Thailand and Cambodia. The report entitled “MRC SEA for Hydropower on Mekong Mainstream, Impact Assessment and Discussion [...]
By Hoang Nam for Viet Nam News HCM CITY — International experts and multi-stakeholders met in HCM City yesterday for the final workshop on the environmental and social impacts of 12 proposed hydropower dams on the mainstream lower Mekong. About 100 participants from six Mekong countries attended the “Avoidance, mitigation and enhancement” workshop that is [...]