The roaring currents of the Mekong have long enchanted travellers, inspired explorers and sustained about 65 million people living off the world's largest freshwater fisheries. But environmentalists warn that the "Amazon of Asia" - the river with the second-richest biodiversity in the world - is under dire threat from hydropower dams, including the latest to be proposed: the Xayaburi dam in Laos.
In a letter addressed to Mr. Jeremy Bird, CEO of the Mekong River Commission (MRC), the Save the Mekong coalition calls on the Mekong region’s governments to cancel the Xayabouri Dam planned for the Mekong River’s mainstream in Xayabouri Province, Lao PDR, ...
HA NOI — Economic development on the Mekong River is short-sighted and unsustainable, environmentalists heard at a meeting in Ha Noi yesterday. The meeting, entitled Mekong: Energy – Environment – Livelihood Security, was co-organised by PanNature, a Ha Noi-based non-profit…
QUANG NINH — Viet Nam's ecosystem was seriously threatened by the widespread consumption of wild meat and trafficking of wildlife, experts said at a recent conference. Urgent action was needed on several fronts to prevent this destruction of the nation's…
Socio-economic development and urbanisation exert more and more pressure on Vietmam's river systems every day, as national stakeholders too fail to co-ordinate their conservation efforts, according to the Vietnam News Agency. As urbanisation increases and industrial parks are being built…
How many tigers does Vietnam have? It’s a matter that is troubling the experts and there is no definitive answer says Dr Scott Roberton from the Wildlife Conservation Society on November 24. Dr. Roberton confirmed that according to a recent…
On 19th October 2009, at the ASEAN People’s Forum, the Save the Mekong coalition sends to the Prime Ministers of Cambodia, Lao, Thailand and Vietnam a 23,110 signature petition urging the Mekong region’s leaders to abandon plans for hydropower development…
Experts have decried the excessive focus on economic development that has severely depleted the nation’s natural resource base, and called for urgent measures to redress the problem. Ways to balance the country’s socio-economic development with preservation and efficient use of…
Every Sunday at 7.30am, volunteers for PYNet, which stands for Network Promoting Youth to Act for Community and Develop-ment, gather at the Ly Thai To monument to start their cycling tour around Ha Noi. Since the project got rolling in September, with support from People and Nature Reconciliation (PanNature) and Ban Tay Viet Limited Co, enthusiastic volunteers from all over the country have been participating.