Showing 1 - 10 of 21
Road to Dawei paved with anguish
Spectrum, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 02/03/2014
» From the Tenasserim mountains which form the Thai border to the bright blue Andaman waters of Myanmar’s west coast, a swathe is being cut through communities sitting in the way of progress.
Tigers' final frontier
Spectrum, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 23/02/2014
» Park ranger Onsa peers out from under his cap and raises an antenna, scanning for radio signals from deep in the thick forests of Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary.
Voices of the dammed
Spectrum, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 17/11/2013
» Thong feels lost in both senses of the word. After being told the plan to build a dam on the nearby Mae Wong stream had been revived, the cassava farmer, who preferred to use a pseudonym, feels defeated in his campaign to oppose the project. He is also unsure of which direction his life will take in the wake of the decision.
Second Lao dam upsets neighbours
News, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 03/11/2013
» When Laos announced its intention to proceed with the Xayaburi hydropower project on the lower Mekong over the objections of neighbouring countries in the Mekong River Commission (MRC), it was feared that it would set a precedent.
Paving a piece of paradise
Spectrum, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 27/10/2013
» Dech Khieonarong is one of many residents of Tak's Umphang district who cheered when the government announced it was reviving a plan to construct a new road from Khlong Lan to the remote town in the midst of a protected wilderness. Weary of traversing the 164km of arduous road with, by his count, more than 1,000 hairpin curves, he volunteered to head a committee of locals to push for the construction of the ''new'' Khlong Lan-Umphang road, a large part of which was actually constructed more than 40 years ago by the military as part of its efforts to suppress communist insurgents. The military managed to cut 115km of road through the deep forest inside Mae Wong National Park, 30km from Umphang in the 1970s. The military backed off on completing the road to Umphang because of objections that it would compromise the Western Forest Complex. Over the years the military road fell into disuse and is now overgrown and impassable in some places.
Talking the walk
Spectrum, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 13/10/2013
» Seub Nakhasathien Foundation secretary-general Sasin Chalermlarp, 45, made headlines three weeks ago after undertaking an unprecedented long-distance walk to protest against the planned dam in Mae Wong National Park. The journey took him from Nakhon Sawan province to the heart of Bangkok, where he was welcomed by thousands of supporters. Spectrum interviewed him after the mission was completed.
Dam activist hits the road ... all 388km of it
News, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 15/09/2013
» At the age of 45, environmental activist Sasin Chalermlarp admits that embarking on the most physically gruelling mission of his life is ''not fun at all''.
Shielding the sanctuary
Spectrum, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 01/09/2013
» For Weraya O-chakull, breaking through the gender barrier involved picking up a gun and learning how to use it.
Clock ticks for parks to keep promises
Spectrum, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 02/06/2013
» Officials in charge of overseeing the Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex are scrambling to come up with a plan to stave off a potential downgrade by Unesco's World Heritage Committee this month.
Dam resettlement strategies need review
News, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 25/11/2012
» Hydropower is often said to be less potentially harmful than other energy sources such as coal and nuclear, but when the issue of resettlement is thrown into the equation the true costs of hydropower mount rapidly. This is something dam developers themselves admitted at a recent Mekong Forum held in Hanoi in Vietnam.