Showing 1 - 10 of 13
Struggling to unearth a grain of truth
Spectrum, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 02/02/2014
» The government's rice-pledging scheme, long plagued by claims of mismanagement and corruption, is facing increasing scrutiny as the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) probes into caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's involvement.
Hope still flows for poisoned Klity
Spectrum, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 29/12/2013
» 'It's still there, in the creek's water, and the villagers are still worried about it, the lead which has been contaminating their creek for decades,'' said Supaporn Malailoy, a lawyer who has been advocating on behalf of the residents who live near Klity Creek.
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.
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.
Klity creek on edge over new mine study
News, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 26/05/2013
» A feasibility study into old mines in Kanchanaburi has raised fears among villagers, still struggling with the Klity Creek disaster, that they will be reopened and degrade the environment even further.
When a ranger falls in the forest
Spectrum, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 31/03/2013
» On the evening of March 14 in the deep forest of Pang Sida National Park, a ranger was shot dead in an encounter with a group transporting illegally logged Siamese rosewood. At the same time in Bangkok 300km away, international conservationists were wrapping up a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), which gave greater protection to the tree which is rapidly disappearing from Thai forests.
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.
Villagers vow they won't give up homes for dam
Spectrum, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 04/11/2012
» As soon as staff from an engineering consultancy company arrived at the site of the proposed Kaeng Sua Ten dam project in Phrae province late last month, a scuffle broke out between them and locals from the nearby village of Sa-Iab. Later there was another brief confrontation between officials trying to install water level monitors in the Yom River and villagers who tried to stop them. The officials were surrounded and finally driven out of Sa-Iab in a scene reminiscent of one 10 years ago when villagers seized staff from a consultancy firm employed by the World Bank, injuring some of them.
Koh Samet's serenity shattered by development and disputes
Spectrum, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 23/09/2012
» As we arrive at the exclusive five-star beach resort on the southern tip of Koh Samet a young security guard approaches us and asks us where we think we are going.
Two agencies diverged in a wood
Spectrum, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 26/08/2012
» Road 304 slices through Nakhon Ratchasima's Wang Nam Khieo district running north by northeast, forming the unofficial boundary between the Phu Luang national forest reserve to the west and Thap Lan National Park to the east. Charges of forest encroachment are rampant throughout the area, but the fates of those deemed guilty are vastly different depending on which side of the road they lie.