Showing 21 - 30 of 114
Covid: Digital peasants and the ignorant rich
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 04/12/2021
» The new Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus was discovered last week by scientists in South Africa and Botswana, the only countries in southern Africa that have the skills and resources to detect a new variant.
Water projects need scrutiny
News, Editorial, Published on 21/09/2021
» It has become a pattern when the state plans a water infrastructure project that it usually runs into resistance from either local protesters or corruption busters.
Luang Prabang Dam a threat to World Heritage?
News, Philip Hirsch, Published on 29/06/2021
» The Lao government is intent on building a dam on the Mekong just upstream of the country’s old royal capital. Despite the project having undergone design work, environmental impact assessment and a prior consultation process managed by the Mekong River Commission (MRC), no heritage impact assessment has been carried out to date — despite requests by Unesco’s World Heritage Centre dating back as far as 2012 that the Lao government should do so. Ahead of next month’s World Heritage Committee meeting in China, of which Thailand is a current member, Unesco has asked that no construction work go ahead on the dam until a full heritage assessment has been completed.
Forest dictatorship at Kaeng Krachan
Oped, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 03/03/2021
» Enough is enough. When the meek indigenous forest dwellers fearlessly walked out of the meeting with the forest authorities in Kaeng Krachan National Park last week, their message was clear: Enough of your lies, cheating and violence. Enough of our hunger and loss of dignity from forced resettlement. Enough of threats and intimidation. We are going home for good.
Last-ditch fight against forest tyranny
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 01/02/2021
» After two decades of hunger and hardship -- and a life without dignity in a prison-like resettlement village -- a group of indigenous forest dwellers decided to return to their ancestral home deep in the Kaeng Krachan jungle in Phetchaburi province.
There's still hope for the Mekong
News, Published on 11/01/2021
» Until the onset of major dam construction in the higher elevations of the Mekong basin, its lower, broader reaches constituted the world's largest inland freshwater fishery and the mainstay for the employment, food security and nutrition for 60 or more million people. Tragically, over both of the last two May-October wet seasons, the mainstream experienced unprecedented low flows. In both years the normally reliable "flood pulse" was insufficient to meaningfully reverse the flow of Cambodia's Tonle Sap River to into its Great Lake, the "beating heart" of the fishery whose annual catch is directly proportional to its volume during the flood season.
Mekong drowned in water politics
News, Editorial, Published on 10/01/2021
» The mighty Mekong River is the heart and soul of Southeast Asia. Millions of livelihoods are linked to it, especially in terms of food, energy and water security. Besides giving birth to one of the planet's most biodiverse river basins, the transboundary nature of the river -- which begins its journey in the Tibetan plateau and flows 2,140km through China before entering downstream Southeast Asia -- means it is facing a threat to its existence like none before: hydropolitics.
China's future depends on how it tames its rivers
Oped, Published on 11/08/2020
» The East Asian monsoon is pummelling China this summer. As of late July, flood alerts had been issued for 433 rivers, thousands of homes and businesses had been destroyed, and millions of people were on the verge of becoming homeless. The water level of Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater lake, has risen to a record-breaking 22.6 metres, prompting authorities in the eastern province of Jiangxi (population: 45 million) to issue "wartime" measures. Chinese citizens have not been threatened with devastation on this scale in more than 20 years, and this is likely just the beginning.
Fix state relief loopholes
Oped, Editorial, Published on 16/04/2020
» A commotion at the Finance Ministry on Tuesday by those who missed out on the 5,000 baht handout packages reveal mammoth loopholes in the state relief process that need to be fixed quickly.
Never forget the sad, tragic story of 'our Billy'
Oped, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 16/04/2020
» For six years, April 17 has gained significance as the date the media often report about the enforced disappearance of Porlajee "Billy" Rakchongcharoen. It is the date the Karen community near Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi pay tribute to "their Billy", the activist who is believed to have died several years ago.