Cambodia may receive a lot of criticism aimed especially at its politics and human rights, but the Kingdom is apparently doing something right. Recent reports show that Cambodia has made leaps and bounds as far as protecting its children go. This is especially significant considering the fact that (relative to some other ASEAN countries) a large portion of its population are made up of young people. The fact that Cambodia has a problem with child labour is nothing new. The fact that many of…

Early this year, researchers urged conservationists and palm oil companies tackling deforestation and forest fires to rely less on satellite imagery and to start “listening” to the sounds of the forest instead. In a report published by the journal Science on 4 January, researchers said the use of “bioacoustics” to record, monitor and log background sounds – like animals, insects and human activity – provides crucial data needed for more effective conservation. "You can look at a primary forest…

Oceans cover more than 70 percent of the earth’s surface and provide for the coastal communities that accounts for 35 percent of the global population. ASEAN’s 173,000 kilometres of shorelines has at least 500 million coastal people living within 30 kilometres of the reef. This proximity has made nearshore ecosystems vulnerable to habitat change from destructive human activities such as overexploitation, pollution, ineffective governance and coastal development. Climate change is also…