A new Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC)-For-Trade project, in collaboration with the United Nations (UN) Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) Programme’s initiative for the Lower Mekong, will promote trade and sustainable forest management (SFM) and at the same time reduce pressure on forests through improved governance in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.PEFC’s Forestry and Trade for Develop

A village watchman trains his binoculars on a suspicious fishing boat - the first line of defence as Thailand braces for a fresh methamphetamine influx after a coup in neighbouring Myanmar.The kingdom's narcotics bureau has already seized more than 80 million "yaba" pills just in the past six months, a record haul partly blamed on a supply glut caused by the coronavirus pandemic.But now the United Nations (UN) warns of an even bigger deluge as Myanmar's legal economy tanks

A glacial burst that triggered a deadly flash flood in the Indian Himalayas at the weekend was a disaster waiting to happen, and one likely to be repeated in a region transformed by climate change and unchecked infrastructure development, experts warn.Asia is home to some of the world's biggest waterways, from the Ganges and the Indus in India to the Yangtze and Mekong originating in China, that snake for thousands of kilometres.They support the livelihoods of vast numbers of farmers and

As night falls over his floating village, fisherman Leng Vann puffs on a cigarette and heaves a sigh for Tonle Sap, the great inland lake that has sustained Cambodia for centuries.More than a million people live on or around the lake, the world's largest inland fishery, but water levels have plummeted and fish stocks dwindled because of climate change and dams upstream on the Mekong.Tonle Sap was once renowned for its abundance of fish and wildlife – 43-year-old Leng Vann recalls catchin

Elderly residents and small children clung to inflatable tyres as soldiers and police used rope lines to get them to safety from rising floodwater on Saturday in Cambodia's western province of Battambang.Hundreds of families in three Cambodian provinces – Pursat, Battambang and Pailin – have been forced to evacuate amid extreme rainfall ahead of the arrival of a tropical depression across the Mekong region."A two-year-old child and 57-year-old man have drowned in the flood," Se

Years ago, I spoke to the head of a large factory in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. She was worried that more than 100 of her workers lived in riverside slums around the building. Their homes were on land at risk of flooding, but the workers were more afraid of being expelled from them.

The coronavirus crisis has severely affected livelihoods, local industries and the economy in general. It has also disrupted world trade, supply chains and also the production of food and agricultural products and commodities. According to Samarendu Mohanty, Asia Regional Director at the International Potato Center, the production of wheat and rice in Asia would be heavily impacted if lockdowns to curb the pandemic and virus restrictions continue to be enforced.

Water levels in Southeast Asia’s largest river may be at its lowest in a century.Low rainfall, high temperatures and poor dam regulations are contributing to a historic low at the Mekong, affecting lives, the region’s agriculture and fishing industries and leading to rapidly drying taps.Chinese dams control the flow of the 4,350-kilometre (km) river which originates in the Tibetan highlands before travelling across Myanmar, Lao, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

China was pressed Tuesday to show more transparency over its dam operations on the Mekong River, months after downstream water levels hit record lows and threatened millions of livelihoods.Lao, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam all battled severe drought last year as the tide of the river fell to record lows - exposing rocks, killing fish and threatening millions of livelihoods. But the dams along the waterway in China - where the river is known as the Lancang - held "above-average

When the Cold War ended, many pundits anticipated a new era in which geo-economics would determine geopolitics. As economic integration progressed, they predicted, the rules-based order would take root globally. Countries would comply with international law or incur high costs.Today, such optimism looks more than a little naive.