Chinese drug police are working with Mekong countries to strike at the heart of a mega-rich meth syndicate as the region targets top-level drug traffickers instead of street dealers. The porous and lawless border areas of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos have for decades been a hub ...

For Cambodia to reach its full potential in agriculture, it needs more investment, diversification in crops, access to new technology, more research and development on related products, the full mechanisation of rice cultivation and plain, old-fashioned cash. That was the view of stakeholders at an agriculture ...

Cambodia’s economy stands at a critical crossroads to reach the next phase of development with a recent report urging the Kingdom to ditch its antiquated growth model and adopt more innovative economic strategies that better respond to rapid changes in the global economy. The report, ...

A simple feasibility analysis shows the Mekong River in Cambodia would benefit from floating solar plants coupled with storage, rather than more hydro. Cambodia’s Great Lake, the Tonle Sap and Vietnam’s Mekong Delta are suffering harmful impacts from the suppression of the Mekong River’s annual flood ...

The price of sugarcane has fallen from 700-800 VND a kilogramme at the beginning of the harvest season last October to 500-550 VND now, but there are still few buyers. In Cu Lao Dung district, sugarcane on many fields has become over-mature but their owners cannot ...

A Chinese official in a Mekong River intergovernmental body has warned against jumping to conclusions about data on the distressed waterway, saying that politics may get in the way of closer cooperation between upstream and downstream countries along the waterway. “Some parties start with preconceptions, and ...

The chaos in Myanmar could see a surge in meth production across the’ Golden Triangle’, the United Nation’s organized crime agency said Tuesday, as ethnic militias seek quick cash to firm up their positions in lawless borderlands whose fragile equilibrium has been disrupted by the ...

According to the newest World Bank’s classification, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam are Lower Middle Income countries while Thailand is Upper Middle Income. For the current 2019 fiscal year, low-income economies are defined as those with a GNI per capita, calculated using the World Bank Atlas method, of $995 or less in ...

The report “State of Land in the Mekong Region” was launched in Vientiane, Lao PDR. The first publication of its kind in the Mekong Region, it brings together key data and information on the current status of, and changes in, land resources, their social distribution, ...

The famous Côn Đảo Island’s ecosystem and its biodiversity is seriously threatened by overexploitation and low environmental awareness of visitors and locals. Concerned officials as well as residents are calling for strong protective measures that can prevent the slide into irrecoverable loss. “The commercial hunting ...

Destination Mekong became a proud signatory of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism at the COP26.  As part of its efforts to play a leadership role in the global tourism community, Destination Mekong became a signatory and launch partner of the Glasgow Declaration on climate Action in ...

More than 70 million people live in Southeast Asia’s Mekong region, where trees and forests have multiple benefits for people and biodiversity. Trees lock soils in place, preventing landslides and protecting crops, while forests help regulate rainfall and water cycles. Wood and other forest products provide millions ...

Authorities urged residents living along the Mekong River in Stung Treng, Kratie and Kampong Cham provinces to be vigilant as water levels rise perilously close to meriting an emergency declaration. On Sunday, water levels in Stung Treng province were just 20cm shy of an emergency declaration ...

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 ...

ildlife trafficking, like drug and human trafficking, is often a trans-boundary crime. Animal parts and products, non-timber forest products, and living creatures heading to the pet trade find their way across borders every day, passing fluidly between jurisdictions and human societies. Given legal and language barriers, ...

As the monsoon gets underway across Indochina, farmers and fishermen are praying for rain after a lengthy drought — aggravated by climate change and dam construction.  This year the Mekong River has seen its lowest levels since record keeping began 60 years ago.  According to the Mekong River Commission, ...

The Greater Mekong Sub-region has the potential to become a major global production center due to its favorable geographical location and its proximity to economic powerhouses in both Southeast and South Asia,  Prime Minister Hun Sen said on October 25. Speaking in Hanoi at the opening ...

Abnormally high-water levels in the Mekong River at the end of May indicate that dams on the river must release less water during the dry season to protect the ecosystem, experts said at an online panel Monday.  Rain levels during the dry season this year have ...

More than 5,800 suspects have been arrested and 233 million methamphetamine or “speed” pills seized during a regional anti-drug campaign that has benefited from the Covid-19 pandemic. Niyom Termrisuk, secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), said the mushrooming number of checkpoints due ...

China’s extensive damming of the upper Mekong River has reduced water flows, threatening downstream countries Cambodia and Vietnam with environmental harm and food shortages, said experts in advance of a summit meeting of the multilateral  Mekong-Lancang Cooperation group. The summit, to be held on Aug. 24 ...