Viet Nam News – Born to a farming family in the Mekong Delta’s Tiền Giang Province, a young scientist was determined to pursue his passion for aquaculture. Trần Ngọc Tuấn won the 2019 Golden Globe Awards for his research on fishery biotech. The awards, which are given out annually by the Việt Nam Youth Union and Ministry of Science and Technology, aim to discover new Read More…

Khmer Times – Sub-national officials and communities in the province are concerned about the impact of Laos’ Don Sahong hydropower dam on the endangered Irrawaddy dolphin population in the downstream Mekong River. According to Reuters, the dam began operations and connected its power grid to the Kingdom earlier this month to curb electricity outages. On Wednesday provincial Read More…

The Canberra Times – It's early on a Saturday morning and the sun is only just starting to rise when I wake in my room beside the Hua River, in the Mekong Delta. But in this region of southwestern Vietnam, this is no time for a lazy sleep-in. I need to be on a boat to the area's largest floating market by 7am, or risk missing the peak of trading activity and having fresh local Read More…

Los Angeles Times – For more than half a century, January meant prime fishing season for Pang Bin. He took his wooden boat out into Cambodia’s largest lake, his catches and their sales sustaining his family for much of the year. This month, the 75-year-old decided to call it quits, but not because of age or any health concerns. “No fish,” he shrugged. “Just very, very poor. Read More…

Nhan Dan – Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha recently signed a decision to announce the ten most talked-about events of Vietnam’s natural resources and environment sector in 2019. Accordingly, among the environmental issues of the past year, the Da River water contamination was the most serious incident that received a “red alert” from Read More…

Successful Farming – When the normally murky brown Mekong River turned a brilliant blue late last year, villagers in northeastern Thailand were surprised. Then, this week, unusually large patches of green algae appeared, clogging up nets and making it almost impossible to fish. Both the Mekong's strange colour and the algae have heightened worries about the health of the river that Read More…

Post Magazine – To Tibetans, it’s known as Dza Chu, or the River of Rocks, and to the Chinese it’s the Lancang Jiang, the Turbulent River. The Lao refer to it as the Mother of Waters, in Cambodia it’s the Great Water and by the time it reaches Vietnam, at the end of a 4,350km journey, it’s referred to as the River of Nine Dragons. The Mekong, as it is best known, is the world’s Read More…

The Asean Post – 97 kilometres of rocks in Thai waters stand between Beijing and dominance over the Mekong, a mighty river that feeds millions as it threads south from the Tibetan plateau through five countries before emptying into the South China Sea. China has long wanted to dredge the riverbed in northern Thailand to open passage for massive cargo ships – and potentially military Read More…

The Phnom Penh Post – Conservationists have expressed alarm over the increase in the mortality rate of Irrawaddy dolphins in Cambodia’s Mekong River last year, compared to previously. The director of the Fisheries Conservation Department, Ouk Vibol, said on Wednesday: “Though we are happy at the birth of 13 dolphins last year, we are also concerned with the spike in the death rate Read More…

Vietnam Plus – A conference was held in Ben Tre province on January 3 to discuss measures for coping with drought and saltwater intrusion which are getting more serious in the Mekong Delta this dry season. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said saltwater intrusion in the 2019-2020 dry season has appeared earlier than in the 2015-2016 dry season, when the Read More…