Vietnamplus

The water level of the Mekong river in Nakhon Phanom, Thailand’s northeastern province bordering Laos, is dropping by 10-20 cm a day, according to local media.

The Women’s Union of the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai and the Department of Women’s Affairs of Cambodia’s Stung Treng province have worked closely to enhance the “good neighbourliness, traditional friendship, sustainable and long-term cooperation” between the two nations, heard a conference held in Pleiku city on October 17.

The amount of marine debris generated in Thailand has dropped to 21,700-32,600 tonnes annually, after the initial success of a project to increase the reuse and recycling of materials by 25 percent.

The official visit to Vietnam by Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith from October 1 to 3 is set to give a further boost to the two countries’ traditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation.

The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang, the country’s largest rice producer, is expected to produce 4.3 million tonnes of paddy this year, up more than 35,200 tonnes against last year, according to its Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The Indonesian Finance Ministry is mulling providing additional funding of 1.6 trillion Rp proposed by the local National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) to handle ongoing forest fires.

Lao Prime Mininister Thongloun Sisoulith and his spouse will lead a high-ranking delegation from the Lao Government to visit Vietnam from October 1-3.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has warned that northern localities are facing water shortages as reservoirs are drying up.

The Mekong Delta has restructured agriculture towards climate-change adaptation and market demand by establishing specialised farming areas for its key agricultural products, and by growing other crops on ineffective rice fields or rotating rice with other crops on the same field.

The Vietnam - Cambodia Friendship Association of former volunteer soldiers of Front 479 held a ceremony in Hanoi on September 22 to mark 30 years of the fulfillment of their international mission in Cambodia.

The Vinh Tan 4 thermal power plant, an urgent project helping to ease the electricity shortage in the southern region, was officially inaugurated in the south central province of Binh Thuan on September 21.

A shortage of fresh water and severe saline intrusion have seriously affected the lives of tens of thousands of people in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh.

Thousands of schools in Malaysia and Indonesia were forced to close on September 19 as air quality has reached unhealthy level due to haze from forest fires.

Malaysia may have to pass a law forcing its companies to tackle fires on land they control abroad, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on September 18 as forest fires in Indonesia spread haze across the region.

Authorities in the southern province of Dong Nai have proposed the Ministry of Industry and Trade consider adding eight local solar power projects on Tri An lake to the national power development plan by 2025.

Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry and Environment on September 15 closed more than 30 plantation companies in Kalimantan and Sumatra as part of efforts to minimise wildfires.

A satellite image showed thick haze from a forest fire in Indonesia spreading into Malacca Strait, Singapore and Malaysia on September 14, according to the Indonesian meteorology and geophysics agency.

Indonesian Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya Bakar said on September 13 that some forest fires in its territory had started on land used by subsidiaries of Malaysian companies.

Many provinces of Thailand on September 13 started to hand out face masks to people as smog from forest fires in Indonesia hovered over its southern region.

Thousands of people in Indonesia prayed for rain in haze-hit towns throughout Sumatra and Borneo islands as forest fires raged at the height of the dry season, Antara news agency reported on September 11.