Satellite data show at least 27 new rare earth mines have opened across Laos since 2022, mostly in protected areas and many within the Mekong River Basin, raising transboundary pollution risks for Vietnam and the wider Mekong system.

New data show a recent proliferation of rare earth mines across river basins in Laos, potentially posing a transboundary water pollution threat to Vietnam and the entire Mekong River system. The new findings suggest that Chinese demand for rare earth minerals has led to the industry’s expansion into Laos, even though rare earth mineral extraction is currently illegal there.

Research from U.S.-based think tank the Stimson Center has identified 27 rare earth mines that have opened across river basins in Laos since 2022, including seven identified via satellite imagery analysis as having opened this year. Twenty-three of these mines appear to be in protected areas, but it’s unclear whether or not they’re operating with permission from officials.

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Cambodia’s leader Hun Sen has said that his country would not negotiate with Vietnam over the planned Funan Techo canal, despite concerns about its environmental and geopolitical impacts.

A group of Vietnamese experts suggested last week that Hanoi should ask Phnom Penh to delay the project for further discussions.

Former prime minister Hun Sen, who is now the president of the Senate and still retains much power, told a business banquet that construction of the 180 km (112 mile) canal will go ahead as planned this year, emphasizing the project was of national interest.

The Funan Techo canal, officially known as the Tonle Bassac Navigation Road and Logistics System Project, will connect the Cambodian coastal province of Kep on the Gulf of Thailand with the inland provinces of Kandal and Takeo and the capital Phnom Penh via a tributary of the Mekong River.

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Recent satellite images taken of the coastal area around Sihanoukville, Cambodia, show a significant development of a China-funded naval base that would help Beijing boost its power projection not only in Southeast Asia but also the Taiwan Strait.

The Wall Street Journal reported in 2019 that Phnom Penh and Beijing had signed a secret deal to allow the Chinese military to use part of the base. Phnom Penh has repeatedly denied the deal, saying giving a foreign country exclusive military access to the base would be in contradiction to Cambodia’s constitution. 

In June last year, however, the two countries began a project to develop the Ream Naval Base, in Sihanoukville province on the Gulf of Thailand, with China’s funding.

Latest satellite pictures obtained by Radio Free Asia from the Earth imaging company Planet Labs show massive changes in the landscape, as well as new constructions and large-scale land clearance.

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Following three years of pandemic restrictions, Thailand’s eastern seaboard gateway—U-Tapao airport—has returned to the spotlight after deputy government spokesperson Tipanan Sirichana recently said expansion plans would commence in early 2023. Earmarked as an “Aviation City” in 2017, the $8.8 billion mega airport project will occur over three phases, cover 1,040 hectares, and serve as the heart of the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), a key element of the “Thailand 4.0” economic model announced in 2016.

Architecture consultancy firm One Works said via its website that it had developed the airport’s masterplan after its appointment by Indian conglomerate GMR Group, low-cost carrier (LCC) Thai AirAsia, and other stakeholders. The proposal included “the construction of the third passenger terminal, ground transportation center, logistics and cargo complex, cargo village for a free trade zone and a commercial center,” the company said. Over the 2021-2022 period, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) undertook a $431 million environmental impact assessment at U-Tapao, which included a review of a second runway and taxiway.

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The post Mekong Countries Pin Development Hopes on Airport Progress first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

The Minister of Public Works and Transport of Laos, Mr. Viengsavath Siphandone, met with Thailand’s Minister of Transport, Mr. Saksayam Chidchob, and his team last week to discuss the project’s development. This was after Thailand’s Department of Rail Transport provided an update on the progress of the railway that will link Vientiane and Thailand’s Nong Khai province and also connect to the Laos-China Railway.

The discussion covered several primary topics, such as passenger and freight connectivity, the possibility of utilizing the old bridge, the construction of a new bridge across the Mekong river, and the scope of the project.

The meeting also discussed the construction of a shared control room at Thanaleng in Vientiane as well as at the Thai stations of Nong Khai and Na Tha, alongside cooperation for human resource development.

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A run-down department store tucked among Bangkok’s skyscrapers is home to the rooftop Pata Zoo, where nearly 300 animals pace in cages littered with feces, food scraps and trash. Bua Noi, the main attraction at the zoo and the only gorilla known to be in Thailand, has been kept in a cage here for 30 years, isolated and alone.

“This zoo follows no animal care or welfare standards,” Georgina Groves, the executive director of Wild Welfare, a U.K.-based nonprofit, said in a press release. “For too long this has resulted in inaction by the zoo and consequently terrible animal suffering.”

After years of pandemic restrictions due to COVID-19, tourists are coming back to Thailand, eager to lounge on beautiful beaches and see the country’s remarkable animals. But all is not well with those animals — elephants, tigers, primates, and many more. Without the money from tourists during times of travel restrictions imposed during the pandemic, some captive animals languished in appalling conditions. Even before COVID-19, animals used in tourist attractions, zoos and as pets were often mistreated and abused.

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A marina developer has plans to turn one of Phuket’s few remaining mangrove forests into a new gateway for luxury yachts and cruises post the Covid-19 pandemic period.

In Ao Kung, a quiet bay in the northern part of bustling Phuket island, Sujirtra Thothip stood in her long-tail fishing boat with her son. She looked down at the artificial reefs that she left under the water months ago in a bid to increase her family’s catch of fish.

A baby octopus squirmed out of one of the artificial reefs made from glass bottles filled with concrete as she picked it up from the water. Tiny fishes swam around.

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Some 45 kilometers, or 28 miles, up the Mekong River from Phnom Penh, Voi Thy sat and watched as 12 boats pumped sand from the riverbed. Another 11 boats, weighed low by their quarry of freshly mined sand, were making the glacial journey past her home in Roka Koang commune, Kandal province, to the capital.

In late June, 43-year-old Thy was slicing up bottle gourds outside her house, propped up by makeshift wooden stilts that descended down into the collapsed banks of the Mekong.

Each year, she said, the riverbank erosion gets worse. Two large collapses during Cambodia’s rainy season in May and June 2021 saw Thy move her house further from the river. But a more recent collapse in November 2021 forced her to remove a part of her house that was left hanging precariously over the water’s edge.

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Construction of two bridges across a Mekong tributary are proposed at a cost of VND9 trillion ($386 million) to replace ferry services currently in use.

The post Mekong Delta could get two new bridges first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

Garment workers at Thailand’s Brilliant Alliance factory were granted leave, only to learn their employer had shut down when they returned to their worksite in early March 2021. 

“Everyone was abandoned and never went back to work, there was nothing from the company about compensation,” said Jitnawatcharee Panad, a union leader who worked at Brilliant Alliance for 25 years.

None of the 1,250 workers received the severance pay to which they were legally entitled. Severance can include compensation for seniority and lack of prior notice of termination. 

Across Southeast Asia, garment workers have spent years campaigning for companies such as Nike and Uniqlo, a Japanese casual wear brand, to provide severance compensation when their suppliers failed to do so. 

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