The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $100 million loan to clean up water resources and the environment of the Sayu River Basin in Yunnan Province, the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The Sayu River Basin is an important area for ecological protection in the upper Yangtze River Basin. It is the only centralized drinking water source in Zhaotong City in Yunnan.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is assisting the Government of Thailand in designing, issuing, and monitoring innovative capital market initiatives as part of the country’s recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in a manner aligned with the 2015 Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

A GMS Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) was held on 11 September 2020 via web-based conferencing to review (i) proposed key GMS strategic planning documents and knowledge products, which includes GMS COVID-19 response initiatives and the new long-term strategy for the GMS program, and (ii) preparations for upcoming GMS events—the 11th Economic Corridors Forum (ECF-11), the 24th GMS Ministerial Conference (MC-24), and the 7th GMS Summit (Summit-7).  

The Mekong River Commission (MRC) released a Situation Report on conditions in the Lower Mekong River Basin in January-July 2020 identifying possible causes of low flows and drought. 

The MRC noted that the Lower Mekong River Basin has experienced record lows for the second consecutive year.

2020 began with Thailand implementing a ban on single-use plastic with the aim of reducing plastic waste by 30% this year.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted people’s health and well-being, led to widespread job loss, and created extraordinary uncertainty with long-lasting effects. As with climate change, the pandemic has disproportionately affected the most vulnerable people across the globe, including those in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).  

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has proved how human health, animal health, plant health, and the health of the environment are all closely interconnected as “One Health”. “We have seen many diseases emerge over the years. Most of them originated from animal populations under conditions of severe environmental pressures,” said Mr. Ramesh Subramaniam, Director General, Southeast Asia Regional Department, speaking at the opening of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Working Group Meeting on Environment held via video conferencing on 23 June 2020.  

The Mekong River Commission Joint Committee called on Lao PDR to address comments and recommendations from Cambodia, Thailand, and Viet Nam for the 1,460-megawatt Luang Prabang hydropower project.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing a $1.5 billion loan to support the Government of Thailand’s response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

In the popular imagination, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has been a boon for the natural world. With more than a third of the global population under some level of lockdown, we’ve delighted to see skies burst back into blueness and wild animals venturing into urban neighborhoods. It’s been easy to convince ourselves that wildlife and the environment have flourished. The truth, however, isn’t so reassuring. The pandemic has created an increase in poaching, animal trafficking, illegal fishing and other environmental crimes.