Mekong - U.S. Partnership
USAID’s Smart Infrastructure for the Mekong Team Review Mekong Delta Study
A team of seven experts from the U.S. Department of Interior's International Technical Assistance Program visited Vietnam on November 21 to 25 as part of USAID’s Smart Infrastructure for the Mekong (USAID SIM) project. At the request of the Vietnam Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the team is conducting an impartial scientific review of…
Three Universities Introduce Climate Change Curriculum in Thailand
From December 2 to 3 at Kasetsart University in Bangkok, 47 professors from 16 Thai universities came together for the National Seminar on Integrating Climate Change into University Curricula. The seminar served as the national rollout of the USAID Lowering Emissions in Asia’s Forests (USAID LEAF) project’s regional climate change curriculum, which is part of…
Mekong Government and Civil Society Support Strong Environmental Impact Assessments
In Bangkok, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-supported Mekong Partnership for the Environment (USAID MPE) project and the Asian Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Network organized an event that brought together more than 50 government and civil society representatives from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam to exchange ideas on environmental impact assessment (EIA)…
USAID Grant Trains Cambodian Civil Society Organizations on Forest Equity
The NGO Forum on Cambodia, a network of 89 civil society organizations in Cambodia, organized a three-day training of trainers (ToT) on “Improving Equity in Forestry Management and REDD+ Process” for community facilitators.Twenty-three of its members learned more about the principle and elements of social equity and inclusion in the forests and climate change context.…
Improving Payments for Environmental Services for Green Growth in the Lower Mekong
From November 24 to 25, key stakeholders from Lower Mekong countries participated in a regional workshop on payment for environmental services (PES) co-hosted by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Center for International Forestry Research and Vietnamese Academy of Forest Sciences in Hanoi, Vietnam.Fifty-five participants from government, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and academia…
RECOFTC Publishes Q&A Booklet on Equity in Forests and Climate Change Context
RECOFTC, the Center for People and Forests, recently published a new addition to its climate change handbook series, “Equity in Climate Change and REDD+,” with USAID and the Norwegian Agency for Development (NORAD) support through their respective projects, Grassroots Equity and Enhanced Networks in the Mekong and Grassroots REDD+.The projects identified a need for a…
Training Provides Leaders with Tools for Better Management of Protected Natural Resource Areas
From November 17 to 20 in Chiang Mai, Thailand, the USAID Low Emissions Asian Development (USAID LEAD) program provided training for 25 policymakers, national park managers, academics and other practitioners from Cambodia, India, Laos, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam on a methodology for guiding decisions related to management of protected natural resource areas.The workshop on “multi-criteria…
USAID Mekong ARCC, AMDI Engage Community Leadership in Adaptation Planning for Hotspot Province in Vietnam
From October 27 to 28, the USAID Mekong Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change (USAID Mekong ARCC) project gathered key stakeholders in Hanoi, Vietnam, to discuss potential climate change adaptation options for Thuan Hoa commune where a USAID partner, the Asian Management and Development Institute (AMDI), will implement a climate adaptation pilot program over the…
Mekong Partnership for the Environment Supports EIA Dialogue at First-ever Major Conference on the Salween River Basin
On November 14 to 15, the USAID-funded Mekong Partnership for the Environment (USAID MPE) project helped support the “First International Conference on Salween-Thanlwin-Nu Studies” in Chiang Mai, Thailand.Hosted by Chiang Mai University, the event brought together over 200 experts to examine the basin’s future. USAID MPE held a roundtable discussion with representatives from the governments…
USAID Highlights Emerging Trends in Participatory Forest Monitoring
In Lam Dong Province, Vietnam, forestry experts from across Asia participated in a Regional Knowledge Exchange Event on Participatory Forest Monitoring that examined emerging models of how communities and government can work together to monitor forest resources.The event, hosted by the Lam Dong Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and co-organized by the U.S. Agency…
USAID Project Promotes Youth Job Skills and Education in the Lower Mekong
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced a new project to train hundreds of instructors and students to prepare youth for employment in the Lower Mekong countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The USAID Connecting the Mekong Through Education and Training project, to be implemented by the Education Development Center, Inc., focuses on…
Leaders from M-BRACE Cities Meet to Share Challenges, Opportunities and Regional Linkages
Core stakeholders from four cities—Hue and Lao Cai, Vietnam and Phuket and Udon Thani, Thailand—met in Hue last week for the USAID Mekong-Building Climate Resilience in Asian Cities (USAID M-BRACE) project’s final workshop.The participants learned how their colleagues have been assessing and responding to the complex challenges posed by urbanization and climate change. The challenges…
