USAID Delivers Third Regional Training on National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Systems

From February 25 to 27, the USAID Low Emissions Asian Development (USAID LEAD) program held the third of five sessions of its Regional Training on National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Systems.Over 30 participants, including key national greenhouse gas inventory organizers from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, gathered in Bangkok for the…

Udon Thani to Incorporate Urban Adaptation Planning Tool into City Planning Process

In Udon Thani, one of the fastest urbanizing cities in Thailand, multi-agency working group City Team conducted a hands-on exercise with the provincial governor’s office to apply a Shared Vision Planning tool to the city’s 2016 fiscal urban and economic development planning process.USAID’s Mekong-Building Climate Resilient Asian Cities project with technical support from the U.S.…

USAID Launches Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge

On World Wildlife Day, USAID announced the Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge, a new initiative that encourages using modern tools to help stop wildlife trafficking.The challenge invites individuals and organizations from around the world to submit innovative science and technology solutions that can be applied to combat the illegal trafficking of marine and terrestrial wildlife, which…

USAID Introduces Innovative Teaching Method for Climate Change Curriculum

Participants from Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam gathered in Bangkok from February 2 to 6 to test a role play training activity focused on the Low Emission Land Use Planning module of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Lowering Emissions in Asia’s Forest (USAID LEAF) climate change curriculum.Participants placed themselves in roles from communities…

Seventh Lower Mekong Initiative Regional Working Group Meeting in Bangkok

Water, energy and food security challenges, as well as women’s empowerment and the promotion of gender equality, are among major issues raised for discussion at the Seventh Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) Regional Working Group Meeting.The meeting took place at the Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel in Bangkok on 29 – 30 January 2015, and it was…

Extraordinary Friends of the Lower Mekong: Conference on Mekong Sustainability Summary of Joint Discussion

Extraordinary Friends of the Lower Mekong Conference on Mekong SustainabilitySummary of Joint DiscussionOn February 2-3, 2015, the Friends of the Lower Mekong (FLM) – representatives of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, Viet Nam, the United States, the Asian Development Bank, Australia, Denmark, the European Union, Finland, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Republic of Korea, Sweden, World…

Mekong Countries Meet to Address Drivers of Deforestation

USAID LEAF and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations gathered representatives from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam in Bangkok from January 20 to 21 to develop national action plans on drivers of deforestation and a decision support tool on forestry and climate change policy.Representatives from participating Mekong countries presented the results…

USAID Partners with Johns Hopkins University to Support Off-grid Solar in Cambodia

Over the past several months, USAID’s Private Financing Advisory Network-Asia (PFAN-Asia) has been collaborating with a team of four graduate school consultants from the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) to research and develop a report, The Business Case For: Off- grid Solar in Cambodia.The purpose of this study is to identify…

Practitioners Advance Fire Management Expertise

More than 25 practitioners working on land and fire management issues came together from January 21 to 22 in Chiang Mai, Thailand for the Regional Training on Fire Management Planning for Northern Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states.While commonly used in Southeast Asia for agriculture and land clearing, fires in the region can…

Thailand to Host the 7th Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) Regional Working Group Meeting

The Lower Mekong Initiative Regional Working Group Meeting will take place in Bangkok during 29-30 January 2015 with an emphasis on the cooperation on water, energy, and food issues.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will host the 7th Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) Regional Working Group (RWG) Meeting on 29-30 January 2015 in Bangkok.The topics of discussion…

Training on Renewable Energy Modeling Tool Supports Green Growth Planning in Vietnam

The USAID Low Emissions Asian Development and Vietnam Forest and Deltas programs provided training from January 7 to 9 for 16 provincial government, academic and business partners in Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam on map-based software to model and assess renewable energy potential.Attendees learned the functions and uses of the Geospatial Toolkit, an application developed by…

Mekong Neighbors Learn Counter Wildlife Trafficking Techniques Together

From November 27 to December 9, as part of the USAID-supported Asia's Regional Response to Endangered Species Trafficking Program, Freeland provided a two-part wildlife trafficking investigation training course for law enforcement officials from Laos and Thailand.The ASEAN-Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN) Nature Crime Investigator course included a basic and an advanced course for forestry officials, environmental…