Cambodia Consults Private Sector on Draft Environmental Impact Assessment Law

On December 5 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment (MOE) and the Vishnu Law Group, with support from the USAID-supported Mekong Partnership for the Environment project implemented by Pact, held a consultation forum with the more than 125 representatives from international and national companies and business associations, who provided input on the country’s draft…

USAID Supports Clean Energy Project Developers in Laos

USAID’s Private Financing Advisory Network Asia (USAID PFAN-Asia) organized a training on clean energy project development and financing in Vientiane, Laos, from December 16 to 17.The event attracted over 70 local project developers, investors and government officials. The United States Ambassador to Laos, Daniel A. Clune, delivered opening remarks followed by Laotian government officials.Local project…

Final Call for Registration: Mobiles for Development Asia Forum

Are you curious about how mobile technology is already being used in your sector? Wondering what products are out there that might be worth scaling up?Would you like talk to experts to understand whether and how to integrate mobile solutions into your work?Join the Mobiles for Development (M4D) Asia Forum, hosted by USAID and FHI…

Regional Civil Society Consultations on Forest Equity Completed with Lao Provincial Workshops

USAID’s Grassroots Equity and Enhanced Networks in the Mekong (USAID GREEN Mekong) program completed its grassroots consultations on equity in forest-based climate change mitigation with a series of three focus group discussions held at the provincial level in Lao PDR and organized in collaboration with the Department of Forestry.Over 80 civil society and grassroots stakeholders…

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…