Environment

Experts Voiced Concern of Hasty Rush for Cassava in Vietnam

Apr 29, 2011 (Vietnamica.net) – Meanwhile producing cassava bring profits to farmers and consumption is expected to increase further in the next years. Cassava growing areas now cover over 490,000 hectares, producing over 8.5 million metric tons of cassava in 2010. But there are major drawbacks in growing cassava that Vietnamese farmers should pay attention to.

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Rains Give Boost to Vietnam Coffee Crop

Apr 28, 2011 (Vietnamica.net | Gulf News) – The coffee crop in Vietnam, the world’s largest robusta producer, has been boosted after rains eased drought conditions, allaying concerns that this year’s harvest may be damaged, according to growers and traders.

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US Welcomes Delay of Laos’ Xayaburi Dam Construction

Apr 27, 2011 (Vietnamica.net) – The United States said today that it welcomed a delay in construction of Laos’ Xayaburi Dam Project, and hoped that ASEAN countries could work out an environmentally sound solution.

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Vietnam Calls on Lao to Delay Xayaburi Dam for 10 Years

Apr 27, 2011 (Vietnamica.net) – Vietnamese authorities and experts have called on Lao to delay Xayaburi hydropower project for 10 years. Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen, who is also Chairman of the Vietnam National Mekong Committee, expresses his worry about Lao’s underestimation of the project’s multi-facet impacts on the river’s downstream areas and Mekong Delta provinces on Apr 26. For example, accumulation of river deposit is expected to fall by 26 tons a year to a mere 7 tons while the dam dramatically and negatively changes the river’s biological diversity.

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Large Vietnam Deals Inked

Apr 26, 2011 (Vietnamica.net) – Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung yesterday urged Vietnamese investors to look to Cambodia for increasing opportunities, as the two nations signed nine Memorandums of Understanding worth nearly US$900 million.

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Laos Agrees to Delay Dam that Neighbours Say Threatens Mekong

Apr 26, 2011 (by Jonathan Manthorpe, Vietnamica.net) — Plans for the first dam across the lower Mekong River are putting Laos on a collision course with its neighbours and environmentalists who fear livelihoods, fish species and farmland could be destroyed, potentially sparking a food crisis. The four countries that share the lower stretches of the 4,900 km (3,044 mile) Mekong – Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia – met in the Lao capital Vientiane on Tuesday to debate and possibly decide the future of the 1.285-megawatt (MW) dam, the first of 11 planned in the lower Mekong that are expected...

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