There's a freshwater pollution crisis unfolding across the Mekong region as mines pumps toxic chemicals into key river systems - our latest for @mongabay.com looks how gold mines along tributaries of the Sekong River in Laos are impacting fish populations, potentially posing a transboundary threat.

Latest for @mongabay.com w. @andyball.bsky.social & @vantha.bsky.social uncovers a gold mine has poisoned the O'Ta Bouk River in Virachey National Park. Water, soil & fish from the river are contaminated, sickening the Indigenous communities downstream who depend on the river for everything.

#Thailand's air pollution problem partly stems from debt-saddled farmers conducting agricultural burnoffs to sustain the meat industry. One district banned maize farming to curb deforestation and PM2.5 pollution, only for a coal mining company to grab their land. Read my latest on @mongabay.com

Restrictions on civil society means rare earth mining in Laos has garnered less attention than Myanmar, but @stimsoncenter.bsky.social data show 27 new (likely illegal) mines opened along Mekong River tributaries since 2022. Latest @mongabay.com report details the threat to freshwater ecosystems.

Latest on @mongabay.com - research by @stimsoncenter.bsky.social finds more rare earth mines across Myanmar's river basins than previously known, 513 opened along the Irrawaddy, Salween and Mekong basins in the last decade. Unchecked, these mines pose a transboundary threat to the region's rivers.

It's kind of wild that a species that's recently been as common as the long-tailed macaque is now endangered. Especially as a driver of their decline is laundering wild monkeys for biomedical testing as captive-bred, and lobbyists have been trying to get their protection downgraded. This sucks.

Depressing that the IUCN's confirmation that an endangered species is in fact endangered is the closest thing I can provide to "good news." Latest for @mongabay.com shows how a concerted effort by the biomedical research lobby to downgrade the IUCN listing of long-tailed macaques has failed.

Our latest data analysis shows nearly 1 million Ha of tree cover was lost across Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam in 2024. Nearly a quarter of this was primary forest, but - more alarming - ~30% of tree cover losses occurred inside protected areas. Read the breakdown on @mongabay.com

First in a series for @mongabay.com on #Thailand's air pollution looks at the Mae Moh coal plant and mine - which despite having killed people, polluted waterways and devastated an ecosystem, saw 2 of its older units' lifespans extended. NO2, mercury & more for all news.mongabay.com/2025/10/angu...

#Cambodia is set to destroy ~7,300 Ha of protected forest in the Cardamoms by building a new irrigation dam. The dam will deprive upstream communities of water, clear forest slated for a REDD+ project & disrupt river systems feeding into the Tonle Sap Lake. Latest from me for @mongabay.com

Joint investigation by @mongabay.com & GI-TOC exposes a huge illegal wildlife trade network in Laos. Secretive shops guarded by armed men cater exclusively to Chinese tourists selling ivory, rhino horn, pangolins & more at inflated prices. We took a look inside.. news.mongabay.com/2025/07/larg...

We spent some time out at the Thai-Myanmar border for @mongabay.com looking at the potential impacts of planned dams and infrastructure that would disrupt the Salween River, Asia's longest free-flowing river (for now). Countless Karen communities would lose access to the water that sustains them...

First #Thailand story for @mongabay.com looks at what feels like a familiar topic: a Chinese-funded mining company risks displacing ethnically Karen communities in Mae Hong Son. The company's old mine poisoned the community's river, but this time, the Karen villagers are keeping the mine at bay.

A solid team effort from @mongabay.com examining the impact of the Trump's administration's cuts to USAID and conservation funding on the global illegal wildlife trade. 'The traffickers are going to have more space to operate, and it’s just going to put these species back on a path of extinction.'

For @mongabay.com w. Nehru Pry: the case of Ouk Mao, an environmental journalist in #Cambodia whose reporting on forest crimes has seen him physically attacked, ignored by the police and sued by the government. His family had to move out after an anonymous caller threatened to burn down his home.

Latest from me for @mongabay.com published late last week - #Cambodia's Supreme Court denied bail to incarcerated Mother Nature Cambodia activists. The five young environmentalists are set to remain behind bars until 2030 (and 2032 in one case) after being charged with plotting to overthrow the govt

In 2024, #Cambodia banned mining companies from expanding operations in Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary, but in January, the government approved construction of a cement factory inside the protected forest. My latest for @mongabay.bsky.social explores the impacts of industrializing a rainforest.

This isn’t particularly useful but, well, I hear from a lot of people from the science-centered agencies these days (NIH, NOAA, EPA, couple others) and the degree of, I dunno, grimness (?) is really palpable. The whole gov scientific enterprise is just getting ground into dust. It sucks so hard.

Part two for @mongabay.bsky.social - we look at how monkey smugglers in #Thailand are likely supplying long-tailed macaque breeding farms in #Laos. Despite a trade ban from CITES preventing Laos from exporting monkeys, breeding facilities there are expanding rapidly and the numbers don't add up.

Climate TRACE shows you where and when greenhouse gas emissions are occurring.

Latest for @mongabay.bsky.social digs into the dubious data #Cambodia and #Vietnam are providing to global wildlife trade regulator CITES regarding the trade of endangered long-tailed macaques. The demand from US biomedical research firms is driving prolific monkey smuggling syndicates across SEA.

"Investigative journalism has been hit really hard and wildlife journalism has never been a priority of mainstream media outlets. People still tend to think of these as stories about just animals, but they’re not." Across Southeast Asia elements of criminality often overlap, threads worth pulling.

These factoids from the IPCC's Sixth Assessment were all drawn from research published before 2023. It's remarkable just how much all of these indicators have accelerated over just the last two years.

Another attack on the journalists at Tempo, although it's yet to be confirmed whether this DDoS attack is linked to the magazine's coverage of online gambling. This comes after the publication was sent a severed pig's head and a bag of dead rats. #HoldTheLine

Thai authorities should immediately release and drop the groundless charges against Paul Chambers, a leading Thai studies scholar. This baseless prosecution poses a serious threat to academic freedom and free speech in Thailand.

This feels like a bit of mid-week mid-tier good news, but given Trump's authoritarian credentials and paper-thin skin, I'm not seeing this as an absolute win yet.

Get this: Commerce is slashing $ to Princeton's world-renowned climate research b/c modeling changes to Earth systems is "contributing to a phenomenon known as 'climate anxiety,' which has increased significantly among America’s youth." No research, no problem! www.commerce.gov/news/press-r...

Another banger from @mikedigirolamo.bsky.social - the man whose chats have seen me through so many treadmill runs already this year (please Thai summer, end so I can run outside again) - but an important reminder on why Mongabay is a non-profit and why that matters news.mongabay.com/podcast/2025...

This is a great, albeit grim, video from my colleagues at @mongabay.bsky.social exploring how neocolonialism, water theft, displacement, soil contamination all play a part in fueling Europe's addiction to paper packaging. Worth a watch to see the true cost of eucalyptus plantations.

'Half of the group’s annual budget of $810,000 came from American aid. The collective, called CamboJA, only has enough money to operate until June. They have stopped providing drinking water at the office to save $30 a month.' Dark days for what little remains of the free press in Cambodia.

Genuinely galling to see so much progress rolled back. "Some people seem to believe our international engagement should only consist of guns, Bibles and the occasional Band-Aid."

That's the torch officially passed, my time as OPCC president was cut short, but I have total faith in our new El Presidenté @nathanpaulsouthern.bsky.social

Headlines like these would be as inexplicable as hieroglyphics to someone in 2009.

This better not devolve into a knee-jerk reaction against Signal. Such tools are needed by journalists, activists and HRDs in the age of surveillance capitalism, but yeah Trump & The Goons aren't protecting themselves or sources from tyrants - they are the tyrants and despise accountability.

Solidarity with journalists at Tempo in Indonesia who last week saw a severed pig's head and a bag of decapitated rats delivered anonymously to their office in an apparent attempt to intimidate them. en.tempo.co/read/1988785... en.tempo.co/read/1989494...

Paging @thetattooedprof.bsky.social and @kevinmkruse.bsky.social Hoping you aren’t the end of the video just yet.

Cambodia's govt claims REDD+ is a viable path to conserving its forests, but it approved three new dams in the Cardamoms which will result in widespread deforestation, jeopardising existing and planned REDD+ projects there. My latest for @mongabay.bsky.social questions if REDD+ can save a forest.

I sat down with the lovely folks from Ground Report to discuss the my work with @mongabay.bsky.social, the deteriorating situation in Cambodia and why environmental reporting in Southeast Asia is so dangerous - but necessary! Have a listen here:

Latest in @mongabay.bsky.social - Cambodia's Indigenous Chorng communities say intimidation, threats and economic hardship continue in the Southern Cardamom REDD+ project, which was reinstated by Verra after a 14-month review triggered by allegations of human rights abuses.

While relocating to Bangkok (thanks to the Cambodian government) I've not had chance to share the stories that I've been reading in between trying to assemble furniture, calm two antsy cats and adapt to a whole new country, culture and language on the fly. Here's a rundown of what caught my eye:

Great piece by Seoung Nimol and Coby Hobbs looking at the Southern Cardamom REDD+ project, where Indigenous communities allege abuse continues, despite the REDD+ project being reinstated by Verra. Worth noting Verra didn't send a team to the site before reinstating the REDD+ project.

I’m not 100% certain, but I’m pretty sure all illegal logging in Cambodia has stopped since @geraldrflynn.bsky.social has been out of the country. It’s a miracle! #Cambodia #LOLogging #Hunsanity

There is no doubt that the Trump/Musk decision to gut USAID - which has long supported independent media across Southeast Asia - has been met with hearty cheers from autocrats across the region and indeed the world.

They really captured the bags under my eyes

Every single bitcoin transaction causes as much carbon emissions as driving a petrol or gasoline car for over 1000 miles* * for 1600-2400km - LSE

🧵 Just before midnight, OCCRP's EIC @mirandaoccrp.bsky.social got a letter from @mshellenberger.bsky.social making clear he intended to write another conspiratorial article about us. Before we even had time to wrap our heads around this garbled array of accusations, he'd published a hit piece.

Speaking to people over the last few days about this, there's a sense that these cuts are brutal, thoughtless and will empower autocrats across SEA and beyond. USAID is deeply flawed, everyone knows this, but one big loss will be shreds of transparency in an often authoritarian region.

CITES Standing Committee - mostly countries importing long-tailed macaques - chose not to suspend Cambodia's ability to export monkeys, despite USFWS providing CITES with damning evidence (video, data, emails, etc.) pointing to wild-caught monkeys being sold as captive-bred. @mongabay.bsky.social

“I’ve never seen anything like it in my 40 years of doing international research. It’s unethical, it’s dangerous and it’s reckless.” This is so incredibly grim and further indication that those making these decisions have no idea of the harms they're causing.