The International Day of the Tiger is July 29, but there are still thousands of tigers living in captivity. The World Wildlife Fund has estimated there are about 8,000 living on farms, with only 3,900 living in the wild. Countries like Laos, Vietnam, China and Thailand may have about 200 tiger farms, and some of them
The tropical tourist paradise of Thailand is currently suffering through enormously costly floods, resulting from a “weak” La Niña monsoon season. Following September’s extremely heavy rains — five feet of rain for the month — the monsoon season continues virtually unabated into this month, where it also coincided, last weekend, with the highest tides of the month. It is estimated that 10 % of the nation’s rice crop has been destroyed, so far, costing nearly 4 billion USD, and growing. This will have certain impact on global food prices (driving them higher) and on food security for tens of millions of people.
Over 250 NGOs from 51 countries have called on the governments of Laos and Thailand to halt building the Xayaburi mega dam on the River Mekong in Northern Laos.
They claim the environmental impact assessment report into the project has been poorly prepared and fails to take into account the environmental and social impact of choking the water supply to ecosystems and populations downstream.
