Water pollution News

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A woman gathers plants along the banks of the Mekong River while a child plays in the background. Water levels of the mighty Mekong River have dropped drastically due to drought-like conditions and damming upstream. The drop disrupts the region’s water supply, transport routes, and the livelihood of communities in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that more than one billion people will face water shortages due to climate change. Credit: © Greenpeace / Vinai Dithajohn

New mapping reveals hidden mining boom in Laos that threatens the Mekong

Andy Ball, Gerald Flynn, Konlaphat Siri 10 Dec 2025

In Chocó, river defenders say race for energy transition threatens lifelines

Euan Wallace 8 Dec 2025
Satellite imagery from February 2025 shows the transformation of the landscape at Global Green's gold mine, which is believed to be contaminating the O'Ta Bouk River. Image provided by Google Earth, Maxar Technologies.

Toxic runoff from politically linked gold mine poisons Cambodian rivers, communities

Andy Ball, Gerald Flynn, Phoung Vantha 24 Nov 2025
Watcharakon Jatoenpun, AKA Sprite, showed reporters the expansive maize farms he works on in Mae Cham district, where seasonal air pollution is tied to agricultural burning. Image by Gerald Flynn / Mongabay.

Karen community fighting corn and coal for clean air in northern Thailand

Gerald Flynn 6 Nov 2025
Leaching ponds have been drilled into the mountains of Laos, using a mix of toxic chemicals to separate the rare earth minerals from the other materials siphoned out of the ground. Image supplied by source.

Rare earth mining expands into Laos, threatening entire Mekong River

Mongabay 27 Oct 2025
Flowing from Myanmar into Thailand, the Kok River carries toxic runoff from rare earth mines into Chiang Mai province. Image supplied by Brian Eyler.

More Thai rivers and downstream communities at risk from Myanmar’s rare earth mines

Mongabay 20 Oct 2025
The Mae Moh power plant in northern Thailand's Lampang province is a significant contributor to air pollution and has sickened residents across Mae Moh district. Image by Gerald Flynn / Mongabay.

Anguish for residents as Thailand’s most polluting coal plant gets new lease of life

Gerald Flynn 1 Oct 2025
Irrigation Dam 2 is just the latest in a string of dams being built atop protected forests within the Cardamom Mountains. Image supplied by source.

Cambodian irrigation dam construction threatens riverine communities in the Cardamoms

Gerald Flynn 10 Sep 2025
Sakda Khayankitphuanphon took reporters into the old mining tunnels to see the fluorite that Universal Mining seeks to extract from the mountains. Image by Gerald Flynn / Mongabay.

Mining company returns to haunt Thailand’s Karen communities as resistance mounts

Gerald Flynn 4 Jun 2025

Grassroots efforts sprout up to protect Central America’s Trifinio watershed

Maxwell Radwin 16 Dec 2024

In the dark of the night, sponges help possum shrimp ‘smell’ their way home

Liz Kimbrough 10 Oct 2024
A dugong.

Cambodian fishers-turned-citizen scientists monitor marine mammal deaths

Gerald Flynn, Vutha Srey 7 Oct 2024

Record drought in Yucatán prompts revival of ancient Maya rain ceremony

Mark Viales 29 Aug 2024

Tía María copper mine set to open in Peru despite community backlash

Maxwell Radwin 31 Jul 2024

In Sonora, communities fight mining to defend their water

Daniel Shailer 29 Jul 2024

Global migratory freshwater fish populations plummet by 81%: Report

Liz Kimbrough 8 Jul 2024

U.K. court to hear lawsuit for victims of Brazilian dam disaster

Maxwell Radwin 24 Jun 2024

In the Pan Amazon, environmental liabilities of old mining have become economic liabilities

Timothy J. Killeen 5 Jun 2024

In a village divided, farmers stall massive copper mine in Colombian Andes

Austin Landis 29 May 2024

Beyond deforestation, oil palm estates pose flood and water contamination risks

Hans Nicholas Jong 21 May 2024
shrimp farm

Venezuela’s shrimp farms push for sustainability against hardship and oil spills

Jeanfreddy Gutiérrez Torres, María Fernanda Rodríguez 15 May 2024

Environmental defenders paid the price during Panama’s historic mining protests – report

Maxwell Radwin 14 May 2024

Pemex waste contaminates Mexican communities while talking ‘sustainability’

Sarah Sax 14 May 2024

What’s at stake for the environment in Panama’s upcoming election?

Maxwell Radwin 30 Apr 2024

Indigenous Bolivians flee homes as backlash to mining protest turns explosive

Maxwell Radwin 29 Apr 2024
oil spill Peru

Latest Peruvian oil spill cuts Indigenous communities from life-giving river

Sarah Brown 25 Apr 2024
Nasidi holds up a water lettuce plant, which is often found in the Lenggang River.

Indigenous community fights to save its lands on Indonesia’s historic tin island

Moh. Tamimi 25 Apr 2024

One of Colombia’s largest estuary ecosystems is drying up, communities warn

Austin Landis 10 Apr 2024

Proposed copper mine modifications spark community outcry in Peru

Sarah Sax 11 Mar 2024

Harmful mining continues in Nicaragua despite U.S. sanctions, new investigation shows

Maxwell Radwin 5 Feb 2024

Cambodia sea turtle nests spark hope amid coastal development & species decline

Gerald Flynn 1 Feb 2024

What’s at stake for the environment in El Salvador’s upcoming election?

Maxwell Radwin 29 Jan 2024

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