In February, FISHBIO and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) hosted the ―Mekong Fish Monitoring Network Workshop‖ in Phnom Penh, Cambodia with support from the State Depart-ment. The workshop allowed for USGS and FISHBIO scientists to participate in an information exchange with interna-tional scientists regarding Mekong River fisheries. The workshop brought together repre-sentatives from governments, universi-ties and NGOs from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. During the workshop, representatives discussed the idea of establishing a Mekong Fish Monitoring Network. This proposed network would address the need for Lower Mekong countries to share knowledge and data of Mekong River fish.

REO Highlights I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

NEON 2

GLOBE Workshop 2

TB Detection Program 2

Windmills in Japan 3

Irrawaddy Dolphins 3

Volcanic Ash Preserves 3

Wildlife Camera Traps 3

New Ocean App 4

Upcoming Events 4

Volume 2, I s sue 2

February/March 2012

The U.S. Department of State‘s

East and Southeast Asia Re-

gional Environmental Affairs

Office publishes this newsletter

for informational purposes

only. The articles contained

herein should not be construed

as official U.S. government

position.

Please visit our embassy web-

page for more information at:

http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/

embassy/reo.htm

Regional Environmental Affairs Off ice

N E W S L E T T E R

Establishing a network of researchers focused on information exchange would provide a better understanding of how fish populations in the Lower Mekong Basin might respond to future environmental changes. Additionally, the network would increase the scien-tific capacity of local researchers and institutions to assess resources for themselves. Recently, several articles have been published about the impacts of future Mekong dams to fish populations. Click on the links to learn more:

http://www.mnn.com/earth -matters/wilderness-resources/stories/small-dams-big-impact-on-mekong-river-fish

http://www.nature.com/news/a-damming-assessment-of-mekong-development-1.10166

Mekong River Conference-It’s all about the fish!

Photos courtesy of FISHBIO

Learn more at: http://fishbio.com/

The National Ecological Observa-tory Network (NEON) is a continen-tal-scale ecological observation plat-form funded by the National Science Foundation. NEON will be the first observatory designed to both detect ecological change and enable fore-casting of its impacts.

NEON will gather and synthesize data over 30 years on the impacts of climate change, land use change and invasive species on natural resources and biodiversity. Obtaining integrated data on these relationships over a long-term period is crucial to improv-ing forecast models and resource management for environmental change.

All NEON data and information products will be freely available via a public web portal. NEON‘s open-

access approach to its data and infor-mation products will enable scien-tists, educators, planners, decision makers and the public to map, un-derstand and predict the effects of human activities on ecology and ef-fectively address critical ecological questions and issues.

NEON successfully completed the planning and design phase and re-cently entered the construction phase in Spring 2012. NEON expects to start building sites in Summer 2012. Constructing the entire NEON net-work will take approximately five years, so NEON expects to be in full operation by approximately 2017.

NEON and the Regional Environment Office (REO) have agreed to work together and share information about this ground breaking program with regional govern-

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The National Ecological Observatory Network

R E O H I G H L I G H T S ( c o n t . )

ments and scientists. Interested partners should contact the REO at:

REOBangkok@state.gov

For more information

visit: http://www.neoninc.org/

Tackling Tuberculosis in Cambodia The International Organization for Migration (IOM) TB REACH project established a program in Poipet (on the Cambodian border with Thailand) aimed at performing systematic TB screening targeting the daily flows of Cambodian migrants. These system-atic TB screenings use innovative di-agnostic procedures using chest X-rays and symptoms screening, along with utilizing the latest TB detection

equipment, the Gene X-pert box.

IOM TB REACH aims to screen 75,000 migrants this year in an effort to actively detect TB and prevent the transmission of the disease to the communities that migrants return to.

Learn more at: http://www.stoptb.org/ - AND -http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/media/press-briefing-notes/pbnAS/cache/offonce/lang/en?e

ntryId=28071

From March 20-23 the Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology (IPST) in Thailand organized the Fourth School Earth System Science Research Presentation at the National Science Park outside of Bangkok. Rick Switzer, Regional ESTH officer, gave opening remarks highlighting the importance of sci-ence activities and environmentally s u s t a i n a b l e d e v e l o p m e n t . As part of the workshop, Dr. Dixon

Bulter, NASA atmospheric physicist, gave a presentation to the students on satellite data analysis. The pur-pose of the event was to motivate students to search for scientific knowledge as a means to solve environmental problems in their local communities. Stu-dents spent three days listen-ing to research findings pre-sented by their peers and competed in a poster exhibit.

Earth System Science—Research Presentations Dr. Butler listen-

ing to students

talk about their

posters.

Photos by IPST

Above—IOM staff hand

out refreshments to

patients waiting to be

screened.

Right—Image of a chest

X-ray with positive TB

diagnosis.

Images courtesy of NEON

Japan is preparing to bolt turbines onto barges and build the world‘s larg-est commercial power plant using floating wind-mills, tackling the engineer-ing challenges of an un-proven technology to cut its reliance on atomic en-ergy.

Marubeni, Mitsubishi H e a v y I n d u s -tries and Nippon Steel are among developers erecting a 16-megawatt pilot plant off the coast of Fuku-shima, site of the nuclear accident that pushed the government to pursue cleaner energy. The project

may be expanded to 1,000 mega-watts, the trade ministry said, big-ger than any wind farm fixed to the seabed or on land.

Read more at: http://www.eco-business.com/news/floating-windmills-in-japan-help-wind-down-nuclear-power-energy/

sylvania-led team of U.S. and Chinese researchers says ash from a large vol-canic eruption that oc-curred approximately 298 million years ago covered the tropical foliage so quickly - in a matter of only a few days - that many of the plants and trees fell

Paleontologists have unearthed an ancient tropi-cal forest in northern China that is so well pre-served in volcanic ash that they say it is like seeing a snapshot of a moment in time nearly 300 million years ago. The University of Penn-

in the exact spot where they grew. Some smaller-sized trees actually were preserved in their entirety, with leaves, branches, trunk and cones intact. Read more at: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/east-pacific/Volcanic-Ash-Preserves-Ancient-Tropical-Forest-for-300-Million-Years-

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R A R E I R R A W A D D Y D O L P H I N S F O U N D I N I N D O N E S I A N W A T E R S ( B Y W W F )

F L O A T I N G W I N D M I L L S I N J A P A N H E L P W I N D D O W N N U C L E A R P O W E R ( B Y B L O O M B E R G )

V O L C A N I C A S H P R E S E R V E S A N C I E N T T R O P I C A L F O R E S T F O R 3 0 0 M I L L I O N Y E A R S ( B Y V O A N E W S )

WWF-Indonesia and the Regional Office for Ma-rine, Coastal & Resources M a n a g e m e n t Pontianak (BPSPL) found the rare dolphins while conducting a study in the narrow straits and coastal

waters of the Kubu Raya and Kayong Utara regen-cies in the western part of Borneo.

Read more at: http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?uNewsID=203431&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wwf%2Fnews+%28WWF+-+News%29

Vulnerable Irrawaddy dolphins have been discov-ered for the first time in West Kalimantan, a part of Indonesian Borneo that best known for its dense tropical forests and rich wi ld l i f e .

NEW CAMBODIAN

LIZARD DISCOVERED

A new species of lizard with striking iridescent rainbow skin, a long tail and very short legs has been discovered in a rainforest in northeast Cambodia. Read more at: http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/2012/02/22/new-cambodian-lizard-discovered

R E G I O N A L N E W S

H O W W I L D I F E C A M E R A T R A P S A R E R E V O L U T I O N I Z I N G C O N S E R V A T I O N (BY JEREMY HANCE)

The humble camera trap — an automated digital device that takes a flash photo whenever an animal triggers an infrared sensor — has been coming into its own, playing an increas-ingly important role in wildlife conservation.

Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/dec/06/wildlife-camera-traps-conservation?newsfeed=true

A marbled cat captured using camera traps in Bukit Tigapuluh, on the Indone-sian island of Sumatra. Photograph: WWF Indonesia/PHKA/Reuters

Photo by: Syahirsyah/WWF-Indonesia

Photo by: Lifecademy.Wordpress

Grand Challenges Explorations—

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative to encourage innovative and uncon-ventional global health and development solutions, is now accepting grant proposals for its latest application round. Applicants can be at any experience level; in any dis-cipline; and from any organization, including colleges and universities, government laboratories, research institutions, non-profit organizations and for profit companies.

Proposals are being accepted online until May 15, 2012

For more information, visit: www.grandchallenges.org/explorations.

T H E D E P A R T M E N T O F S T A T E B U R E A U O F O C E A N S , E N V I R O N M E N T A N D S C I E N E A N D T H E S M I T H S O N I A N B R I N G

Y O U T H E ‗ A M A Z I N G O C E A N S ‘ A P P

Discover the vast ocean from the Smith-sonian Institution‘s Sant Ocean Hall and

Ocean Portal and see what others are saying about current issues, news, and odd facts

about our one and only ocean.

Dive in and explore!

http://apps.state.gov/amazingoceanapp/

To subscribe, unsubscribe, comment or submit ideas,

please email REOBangkok@state.gov

Green Tips!

Don't trash it - reuse it! Be creative as you look for new ways to reduce the amount or kinds of house-hold waste. Give card-board tubes to pet ham-sters or gerbils. Plant seeds in an egg carton. Make a flower pot out of a plastic ice cream tub. By thinking creatively, you will often find new uses for common items and new ways to re-cycle and reduce waste.

For more green tips and free pod-casts, visit: http://www.epa.gov/earthday/podcasts/index.html

S T A Y I N F O R M E D . . .

Upcoming Events April 11-13: Asian Irrigation Forum—Manila, Philippines April 14: Mongolia's 1st National Workshop on the Economics of Climate Change and Low Car bon Growth Strategies in Northeast Asia—Mongolia April 17-18: Carbon Trade China 2012– Beijing, China

Upcoming Important Observance Days April 7: World Health Day April 22: Earth Day April 25: World Malaria Day

W I L D L I F E W I T H O U T B O R D E R S –

G R A N T S A V A I L A B L E !

F O R M O R E I N F O R M A T I O N , V I S I T :

http://www.fws.gov/international/DIC/howtoapply.html