Editor’s Note
by Mattia Peroni, Lead Editor - Mekong Belt Desk
While some threats arrive suddenly in the region, others have been sitting in the ground, or building in the atmosphere, for decades. In Laos, the Third Review Conference of the Convention on Cluster Munitions opens in Vientiane this month in a country still living with the consequences of the largest bombing campaign per capita in history — timing made sharper by Norwegian People's Aid's decision to turn down USD 40 million in US funding rather than accept new restrictions, shrinking an already thin field of deminers as casualties keep climbing. In Thailand, Bangkok is fighting a newer threat, rolling out over 300 Heat Escape Rooms to protect residents from extreme heat, a model now being adapted in Iloilo City, Philippines, as urban heat resilience becomes a regional necessity. And in Cambodia, Phnom Penh unveiled a USD 1.2 billion economic package to shield vulnerable households and small businesses from Middle East-driven inflation and slowing growth, part of Prime Minister Hun Manet's broader argument that economic resilience is itself a form of national defense.
Lao PDR 🇱🇦
Laos to Host Cluster Bomb Treaty Review Amid Donor Retreat
by Thongsavanh Souvannasane, in Vientiane
Laos will host the Third Review Conference of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Vientiane from 14 to 18 September, gathering states parties in the country hit hardest by unexploded bombs anywhere in the world.
Lao Foreign Minister Thongsavanh Phomvihane will preside over the meeting, which opens days after one of the country’s longest-serving demining partners announced it was scaling back its work here.
On 3 September, Norwegian People’s Aid said it was turning down roughly NOK 400 million, about USD 40 million, in US State Department funding.
The department’s new terms would have barred the group from working on abortion, gender equality, and diversity, not just in US-funded projects but across all of its operations. NPA said it would cut around 1,700 jobs worldwide and scale down work in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Iraq.
NPA is one of only six groups clearing bombs in Laos: the national UXO Lao and the Lao army’s Unit 58, plus four international NGOs, NPA, the HALO Trust, MAG, and Humanity & Inclusion.
NPA has been active in Laos’ southern provinces, Salavanh, Champasak, Attapeu, and Sekong, since 1997, and has also carried out work in the country’s northern region. Its pullback shrinks an already small field.
Laos remains the most heavily bombed country per capita in history.
Between 1964 and 1973, US forces dropped 2.5 million tons of ordnance, including cluster bombs that scattered hundreds of smaller submunitions on impact. Roughly 30 percent failed to explode. An estimated 22,000 Lao citizens have been killed or injured since, and the danger has not gone away: officials recorded 15 accidents in 2025, causing 25 casualties, including six deaths.
The economic damage runs deep too. Laos is still a lower-middle-income country and one of the world’s Least Developed Countries, a status it is due to leave in November 2026.
According to UNDP, 42 of the 46 poorest districts in Laos are contaminated with unexploded bombs, cutting off farmland and raising costs in areas that can least afford it.
The US is not Laos’ only donor. Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, the UK, Canada, and the European Union have all funded clearance work in recent years, often through UNDP. Some US funding also continues: on 26 August, Lao and MAG officials signed a new agreement adding USD 15 million for clearance in Xieng Khouang province through 2027.
As of 2024, Washington remained Laos’ single largest donor, having given nearly USD 400 million since 1995.
Still, NPA’s exit adds to a pattern that began with the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID in 2025. A USD 30 million disability and survivor-support program, USAID Okard, lost 80 percent of its staff, leaving nearly 20,000 vulnerable Lao citizens, including 176 bomb survivors, largely without help.
Laos now heads into its own conference with a mixed picture: some donors staying steady, one key partner pulling back, survivor support badly weakened, and casualties still climbing every year.
Thongsavanh is a journalist from Laos with a background in English-language media. He graduated from the Lao-American Institute with a Diploma of the Arts in English and contributes to independent news platforms. His reporting focuses on environmental issues, socio-economic development, and geopolitics.
Thailand 🇹🇭
How Bangkok’s Dialogue Exchanges Inspire Urban Resistance Initiatives In The Philippines
by Natamon Aumphin, in Bangkok,
After a hazardous temperature in summer, Bangkok shared its lessons through regional dialogue to help Iloilo City in the Philippines combat urban heat and create an ASEAN network of urban heat resilience initiatives. Currently, the rising temperature has moved beyond the effects of climate change. It has become a public health risk and perpetuated inequality, affecting vulnerable groups such as the elders, children, outdoor workers, and low-income communities. Particularly, those who reside in the city may experience prolonged heat trapped in buildings and concrete roads. Because of insufficient green spaces, the heat is hard to cool off; hence, residents are prone to extreme heat, especially during the day, which makes certain groups vulnerable to health risks.
With this issue at hand, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) rolled out an Urban Resilience Action Plan in March, featuring Cooling Centers across the capital as an immediate measure to compete with high heat. These heat escape rooms are air-conditioned spaces where people can come and relieve heat before heading out to continue their day. So far, there are over 313 Heat Escape Rooms equipped with air conditioners, drinking water, and medical supplies, stationed around the city. These centers have gained attention among elderly people, reflected in feedback footage in the BMA official Facebook page. As a positive spillover, Bangkok’s Cooling Centers initiative prompted an ASEAN neighbor, the Philippines, to follow its footsteps through the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), United Nations.
Through ESCAP’s Regional Training Workshop on Advancing Urban Heat Resilience in Asia, organized in April 2026 in Bangkok, and the project “Enabling Urban Action to Enhance Climate Resilience in Asia,” supported by the United Kingdom’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, the programs serves as a platform to connect and enable ideas exchanges between policymakers of different areas and cities. Matthew Perkins, Economic Affairs Officer, Environment and Development Division at ESCAP, provided an exclusive excerpt stating that learning from BMA reinforced Iloilo City to enhance its approach toward providing heat relief to its citizens.
“Cooling hubs were not pursued instead of other heat-response measures, but rather as one immediate and practical intervention within a broader approach to urban heat resilience,” said Matthew. “The cooling hubs, therefore, offered an early opportunity to translate regional learning into practical local action while contributing to a more comprehensive response to extreme heat.” Until the present, the cooling centers in Iloilo City have served over 3,800 people who use the facility not only to cool off themselves during the extreme heat but also to seek basic medical monitoring and assistance.
One crucial key to success is localization by adapting relief measures to local specifics and needs. For example, Bangkok repurposed parts of public spaces, public schools, public medical centers, and government buildings and opened a part of those spaces for public use to combat the scorching temperature. Meanwhile, Iloilo City started at a much smaller scale by building three cooling hubs and placing them in strategic locations where there is more pedestrian traffic and community activities.
These approaches reflect how each city approaches urban heat resilience differently, taking capacity, resources, and limitations into consideration. In fact, Bangkok has a budget limit and is constrained by bureaucratic processes. Hence, repurposing the existing infrastructure is the best option at the moment to deliver an immediate heat relief network to citizens. Likewise, Iloilo City started small to ensure the effectiveness of the program before expanding the measures.
Nonetheless, Matthew recognized the limitation. “Cooling hubs can provide meaningful protection to the people who use them, but a relatively small number of facilities cannot address heat exposure across an entire city.” All in all, these short-term approaches are only part of the long-term solution, ranging from building green infrastructure to enhance green innovation and ensuring public readiness, aligning with ASEAN’s roadmap for Extreme Heat Protection through Passive Cooling.
Natamon has served as a rapporteur at the Institute of Security and International Studies (ISIS Thailand). She has also worked as a research assistant on diplomatic issues in Southeast Asia. Her work focuses on how domestic politics shape foreign policy in the region. She holds a degree in international relations and has experience in policy analysis, event reporting, and regional research.
Cambodia 🇰🇭
Cambodia Unveils USD 1.2B Economic Package to Counter Global Crises
by Malai Yatt, in Phnom Penh
The Cambodian government launched a USD 1.2 billion “Comprehensive Intervention Program” to stabilize livelihoods, support vulnerable families and MSMEs, create jobs, and bolster economic resilience amid ongoing global economic and geopolitical crises.
According to the official announcement, the government planned expenditure of the budget to ensure the stability of the people’s livelihoods and strengthen the resilience of Cambodia’s economy and society in the short and medium term.
Aun Pornmoniroth, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Finance said that following the COVID-19 crisis, Cambodia continues to face the changes in the global trade regime, crackdowns on online scam operations, border issues, and particularly the crisis in the Middle East, which has driven up petroleum and gas prices and created inflationary pressures.
Despite being a small country, Cambodia maintains a clear vision and proactive approach in implementing intervention measures. As a result, Cambodia’s economy achieved 5.3 percent growth in 2025, but is projected to slow to 4.1 percent in 2026 due to the impact of the Middle East war.
It should be noted that In 2025, Cambodia’s working-age population stood at roughly 13.1 million, comprising 6.8 million women and 6.3 million men, with 7.8 million residing in rural regions and 5.3 million in urban centers, according to National Institute of Statistics’s survey.
The national labor force participation rate rose to 71.6% in 2025, a notable increase from 69.3% in 2019, with male participation at 77.7% and female participation at 65.9%. By sector, services employed the largest portion of the workforce at 43%, while industry and agriculture accounted for 29.4% and 27.6%, respectively, the survey added.
Regarding this, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet stated that amid the global and internal challenges, Cambodia must pursue a strong economy, sufficient resources, people with stable livelihoods and strong knowledge, only then can we safeguard peace. It cannot be asked from others.
That reinforces the inseparable link between economic resilience and peace. Nations with weak economies are more vulnerable to external pressure, political, economic, or strategic, he said.
Conversely, economically strong nations possess greater autonomy in decision-making and are better equipped to defend national interests. Meanwhile,
economic strength also underpins the sustainability and modernization of defense capabilities, Improved living standards and poverty reduction, and Social stability and internal cohesion, Manet added.
In conclusion, as part of development and economic recovery, this comprehensive intervention reinforces national autonomy by supporting vulnerable households, empowering the workforce, and securing sustainable growth to safeguard peace amid global turbulence.
Malai is a reporter at Kiripost, where she has worked for more than three years, driven by a strong commitment to amplifying the voices of underserved communities. Her reporting focuses on economic and foreign affairs.
Myanmar 🇲🇲
Thailand’s Engagement with Myanmar Junta Raises Questions Over ASEAN Centrality
by Myat Moe Kywe
Thailand welcomed Myanmar’s newly branded president and former military coup leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, with a red-carpet reception during his official visit on August 6–7, drawing backlash from civil society groups in both Myanmar and Thailand.
According to National Thailand, Foreign Affairs Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said Thailand’s foreign policy toward Myanmar is guided primarily by a commitment to ASEAN unity and practical regional stability. Yet bilateral discussions during the visit rarely focused on ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus or the ongoing civil war in Myanmar.
Instead, the talks placed significant emphasis on strengthening cross-border commerce, with the two countries seeking to accelerate bilateral trade toward a target of US$12 billion. Thailand and Myanmar also planned to convene a Joint Trade Commission meeting between their commerce ministers.
The two governments additionally signed four separate agreements, including one concerning cross-border river pollution management. Thai communities and civil society groups have been raising concerns over transboundary river pollution linked to mining activities in Myanmar, particularly rare-earth mining, with contaminated waterways flowing into northern Thailand. The pollution has been a growing concern for communities that depend on the rivers for their livelihoods and daily lives.
However, Thailand’s Cabinet approved the Terms of Reference (TOR) for a Joint Working Group on Water Quality Management in Border and Transboundary Rivers with Myanmar’s regime has been widely criticized among civil society and environmental watchdogs in Thailand.
The ETOs Watch Coalition, a network of civil society organisations monitoring transboundary investments and human rights violations in the region, argued that while international environmental cooperation is necessary, it must address the root causes of pollution, protect public rights and operate transparently. Without these safeguards, they warned, such cooperation could create “a false sense of progress” while legitimising Myanmar’s military regime.
The visit carries broader diplomatic significance as Myanmar’s military-backed administration seeks to consolidate legitimacy following elections widely described by critics as a “sham election.” Thailand’s willingness to engage directly with Min Aung Hlaing therefore raises questions about how other ASEAN member states may respond, particularly those that have remained cautious about direct engagement with the junta.
Thailand’s approach also presents a test for ASEAN centrality. While Bangkok frames its engagement as necessary for regional stability and ASEAN unity, the limited attention given to the bloc’s Five-Point Consensus and Myanmar’s ongoing conflict highlights a tension between pragmatic bilateral engagement and ASEAN’s collective response to the crisis.
Whether Thailand’s approach becomes a precedent for wider ASEAN engagement with Myanmar’s military-backed government remains a question for the bloc and for the credibility of ASEAN’s role in addressing the region’s most persistent political crisis.
Myat is a B.A. graduate in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics. She has interned at The Asia Foundation in Washington, D.C., and she has also worked as a summer research assistant at the Centre for Policy and Innovation (CRPI), gaining experience in research and analysis. Her work focuses on civic engagement, gender, youth leadership, and community development.
Editorial Deadline 05/08/2026 11:59 PM (UTC +8)
