MEKONG FOREST LOSS: 1.8 Million Acres Destroyed Despite Deforestation Drop...

The Mekong region lost 1.8 million acres of forest in 2025, including 380,000 acres of primary forest that takes decades to regrow, yet the loss rate dropped nearly 25% compared to 2024—a paradox that reveals both progress and persistent failure. Nearly half the deforestation occurred within protected areas supposedly off-limits to logging, with Cambodia's Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary particularly gutted by rubber plantations. While fewer wildfires and stricter enforcement explain the improvement, experts caution that a single year's decline doesn't signal a reversal of decades of degradation across Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.